The life you save ...

OOIDA Life Member Rick Ash mouthed numbers while counting each person that walked by him in Health Walk.

As OOIDA members Penny and Kelly Thigpen of Logan, Utah, walked by, Penny playfully distracted Ash's count.

"Seventy-three ... seventy-four ... seventy-five."

Ash, chairman of Trucking Solutions Group, laughed even as he continued counting. And for good reason.

Saturday's Health Walk, hosted by Trucking Solutions Group and sponsored by OOIDA Medical Benefits Group and Inter-Americas Insurance Corp., had more than 200 truck drivers signed up – a new record, Ash said.

"We've been doing this since 2010, and this is the highest turnout we've ever had for a health walk," Ash told the crowd. "We're really excited!"

The Health Walk proceeded for the length of the grandstand at the Kansas Speedway – three-quarters of a mile – and back to total 1.5 miles.

Ash said the Health Walk has become an annual event at the Mid-America Trucking Show and the Great American Trucking Show.

But the program isn't merely about building numbers.

"Thank you for participating," Ash told the crowd of mostly drivers and spouses.

"The whole idea behind this is to be healthy," Ash said, adding that being healthy can help drivers be safer.

"The life you save might just be mine."