One thing I’ve learned meeting all manner of new and seasoned operators in my time around trucking: there’s no better path to good advice than befriending an owner-operator willing to be an ear.
Walking the expansive state fairgrounds in Huron, South Dakota, during the recent edition of the annual Wheel Jam Truck Show, I met just such a mentor.
Standing next to the beautiful 2000 Peterbilt 379 pictured below was Yankton, South Dakota, native and longtime small fleet owner-operator Elton Wek, honored at Wheel Jam this year with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
“In our prime we had 25 trucks, and are now down to 14 in 2026,” he said. “We have been blessed, never having issues with getting freight because we maintain good equipment and attract the best drivers to handle the same customers we have had for over 45 years.”
Elton Wek has been a mentor to many a driver in and around South Dakota, though he’d never admit to it. He’s a quiet man who serves others, and rarely talks about himself.
He seemed surprised to receive the 2026 Wheel Jam Truck Show Lifetime Achievement Award for his South Dakota trucking legacy.
“There are so many others who are more worthy than me,” he said.
A better look at Wek’s 2000 379
- “It’s not going to be easy.”
- “Try to lease to a reputable company with good freight.”
- “Don’t be afraid to say no. You need to make a profit to grow your business. On the flip side, it is OK to take a load every now and again to help your dispatcher, but stick to running the top tiers and avoid the junk.”
- “Invest in good equipment.”
- “Do not speed,” contrary to so much of the point of view heard from some of newbies carrying passenger-vehicle-driver attitudes into the business, “it’s just not worth it,” Wek notes. “Try to maximize your fuel. Operating is expensive, and you’ve got to watch the numbers.”
- “Some think if you are not running 14,000 miles a month or more that you are not making money, but that is not always true. Learn to use technology. If you have a smartphone find a system that works for you, but know how much it costs you to operate.”
He’s bull-ish, of a fashion, about drivers’ opportunity — and safety necessity — even in our increasingly automated age.
Asked directly about drivers’ prospects with increasingly “driverless” trucks, he said this:
“Truckers do so many more things than just drive a rig, things that the average person doesn’t think about. I do not trust the safety of autonomous trucks on the road with my family. Our business is flatbed and step-deck freight, so what if a tarp is flapping and can cause damage or if a strap breaks or a load shifts while the truck is moving?
“I feel a commercial driver should always be in control of the vehicle.”
[Related: Trucker to Congress: Keep drivers in autonomous trucks]
Elton Wek’s early years, to biz maturity
Wek grew up on a family farm, but an older brother was a truck driver leased to Warren Transport. He “caught the bug” in no time, he said, taking that first company job with Lesterville, South Carolina-headquartered Herrboldt Trucking.
“I drove a 1969 International cabover truck,” Wek said. “I was making good money for the time. Guys had freedom on the road and good bosses to take care of us. I stayed with them a while and became an owner-operator when I started Premium Best” with one truck, growing from there.
“Now here I am, 70 years old. I only haul regional now,” Wek said, “and my skateboard has turned into a Conestoga because it’s nice to not tarp at my age, but I still love driving a truck.”
His daily driver is a 2005 379X in a dark, rich blue. “I just prefer Peterbilt brand trucks,” he said.
“I feel like support for the industry is on the rise and professionalism of drivers has increased,” he noted, particularly within the last year and more with enforcement of English proficiency standards. “As a result general freight rates are on the rise, which makes for an increase in income for owner-operators as well as company drivers.”
Later in the day Elton and I ran into Barry Selland, President of Selland Trucking (also based in rural South Dakota). Selland’s is a multigenerational business, operating nationwide as an open deck carrier.
Selland offered an aside about a call from Wek back when Selland’s father was in the hospital having his hip replaced. Wek was about to move a brokered load of oversize tires he knew the Sellands’ business held a contract on.
“He said, ‘Barry, I know these were originally your loads, and I do not want to take them from your family, so I wanted to call you first before I haul them,’” as Selland told the story. “Elton Wek is an honorable man who keeps a promise, and he called that day just as a courtesy.”
When I mentioned it to Elton later, he noted only that it was “just the right thing to do.”
During the award ceremony at Wheel Jam, Shanna Gray, owner of S&B Truck Alignment of Brandon, South Dakota, did the honors, telling a similar tale, but one that ends in Wek taking the honor code further for a fellow trucker.
“Elton is truly a class act who takes pride in everything he does,” Gray said presenting Wek’s award from the Wheel Jam stage. “He is known by his word and looks out for others. I had a carrier company tell me how they had lost a contract to a broker that had undercut his bid, and Elton knew that the carrier company had been hauling this freight for years.”
When Wek found out why, “he decided he was not going to haul it,” said Gray. “Elton stands up for other owner operators and does what is right, not just what is easy.”
Gray, who currently serves at Secretary/Treasurer for the show’s nonprofit board, on the stage with Wek after presenting the trophy.
It’s safe to say the people of Huron, South Dakota, site of the Wheel Jam show, truly love trucks and truckers. The town, the region all around the show in fact, comes out for the parade.
Chair after chair after chair set up alongside the roadway — don’t get me started on the cheering during the engine-braking competition — showed clearly that all appreciate how important the trucking industry is to this community.
[Related: ‘Promise to a friend’: The Wheel Jam Truck Show, staying alive]
Premium Best: Biz remains all in the family
After a short courtship, Elton Wek married his wife, Linda, on June 23, 1979, and through the decades she’s kept the books for the business and dedicated her time to running the office, with the help of “two golden retrievers and a few shop cats,” according to Elton.
In those early trucking days OTR, “I would take all the work I could get and was making double payments on my truck, trying to pay it off,” he said, limited for home time to efforts to “come in every 3 or 4 weeks and take a few days off.”
“It took me a lot of phone calls while we were dating, engaged, and then first married,” he said. “Guys today have it easier because of cell phones and technology. It was harder to date your girl back in the day of pay phones, calling cards and long distance.”
Wek noted he and his wife waited ten years to have a child, and they were blessed with two daughters, Laurel, today a surgical nurse, and Lynsay, the current dispatch and compliance officer for Premium Best.
“Me and my wife have worked hard to get to where we are,” Wek said.
When he was a brand-new dad he was still working OTR, but recognized that “having a child changes everything,” as he put it at Wheel Jam with a grin. “I still drove my truck, but split my time in the truck and the office. I worked more regional, staying closer to home,” setting the stage for where he is today.
“Time passes quickly,” Wek said. “We are enjoying the profit and success from all the years of hard work. It’s a blessing that my wife and my daughter, Lynsay, work in the office together every day. We feel very fortunate to have her following us into the family business.”
Big congrats to Wek for an honor well-deserved.
[Related: 1999 Freightliner Classic a ‘New Testament’ to power of faith, family, hard work]
