Congratulations to independent Landstar owner-operator Jay Hosty for being named Overdrive’s Trucker of the Year for his business performance in 2023!
The finalists for this award, announced by Overdrive magazine Dec. 18, 2023, were chosen by the publication primarily based on their economic resilience and business performance throughout the trucking industry’s tumultuous year. Additionally, judges took the finalists’ business longevity, willingness to change, and their impact on trucking communities into account.
According to Overdrive, Hosty’s business — JayByrd Express in Diamondhead, Mississippi — “showed the lowest operating ratio (expenses/revenue) of all this year’s contenders. He pays it forward not only with engagement in trucking but with numerous disaster-response volunteer efforts and by fostering children in need with his wife, Katt.”
Previously, he was recognized as Overdrive’s Trucker of the Month for April 2023. Now, as the 2023 Trucker of the Year, Overdrive will present Hosty with a model of his 2006 Western Star at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in March.
When he first started as a truck driver in the late 1980s, older colleagues in the industry reportedly cast doubts on Hosty’s ability to turn a successful profit the way he had dreamed.
But, on the Jan. 12, 2024, special edition episode of Overdrive Radio, he said he always knew otherwise — and becoming the Trucker of the Year more than proved as much.
“I can make it, and I will make it,” Hosty proudly told the podcast host. “And I did.”
Hosty came to Landstar in 2004 as a BCO, Landstar’s term for independent truck owner-operators leased to a Landstar motor carrier. He was recognized by Landstar as a Million Mile Safe Driver in 2016 and received a Gold Star of Quality Award in 2023.
“Landstar couldn’t be prouder of Jay for attaining this award,” Landstar Vice President of BCO Retention Gregg Nelson said on the same episode of Overdrive Radio. “Jay is now [a part of] that new generation to carry that banner; not just for Landstar, it’s for all owner-operators, it’s for the trucking industry.”
