Four Truck Drivers Named Goodyear Highway Hero Finalists
28 January 1998
Four Truck Drivers Named Goodyear Highway Hero Finalists
AKRON, Ohio, Jan. 28 -- Four professional truck drivers who
risked their lives to save others in daring roadside rescues are finalists in
the 15th Annual Goodyear National Highway Hero Program. Founded by Goodyear
in 1983, the program recognizes professional truck drivers and the oftentimes
unnoticed, life-saving rescues and roadside assistance they provide as their
jobs take them across the country.
"These four truck drivers and their extraordinary, selfless actions
represent the true spirit of America's trucking industry and its drivers,"
said Donn Kramer, marketing director for Goodyear's commercial tires. "Too
often truck drivers are misrepresented by the actions of the few bad apples
inherent in every industry."
Goodyear was the pioneer of America's cross-country trucking industry with
its Wingfoot Express Fleet and today remains closely linked with the business.
"Because of our history and commitment to trucking, we founded the
National Highway Hero Program to help to paint an accurate picture of our
nation's truck drivers and shift the public's attention away from focusing
solely on isolated and sensationalized negative incidents involving the
trucking industry," Kramer added.
The four finalists were selected from all the nominees to the program by
an independent panel of judges.
Weaverville, N.C., resident Roy McHone Jr. is one of the four finalists
and earned the 1997 North Carolina Goodyear Highway Hero Award because he
risked his life to stop a runaway tractor trailer.
McHone, a driver for Thomas & Howard Company in Asheville, N.C., was on
Highway 23 in mountainous Madison County, N.C., when he heard the call for
help over the CB. A fully loaded, 80,000-lb. truck behind him had lost its
brakes and was now barreling down the mountain at breakneck speeds and headed
straight for town.
"I lined my truck up with his so he could hit me and I could take up the
impact," McHone said. "I was traveling at 35 mph and he hit me going about
45 mph."
The two trucks bumped together twice and gradually slowed, coming to rest
approximately three-quarters of a mile later. McHone was credited with saving
the life of the truck's driver and averting a potentially deadly accident for
other motorists.
Mark Oden of Elk Grove, Calif., a driver for U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc.
in Fontana, Calif., is the California Goodyear Highway Hero and also a
finalist because of the heroics he performed on a rainy night in June 1997.
Traveling near Sacramento, Oden looked out the window of his rig to see a
small boy with no shoes or jacket running alone on the side of the highway.
After stopping his truck, Oden ran back along the highway to rescue the little
boy who had been abandoned earlier that night by his mother and her boyfriend.
"The boy was very scared and cold so I put him in my rig and we drove to
the next exit," Oden said. "I called the police and they later told me I
probably saved the boy's life."
Patrick Quintana, a driver for Crete Carrier Corp. in Lincoln, Neb., and a
resident of Lincoln, was traveling on I-70 near Green River, Utah, when he
decided to stop at a rest area. After checking the oil level in his truck, he
stood near the edge of a cliff to watch the sun rise over the mountains.
"As I was about to walk back to my truck, I thought I heard someone yell
for help," Quintana said. "I imagined I was hearing things so I began walking
toward the truck. That's when I heard it again. I looked over the cliff and
could just make out a man's figure lying on the ground about 150 feet below
me."
Using the communications equipment in his truck, Quintana summoned help to
the remote area and then made numerous trips down the side of the cliff to the
injured man until rescuers arrived. He was named the 1997 Nebraska Goodyear
Highway Hero and is also one of the four finalists.
Lithonia, Ga., resident Thomas Lawson saved a man's life by pulling him
from a burning vehicle moments before it exploded and in doing so earned the
1997 Georgia Goodyear Highway Hero Award and also became a finalist in the
program.
Lawson, a driver for ABF Freight Systems, Inc., in Fort Smith, Ark., was
traveling on I-20 near Chunky, Miss., when he noticed a bicycle lying in the
right lane and moments later spotted an overturned, smoldering car off the
side of the highway.
"I ran down and climbed on top of the car and the victim was reaching his
hand out and was screaming," Lawson said. "The flames were rolling around him
and coming out of the window so I started pulling on his arm."
Lawson was able to pull the driver from the vehicle before it erupted in
flames.
The four finalists and their spouses will be Goodyear's guests for an all-
expenses paid trip Feb. 9 - 13 to Nashville, Tenn., where the heroes will be
honored at Goodyear's annual sales conference.
During their visit, one of the four finalists will be announced as the
1997 Goodyear National Highway Hero on The Nashville Network's PrimeTime
Country television program airing Feb. 10.
Goodyear is one of the world's leading suppliers of new and retreaded
commercial tires to the replacement market and is a major supplier of medium
radial truck tires as original equipment to truck manufacturers.
SOURCE The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
