By Greg Thompson

PodWheels Executive Producer

Over the past 40 years, I have actually lost count of the number of road trips where I’ve gotten on the highway to drive from my house in Tennessee to the Twin Cities. Now, I can tell you the distance almost down to the tenth of a mile. I know that it’s exactly 1,000 miles from my house in Chattanooga to my parents’ house in the Twin Cities.

I have always enjoyed what is a two-day trip that brings me back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. There are so many great memories of family events as well as special assignments during my sports writing days. One of those northern runs even included covering the 1991 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves for the Chattanooga Free Press. My previous trips to the Twin Cities also furthered my experience in the trucking industry, and I actually started what eventually became PodWheels with a road trip to Minnesota.

As I get ready to hit the road once again to head North to Minneapolis, I find myself recalling a trip that I made to Pittsburgh in 2019. Six years ago, which was ironically a year in which I made five trips to Minnesota, it was the drive to Pittsburgh and what I experienced there that became a source of inspiration for our NTDC Podcast Series. Of course, Pittsburgh was the site of NTDC 2019, and the Communications Team at the American Trucking Associations was kind enough to grant PodWheels’ request for media credentials to cover the National Championships.

My introduction to all things NTDC got its starting point in the Spring of 2019. I had contacted the team at the Tennessee Trucking Association about spending the day with them during the State TDC. I brought a friend and fellow podcast enthusiast with me. Barry Courter served for many years as the Entertainment Reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and, to this day, Barry produces The What Podcast, which covers Bonnaroo and other music festivals.

As luck would have it, Donna England, now the President and CEO of the Tennessee Trucking Association, called me a few days prior to the State TDC. One of the two course announcers would not be able to make it to work on the day of the event. Given that I was familiar with a microphone, Donna asked me if I could pinch-hit and serve as a course announcer. Looking back at things now, I believe that call and the opportunity to read the bios filled with the career accomplishments of Tennessee’s top professional drivers began to open the door on the current trip to Minneapolis.

While Barry spent the day talking to competitors, family members, organizers and friends of the Tennessee TDC, I marveled at the resumes of everyone in the field – millions and millions of safe miles and the continued dedication to get the job done the right way. We developed a special podcast episode out of our Tennessee experience, and, at that point, I began to think about the 2019 Nationals, which were being held in Pittsburgh.

Calls were made to ATA, media credentials were secured and we were even able to get a booking in the host hotel for the event, as I recall. Unfortunately, due to a couple of items on my schedule that I couldn’t move, Barry and I missed the first two days of NTDC 2019. Now, by starting our first visit to an NTDC on Friday, we were in a better position to be truly overwhelmed by the enormity of what we were about to witness.

As I mentioned, my days as a sports writer had given me the opportunity to cover one of the greatest World Series of all time. I had also been on press row for a National Championship football game and I had covered a long list of other big events in my career.

When we walked into the event hall that day in Pittsburgh, I had that same feeling of anticipation. And when we walked into the arena filled to the rafters with family, friends and fans all cheering each competitor, there was a championship atmosphere that matched anything I had seen in my 30-plus-year career to that point. Along with the top competition, the weekend was filled with an air of respect and care among everyone involved in the event and attending the event. Spending just two days in Pittsburgh, I began to get a sense of what veterans of the Nationals call the “NTDC Family.”

Over the next two days, Barry and I recorded interviews with as many people as we could. The combination of Friday into Championship Saturday is still in the Top 5 for the number of hours that I have worked over a 48-hour period. I can also truthfully say that I loved every minute of that intense schedule. As I recall, we produced and released six episodes of what would become the NTDC Podcast Series. A couple of weeks later, we worked on what became a 90-minute retrospective episode that featured nearly everything we couldn’t share over NTDC Weekend.

As the calendar turned to 2020, PodWheels was already making plans for a road trip to Minneapolis, which was slated to host the NTDCs that year. Of course, the pandemic changed our day-to-day reality and NTDCs returned in 2022. If you are a long-time listener to the podcast, you know that PodWheels has been onsite for each of the National Championships over the past three years.

Throughout what will be over 60 episode releases of the NTDC 2025 Podcast to this point in the year, Eugene Mulero and I have continually talked about taking the Road To Minneapolis. For me, the time is finally here to get in my car and make a drive that is both very familiar and quite special for me.

As I travel to Minneapolis this August, it will be with a sense of excitement, anticipation and appreciation. In sharing the road with professional drivers on the route I’ll take to get to NTDC 2025, I’m grateful and humbled for the opportunities I have to work in the trucking industry. And, as I get a chance to cover NTDC 2025 and celebrate safety with the best of the best, I know that every mile on this trip will be worth the drive.