Woodville, Texas man is Dickies 2008 American Worker of the Year, just misses $1 million win

JUSTIN — If no other person at Texas Motor Speedway pulled for Jeff Gordon during this past week's Dickies 500, at least he had Hale and Danyell Hughes standing in Victory Lane cheering him on as he tried to catch Carl Edwards.

In the end, Gordon would come up a few hundred feet short of beating the 2008 Sprint Cup Championship contender and leave Hale and Danyell wishing he had been just a little bit faster.

The reason: Hughes was selected as the Williamson-Dickies Co. Dickies 2008 American Worker of the Year from a pool of thousands of entries nationwide. As part of the grand prize package the Woodville, Texas, resident chose Gordon's number randomly a la "Let's Make a Deal" style and stood to win $1 million if Gordon took the checkered flag ahead of everyone else in the Dickies 500.

Hughes learned about the contest in a NASCAR weekly magazine that he and his wife subscribe to and knew he had to enter — it brought together many of the things that he enjoys; work, bull riding and NASCAR.

Hughes was selected the winner of the contest during last Friday's Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas and then whisked off to Texas Motor Speedway in the Dickies corporate jet for a whirlwind weekend of NASCAR fun.

"It was like they knew my spirit and they don't even know me yet," Hughes said of the contest. "I could not, not enter this contest. So, I put my name in the hat. I typed up a 100-word paragraph, sent my picture in and here we are three months later."

Hughes said he was first named a weekly winner (Week 6) of the 12-week contest that began in June. And, then he was notified that he was chosen by the Dickies Co. as one of six regional winners and would be headed to Las Vegas and the PBR World Finals on Halloween night.

For Hughes and his wife, just being chosen as the weekly winner was exciting enough but possibility of being named the Dickies 2008 American Worker of the Year was indescribable.

"We were dancing around the living room, dancing a jig, it was very exciting," Hughes said when first interviewed at TMS on Saturday. "I'm sorry. I'm as country as corn. I can't imagine it getting any better than this. I am so hillbilly, I never would have imagined you could do this kind of stuff."

The past five years had been hard for Hughes and his wife, Danyell, with him suffering a near-crippling injury in an oilfield accident, the result of an oilrig that collapsed on top of him, breaking his back in five places, rupturing his spleen and shattering several ribs. And, just a few months before, Danyell was forced to prematurely give birth to their son, Hawk, so that she could receive life-saving chemotherapy treatments to combat breast cancer. And that doesn't even include the financial hardships from medical bills and more recently, having to endure the wrath of Hurricane Ike. Despite all of the struggles Hughes and Danyell have endured, they said they have been made stronger, are closer now than ever before to themselves and their children Hawk, 5, and Holly, 7.

On Sunday, Hughes shook hands with Gordon during driver introductions, then gave the command for the drivers to start their engines (and did it with gusto — perhaps the best I have ever seen) before being taken up to the Dickies Luxury Suites to watch the race in style.

The race had to be an emotional roller coaster for Hughes and his lovely wife, Danyell, as Gordon, who started on the pole, went a lap down midway through the race. Then, as luck would have it, Gordon's crew chief Steve Letart made a call to take four tires and fuel on the final caution and Gordon rallied back to finish second.

Gordon pushed his Chevrolet Impala as hard as he could but he couldn't catch Edwards.

The emotions of the day finally came full circle as a couple of tears could be seen in Hale and Danyell's eyes as they watched the start/finish line. But these weren't tears of bitterness or despair. They were happy tears, and the couple was humbled by this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"This thing is still going," Hughes told The Examiner on Wednesday. "The people at Clear Channel want me on to do an interview. Captain Thunder Racing.com and someone else, who has an office at the track, want to do a phone interview.

"People still want to holler at me and I am just an ordinary dude that has to mow my lawn."

Hughes said he, Danyell, Hawk and Holly were also invited to attend Dickies national corporate sales meeting on Dec. 2 in San Diego. Hughes said he is honored that the company is has done so much.

"Man, right now, I am trying to find a map from Cloud 9 back to Woodville, Texas," Hughes said. "I think Danyell could give ol' Criss Angel a run for his money. Her feet still haven't touched the ground. This has been so wonderful and I am so appreciative for Dickies. One thing about me, I don't have to pretend. This is who I am. They got a NASCAR fan that loves bull riding and goes to work every day. I can't imagine ever not working. When I was hurt I wanted to get back to work."

Hughes may not have won the $1 million but he didn't go away empty-handed. Dickies will present him with a 2009 Ford F-150, a Yamaha Rhino 700 FI 4x4 and $5,000, plus some cool Dickies work wear.

Danyell said the couple needed a new truck but have put off buying one until their financial situation was better. She said this weekend's experience is beyond her wildest dreams.

