GOAT Roams NTDC

MINNEAPOLIS – The greatest of all time, or GOAT (as the kids say), is hanging around at the National Truck Driving Championships this week. 

None other than Richard Gillespie, famous for winning every record NTDC has to offer (vehicle class title, special awards), is again greeting drivers at the super bowl of trucking safety. 

The two-time grand champion who led Minnesota to dynastic achievements during his competitive years from the 1970s through the early 1990s, has become a fixture at the summer classic. 

On Aug. 22, we caught up with Gillespie: “When I'm talking to a driver,  I'm just giving them good luck, I hope you do a good job.”

“It's like you get friends in the truck driving championships. They can be from all different states and you come back here and you can renew your friendship with the other drivers, you know, you don't have any other way to converse with them or say anything to them but they come here. And then I come here, so it's come back, you know, Come back and see your friends,” he emphasized.

The secret, he explained: “Come here and, first of all, make sure you have a good driving record so that you can come and do a good job at the state; that you win at state and then you come here to the nationals.”

Gillespie won grand champion honors in 1988 and 1991. He also won a national title in every vehicle class during his competitive career, which concluded in 1991. A longtime NTDC volunteer, he is the recipient of the contest’s volunteer of the year award and professional excellence award.