Canadian Truck King Challenge 2006 The Judges

THE JUDGES
The six judges for the event were recruited from across the country and they averaged scores to determine winners. While each judge brought a different set of skills to the event they all had at least two things in common. First, they are all working automotive journalists; and second, they are all members of AJAC (Automotive Journalists Association of Canada). During the course of testing the judges, cumulatively, drove over 1700 miles and spent more than 130 hours testing.

1) Howard J Elmer is a freelance editor, writer and author, based in Brampton, Ontario. He is the creator and catalyst behind the Canadian Truck King Challenge. He has a transportation, newspaper and radio background. His licensing and experience includes operating heavy trucks, recreational vehicles, watercraft, off-road vehicles and even military assets. His education includes business studies at York University, a graduate diploma in Journalism from Humber College and a CTM (Certified Trucking Manager) designation. He is a past director of the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors, member of the Truck Writers of North America, the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada

2) Charles Renny is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and has spent many years in the automotive business. As a prairie kid, Renny started out in the truck world at the age of 10 driving the half-ton used as a fuel truck and graduated to three and five ton grain trucks by the age of 14. Truck driving skills such as backing up to hook to machinery or dump into a hopper have been honed on numerous harvest nights. Renny joined the Automobile Journalist's Association of Canada (AJAC) in 1990 and is rated as an expert reviewer. From 1999 to 2005 Renny was part of the team that assembled the off road truck testing course for AJAC's Truck of the Year.

3) Rob Davidson is a veteran Television Journalist and Producer. He is also a lifelong car and truck enthusiast. On Global Television he was senior reporter for MoneyWise, a financial show. Davidson was responsible for their Driver's Edge segment, a weekly review of new vehicles. He has recently begun creating video vehicle reviews for Canadiandriver.com. Davidson is a co-winner of the Platinum Award from the Houston World Film Festival this past spring for his work on a one hour special on Terrorism which aired on the Discovery Network. Davidson calls Roseneath, Ontario, home.

4) ...ric Descarries has been an automotive journalist for more than 25 years. He has concentrated most of his work on motorsports and trucks of all sizes. He has been one of the main writers at L'Echo du Transport, QuEbec's most important heavy duty truck magazine. His specialty has always been light and medium duty trucks. He is also responsible for the light truck section in Camauto Plus, the major light vehicle fleet magazine in QuEbec. Descarries hails from Laval, Quebec and has been an English teacher in French Canada for more than 30 years. He is fluent in both French and English. He also is a member of AJAC.

5) Grant Yoxon is founder and managing editor of CanadianDriver.com, Canada's leading independent source of online automotive news and reviews. As a freelance automotive journalist since 1995 and publisher of CanadianDriver since 1998, Grant has developed expertise in vehicle assessment, consumer issues affecting Canadians and online trends in the automotive industry. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

6) Paul Williams, Also based in Ottawa, is Senior Writer for CanadianDriver.com, and has been a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada for seven years. For the past three years, Paul has served on the board of the Canadian Car of the Year program, occupying the position of Chair for 2006 and 2007. Paul has won several awards for automotive journalism and photography. Recently, he received additional recognition from Volvo and Wakefield-Castrol for his automotive writing.