"I am speechless. I really am," Danyell said. "We both had to give up so many of our dreams because of the cancer and then when he broke his back. We kept talking about a new truck and I was like, we can't afford the payments. And this happened, I am so happy for him because he has been trying real hard to make our dreams come true so I am glad that his dreams can come true too."

Looking back on Sunday's closing moments, Hughes said Edwards was "a class act." He said he spoke with Edwards in Victory Lane and it was the first time the driver had been told that Gordon's win would have garnered a fan $1 million. Hughes said Edwards told him that he dedicated the win to a little boy that was battling cancer — something Hughes and Danyell were all too familiar with.

"If Carl Edwards winning that race makes that little boy's life a little better, then it is all worth it," Hughes said.

The Examiner's NASCAR contest a big hit with readers

Before I go too far into this week's column, I want to send out a huge thank you to all of the people who entered The Examiner's NASCAR VIP Getaway Weekend Contest.

There were hundreds of entries gathered via online and at The Examiner's kiosk at Parkdale Mall, and I am so appreciative of the support our contest received.

Personally, I could not have asked for better winners (unless you won, of course) because both the grand-prize winner and the runner-up are huge NASCAR fans.

Our runner-up, Lawrence Farris, is probably one of the biggest Jeff Gordon fans that I have ever met and he was ecstatic when he was told that he was the recipient of some excellent front stretch tickets. With a Gordon seat cushion in-hand, Farris cheered as Gordon began the Dickies 500 from the pole position.

Then, there was Deborah Walker, who took her son, Adam Clopp, with her to the NASCAR Tripleheader event. As always, Walker received two VIP Pit Passes, tickets to all of the races, luxury hotel accommodations and $250 in cash.

So, thanks again. We will have another contest for the April Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and who knows? You might be the next winner.

If you read zwww.kickinthetires.net throughout the weekend or, at least, looked at the photos, then you had to see a wonderful couple from Woodville — Hale and Danyell Hughes. You can read about their story in the adjacent article but I just want to thank them for sharing a little bit about themselves with me. I wasn't around them for very long but these two individuals make me proud that I am a NASCAR fan and that they nearby. We need more people like them representing our community.

I hate to say it but, for their sakes, I kind of hoped that Carl Edwards would (a) run out of fuel (b) get a flat tire (c) get tapped from behind causing him to go up the track or (d) all of the above.

I can't think of anything that would have been more fitting Sunday than to see Hale and Danyell presented with a $1 million check after Jeff Gordon won the race.

Hale is about as "real" as you can get, and Danyell is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met, except for my wife.

OK, so back to the garage. What's happening? Well, the big news isn't really news; it is something we are all dealing with. Throughout the weekend, all I heard about was how the the dismal economy was hurting NASCAR. In fact, it was the first race that I am aware of that has not sold out at Texas Motor Speedway.

To combat the problem, teams are laying people off, closing race shops and consolidating their efforts. In other words, as Richard Childress told me on Friday, "We are cutting back."

You knew it was coming, especially in a sport that is dependent on the oil and automotive industries, but I think NASCAR will survive and be stronger for it.

I did just receive an e-mail from Richard Childress Racing explaining a reorganization of its business unit and there are also notices of layoffs at Hendrick Motorsports, which employs 550-plus people.

"The purpose of this reorganization is to be more efficient for our sponsors and everyone involved in making RCR a success," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of RCR. "Ben (Sclosser) has a very good understanding of the business side of RCR so bringing the communications, licensing and show car departments under his supervision, along with the partnership marketing department, will allow all of those units to work together more seamlessly."

Schlosser was promoted to senior vice-president of business operations and Bill Patterson was named executive vice-president of support services.

As for any really breaking news, there isn't any, to speak of. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates is looking at a merger opportunity with just about anyone in the garage and it may happen with Dale Earnhardt Inc. You never know, but this one is fun to watch.

I am going to go ahead and close this week's column out, but you have to feel really bad for this woman I am about to mention. Imagine sitting in your motorhome at a racetrack, and all of a sudden, a .50-caliber bullet comes crashing through your roof and hits you in the arm. Yes, I said .50-caliber. Apparently, some dufus was target practicing, oh, about 6 miles away, and the bullet ricocheted off of a earthen berm. Honestly, the guy probably isn't a dufus, and in the grand scheme of things, he did a stand-up thing. When he heard that a stray .50-caliber bullet hit someone at TMS, he went to the Fort Worth Police Department and said, "I think am the guy you are looking for" or something to that effect. Anyway, the police are investigating. They confiscated his rifle and the poor guy could face charges. Here is my take on this: When you target practice you are supposed to have a backstop, usually an earthen berm. He did that. He (supposedly) had no intent to shoot anyone, especially 6 miles away. I don't care how well he can shoot. Anyway, this is a freak thing, and I hear the woman will recover — I just don't know if she is the luckiest person alive or the unluckiest person alive.

That's it for this week. I will be posting more photos from TMS on www.kickinthetires.net later this week, so check them out.