Billy Basenberg needed a break, and he got one when Arrow Truck Sales named him its 5th anniversary Back on the Road winner last week at the Mid-America Trucking Show.
The program
rewards a driver with a one-year lease on a tractor and a one-year work agreement with Heartland Express.
Basenberg will receive a 2008 Mack Pinnacle high-rise sleeper from program presenter Mack Trucks plus a number of other prizes. Basenberg was nominated by his wife Tammie, who was the recipient of her husband’s selflessness when she suffered a debilitating back injury in a serious car accident, requiring eight surgeries. Basenberg spent time at home, rather than on the road, caring for her and later for his son Jason, who was injured in a roadside bomb attack while serving in Iraq.
(To see a video presentation about Basenberg, click here)
“My father is the type of person who puts everyone else’s needs in front of his own,” Jason Basenberg, wrote in his Back on the Road nomination.
“We’ve been married for 31 years and Billy has never taken a vacation – he has always worked hard to take care of me and our sons,” Tammie said in her nomination. “He is a really good man – and will always be the first to help.”
Though mounting medical bills and lack of a steady income put his family under financial stress, Basenberg, himself a U.S. Army veteran, did not hesitate when his older brother needed help battling an illness that eventually claimed his life.
A 20-year trucking veteran, Basenberg also found time in his life to assist a neighbor in caring for her home after she lost her husband of 60 years; and then welcomed an acquaintance’s son into their family for close to 10 years after his mother feared she couldn’t provide for him.
The toll eventually put the father of four in a situation where losing his home of 17 years became a very real possibility.
“Billy’s compassion and resilience through the obstacles he’s faced in life are not only inspiring, but also contagious,” said Steve Clough, president of Arrow Truck Sales. “After everything Billy has done for other people – family and strangers alike – we are proud to give him this chance to represent Back on the Road, gain back his family’s livelihood as an owner/operator, and enjoy this opportunity he very much deserves.”
In addition to the Mack tractor and contract with Heartland, Basenberg will receive:
Congratulations to Basenberg, a very deserving recipient worthy of being Back on the Road.