The Gloucester Times of Gloucester, Mass., reported on the heroic achievements of one of the town’s own this weekend — Stephen Page, driver for Pit Bull Trucking, was on I-80 July last year near Clearfield, Pa., when he noticed fire along the roadside and inspected it to find a tractor pulling doubles on having run off the road and burst into flames. The driver was unconscious. Page, with the help of another driver, managed to pull the unconscious driver to safety, talking to him as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Though the driver still reportedly has a long way to recovery, it was their efforts that kept him alive.
Page and three other finalists — Junichi Shimizu, of Gladstone, Ore.; Jesse Lee Seal, of Alma, Ark.; and George Lantzy, of Turtle Creek, Pa. — for the Goodyear Highway Hero award will be honored at the Mid-American Trucking Show this week in Louisville (March 25), and one will be named the 2009 Goodyear North America Highway Hero at the Truck Writers of North America Annual Banquet and receive a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a plaque and a specially designed ring; the other finalists will receive a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond and plaque.