MONTREAL — Thirty-year veteran owner-operator from Trois-Riviéres, Que., Jean-Francois Foy, was named the 2007 HighwaySTAR of the Year at a ceremony held at ExpoCam in Montréal this past weekend. Foy works with Trois-Riviéres-based Transport J.C. Germain.

A father of four, Foy has driven for 30 years, and he’s spent the past 24 as an owner-operator. He has logged of 4 million kilometers, with 2.5 million on his current truck, a 1996 Freightliner. He says that while the truck is already 11 years old, it’s in tip-top shape, and he fully expects to put another one million kilometers on it before it’s done.

He attributes the truck’s longevity to diligent maintenance and moderate driving habits. “I never speed, and I never idle the truck,” Foy says. He’s also still running the original tire casings on his drive axles. He says they’ve been recapped four times now.

Foy, 2007 highwaySTAR of the year, flanked by Transport Routier
editor Steve Bouchard (left), and Newcom President Jim Glionna.

But there’s more to Mr. Foy than just good driving and maintenance habits. The highwaySTAR of the Year Award is about the whole individual, not just the portion of winner’s life spent behind the wheel.

Says highwaySTAR editor, Jim Park, “when judging the nominations for the award, we’re looking for good, safe professional drivers, as you might expect, but we’re also looking for someone goes beyond just being a good truck driver. HighwaySTAR magazine is as much about the rest of the driver’s life as they time he or she spends behind the wheel.

“In handing out this award, we’re looking for a driver who makes a contribution to his or her community as well. And we know only too well how difficult that can be given the demands of the job. We think that’s what makes the highwaySTAR of the Year Award that much more of a distinction. It goes beyond the driver and recognizes the full individual for all he or she does.”

Mr. Foy is an active member of the Knights of Columbus in the Trois-Riviéres area, and he’s been coaching amateur hockey for 14 years. But his biggest contribution to date has been the creation one of the most popular summer attractions along Quebec’s North Shore. It’s a summer truck show called Festival du routier de Donnaconna. He started the event in 2004, to raise money to help children in the area suffering from learning disabilities. He’s currently president of the committee.

In starting the first event, he took four months off work, working only on the Festival. Going into its third year this year, he’ll still be putting at least two days a week into organizing the event.

The profits of the Festival are given to foundation called Les amis de Pamela for disabled children. Last year, the show’s second edition raised $40,000 for the foundation — which is named after his daughter, Pamela, who has a learning disability called dysphasia.

To learn more about Jean-Francois Foy, please see the special profile in the May print issues of Today’s Trucking and highwaySTAR magazines.

The highwaySTAR of the Year award is generously sponsored by Freightliner Corp., Espar Heater Systems, ArvinMeritor, Caterpillar, Chevron Delo, Kee Transport, Michelin Tire, SelectTrucks, the Owner Operators Business Association of Canada, and Newcom Business Media — the publisher of highwaySTAR, Today’s Trucking, and Transport Routier magazines, as well as the owner and organizer of ExpoCam and Truck World truck shows.