driver profile
LOOKING BACK AT RAZORBACK
Barry ‘Sleepy’ Grimson has enjoyed a fulfilling life in road transport, commencing with tending horses to participating in the Razorback blockade and currently behind the wheel of a Kenworth Legend 900. Warren Caves catches up with the evergreen truck driver in Shellharbour, NSW
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SHORT HOUR-AND-A-HALF drive south of Sydney leads me to the quiet coastal hamlet of Shellharbour. My navigator announces, in her digitally sterile voice: “You have reached your destination.” I had travelled here to interview Barry Grimson, although to most, he is more commonly known as ‘Sleepy’, a nickname given to him by his father. If any additional confirmation was needed that I was at the correct address, I need look no further than the side fence adorned with the signage, ‘Razorback Range’ and ‘Truck Rest Area’. Yep, this is the place. I am warmly greeted by an overall-wearing grey-
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haired gentleman who is in mid-conversation with a neighbour out for his morning walk. I first met Sleepy in 2016, at the BP Marulan truck stop, in strikingly similar attire. Overalls are seemingly the trademark garment of choice for Sleepy, with the only variation being the colour. According to Sleepy, the overalls came to be after he completed a dangerous goods training course some time ago, during which the trainer explained that when transporting dangerous goods, drivers should be dressed appropriately at all times to attend to any spills or leaks should they occur. Prior to this, Sleepy says he dressed predominantly in shorts and thongs and reasoned these did not suitably comply and, let’s face it,
running from a chemical spill in your ‘jandals’ would be no easy task. Subsequently the trademark overalls were implemented and have stuck ever since. After chatting for a bit I get the impression that Sleepy was perhaps a bit of a larrikin in his day and has quite a few stories of the good old days of trucking that might not necessarily be seen as responsible to print. He’s a truck driver through and through. If there was any doubt that Sleepy was not a dedicated truck driver of high standing, the fact that his wife Leslie delivered a cuppa to him during our interview in a Highway 31 travel mug drove it home.
ownerdriver.com.au
28/04/2021 11:42:23 AM
