Ninety-three-year-old truck driver could be a Guinness World Record holder

07.8.26

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Ford Boswell

07.8.26

Ford Boswell is a Birmingham, Ala.–based creator journalist and communications strategist, whose work blends traditional journalism, storytelling, and creative content production. He has more than 25 years of experience across print and digital publishing, corporate communications, advocacy, and media production. He can be reached at ford@tracktmedia.com.

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An Iowa truck driver could be the Guinness Book of World Records’ new oldest working truck driver.

Ninety-three-year-old Orrin Asmus has been driving a truck for nearly 75 years, first climbing into the cab to haul livestock in the 1950s. He’s since made the road his life’s work, driving more than 5 million miles, visiting nearly all 50 states, and operating just about every kind of rig that’s ever been made.

According to a local television station report, his fellow truckers are trying to help him get recognition as the oldest semi driver in the world. “Cody just haphazardly googled Guinness Book of World Records and found out that he could be a very good candidate for oldest CDL living truck driver in the world,” Dan McLaughlin, McLaughlin Freight president, told Mediapois, Iowa’s KWQC.

McLaughlin Freight has submitted paperwork, photos and documentation for Mr. Asmus and is awaiting further instructions from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Getting into trucking just sort of happened while Mr. Asmus was working on a farm as a teenager. “The guy that shelled the corn, at that time (we didn’t have combines back then), said, ‘My son’s sick, you got to go to Chicago.’ And I took a load, never driven a semi before in my life, took a load of livestock to Chicago, no interstates, six and 30 all the way to Halsted Street to the stockyard,” Asmus told KWQC.

Since then, he has worked for several trucking companies, including over a decade with Walmart Transportation. “I put a million safe miles on with Walmart,” he said. “I drove an International at that time, and now I’m driving a Peterbilt. One week, I get a nice award, a watch, and a bonus.”

He has story after story to share about his driving adventures, including driving through the Los Angeles Riots in the 1990s. “It was bad; in fact, they shot a hole right through the stack; they had a pretty powerful rifle,” he said.

Currently, the oldest truck driver in the world is a 92-year-old from Kansas. Asmus’ birthday is in August, which would make him 94.