Best Young Diesel Tech Honorable Mention: Austin Lester
This year, Fleet Maintenance launched its Best Young Diesel Tech of the Year Award. Our judges chose Tommy Crenshaw, master lead tech at McKee Foods Transportation. For 2026 Best Young Tech of the Year, our colleagues at Motor Age selected Robert Morrison III, lead emergency vehicle technician for Transdev—Harford County, Maryland, Fleet Services Center.
We received nomination forms for several great candidates deserving of recognition, with Austin Lester, a 28-year-old lead mobile tech for Coltrain Onsite Fleet Care, at the top of that list. Here is his story:
Austin Lester was 17 and fresh out of high school when he started wrenching on ready-mix trucks in southern Louisiana. In the following decade, he worked and honed his craft at several stops, including Louisiana Cat and both Penske and Ryder shops, but he never stayed for too long. But that’s perhaps because he was more suited for mobile work. He worked for Cox Automotive Mobility Fleet Services (now rebranded as Cox Fleet) for about three years before joining his manager at Coltrain Onsite Fleet Care when the mobile repair company was launched last summer.
After quickly earning the requisite ASE certifications, Lester was put in charge of a six-person crew to handle the region. Kyle Coltrain, co-founder and executive officer of the new mobile repair vendor, noted that as lead tech, Lester performs “at a senior-tech volume and still makes time to go help his guys.” He averages a nearly 90% labor utilization rate while routinely driving across the state to help the other techs make repairs.
The company noted he goes the extra mile for customers as well, once resolving an EGR issue with a small air clamp where others would have charged for a more expensive aftertreatment part. Lester regularly receives unsolicited customer compliments after a job.
Lester also spends time training the eight techs, ensuring the buses stay on schedule for the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, sharing the diagnostic and repair methods he’s accrued over his career.
“When I first started, it was just so I could be the best mechanic on the block,” he told Fleet Maintenance. “But as I’ve grown in my career, and now that I’m a lead, it’s mainly about wanting the knowledge to serve others.”
He said his favorite part about being a mobile diesel tech is tackling new challenges every day: "Each truck is made differently. No two AC systems are the same, no two aftertreatment systems are the same, no two motor applications are the same. Everything has its own quirks and operates its own way. It's satisfying when I can go from one to the other and consistently learn new ways things can operate."
In his off time, Lester is head of security for his church, training another team to keep the several hundred congregants safe.
As for what keeps him going, Lester said, “I have an amazing wife, a rambunctious and loving 3-year-old, and another one on the way, so it’s family first, always. At work, it’s trying to build a great legacy and make a good name for myself. I don’t want to be the guy you go to when problems are already there. You come to me to make sure there aren’t problems.”
Austin Lester's qualifications:
- ASE T8 (Preventive Maintenance Inspection)
- ASE T4 (Brakes)
- ASE C1 (Service Consultant)
- EPA Section 608 (Stationary Refrigerant)
- EPA Section 609 (MVAC Refrigerant)
- API RP 2D, 6th and 7th edition Qualified Rigger
- Delco Remy / Exide Heavy-Duty Starter & Alternator certification
- OEM training: Penske and Ryder technician programs
- 0 injuries, 0 accidents, 0 near misses
About the Author
John HitchJohn Hitch
Editor-in-chief, Fleet Maintenance
John Hitch is the award-winning editor-in-chief of Fleet Maintenance, where his mission is to provide maintenance leaders and technicians with the the latest information on tools, strategies, and best practices to keep their fleets' commercial vehicles moving.
He is based out of Cleveland, Ohio, and has worked in the B2B journalism space for more than a decade. Hitch was previously senior editor for FleetOwner and before that was technology editor for IndustryWeek, and managing editor of New Equipment Digest.
Hitch graduated from Kent State University and was editor of the student magazine The Burr in 2009.
The former sonar technician served honorably aboard the fast-attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723), where he participated in counter-drug ops, an under-ice expedition, and other missions he's not allowed to talk about for several more decades.