FORT WORTH, Texas -- Laying flat on his back after an oil rig collapsed on top of him, Hale Hughes thought his life was over. His ribs were crushed, spleen ruptured and back broken. But a few months later, the oilfield roughneck was back to work.

At home, his wife, Danyell Hughes, was battling breast cancer, and the bills were piling up. She was diagnosed with the disease six months pregnant with the couple's second child.

Doctors advised Danyell to terminate the pregnancy to better her survival rate and begin treatment right away. She refused and the cancerous tumor in her breast grew larger. Finally, she was forced to deliver a premature child that was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit for a month while she underwent chemotherapy.

"That year was about as bad as it could get. We had had it up to here," said Hale, with his hand at his head.

But 2008 has been different for Hughes, a 40-year-old resident of Woodville, Texas.

Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company, makers of Dickies, the leading global work-wear brand, named Hughes its 2008 American Worker of the Year. As a VIP guest of the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Hughes will serve as grand marshal, deliver the starting command and have a chance to win a million dollars.

On Saturday, Hughes was brought into the Texas Motor Speedway media center with team owner Richard Childress, track president Eddie Gossage and a slew of scantily dressed women holding brief cases from which to randomly select a car and driver from the Dickies 500 lineup. If his selection wins the race on Sunday, Hale will go home with $1 million.

Hughes said he thought he was dreaming.

Of the 43 brief cases, in true Deal or No Deal fashion, guess which number Hughes picked? Sunday's pole-sitter, the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon.

The crowd inside the media center filled with amazement and Dickies corporate folks gulped. Their chances of parting with a $1 million payout just became a reality. It's a cash prize greater than Sunday's race purse.

As part of his guaranteed prize winnings, Hale will also receive a 2009 Ford F-150, a Yamaha Rhino premium four-wheeler and a regional Dickies gift certificate.

With prizes like those, working hard doesn't sound so bad.

"Hale Hughes personifies qualities that are truly inspirational to so many people -- a dedicated and hard-working American who gives 100 percent day in and day out, despite what obstacles life throws his way," said Misty Otto, public relations director for Dickies. "Hale is a role model and leader to anyone privileged to know him ... superior workers deserve to have their outstanding drive, leadership and perseverance acknowledged and rewarded." (Continued)