A mixer truck driver from Oklahoma earned top honors at this
year’s NRMCA National Mixer Driver Championship held last week
in San Diego in conjunction with
NRMCA’s
ConcreteWorks. Larry Lowe of GCC Mid-Continent Concrete
Company in Sallisaw (shown at right) earned the
champion’s check of $2,500. Lowe has been driving a ready mixed
concrete truck for GCC Mid-Continent Concrete Company for 12
years. He currently drives a Kenworth 4-axle truck with a
McNeilus rear discharge mixer. He is an NRMCA Certified Concrete
Delivery Professional and Smith System trainer, and the reigning
2011 Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association Mixer Driver
Champion.
Second place and a check for $1,000 went to Chris Daniels
of Irving Materials Co., Nashville, TN. He has been driving a
mixer for Irving Materials for six years, and is currently
driving a Terex Advance front discharge mixer truck. Daniels is
the 2011 IMI Corporate rodeo champion. Third place and a check
for $500 went to Trent Slavens of Irving Materials Co.,
Frankfort, IN. He has been with Irving for more than nine years
and is also driving a Terex Advance front discharge mixer truck.
Slavens was the returning NRMCA’s 2010 National Mixer Driver
Champion
2010 NRMCA National Mixer Driver Championship
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Trent
Slavens of Irving
Materials finished in first
place at this year's
National Mixer Driver
Championship, held on
October 10, 2010 National
Ready Mixed Concrete
Association's ConcreteWorks
Conference & Expo in
Charlotte, NC. Slavens, a
resident of Rossville, IN,
has been driving for 11
years and is an NRMCA-certified
Concrete Delivery
Professional. Second place
went to Charles "Chip"
Klein, also of Irving
Materials. Third place was
awarded to Jason Dilling
of CEMEX Materials.
Hometown
Driver Takes Top Honors At
2009 NRMCA National Mixer Driver Championship
To view the 2009 NMDC Slideshow(above), the latest version of Adobe Flash Player is
A local ready mix
truck driver earned top honors at the National Ready Mixed Concrete
Association’s Fourth Annual National Mixer Driver Championship, held earlier
this week on the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Joe Zygas
from the nearby community of Lafayette, IN and a driver for NRMCA producer
member Irving Materials Inc., won the top prize, outperforming an
accomplished group of fellow mixer drivers. The driver championship was
conducted as part of NRMCA’s annual ConcreteWorks event held this year in
Indianapolis. Along with the title and trophy, Zygas also earned the
champion’s check of $2,500.
The National Mixer Driver Championship, now in its fourth year, “was the
closest competition to date,” according to NRMCA Senior Vice President of
Operation and Compliance Gary Mullings. Some 34 drivers, including state
rodeo champions as well as NRMCA member company champions from around the
nation, competed for the title “Best of the Best”. The champion was selected
based on a cumulative score derived from competitions that included a
Driving Challenge Course, a Visual Vehicle Inspection and a 90-minute
written examination. Awards were presented for the top three finishers, with
all other drivers tied for fourth.
Zygas, known as Ziggy at Irving Materials, is a 17-year veteran at the
company. He holds a Class “A” license along with a commercial pilot’s
license with a mechanics endorsement. He finished second in the 2009
“Inaugural” Indiana Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s Skills Competition
and is the reigning 2009 Irving Materials Corporate Champion.
Second place went to Jeffrey Clark from Aggregate Industries in
Greenbelt, MD, who earned a $1,000 check. Clark is a certified NRMCA
Concrete Delivery Professional (CDP) and holds the company record for high
score on the CDP written exam. He was the champion in the 2008 Maryland
Motor Truck Association Ready Mix Concrete Class and is the reigning third
place finisher in 2009.
The third place finisher was Trent Slavens, also of Irving Materials
and Frankfort, IN. He has been driving a truck mixer for 10 years for Irving
Materials. Slavens holds a Class “B” license. Trent is the reigning 2009
Indiana Ready Mixed Concrete Association Skills Competition champion.
Contestants are evaluated for
invitation and judged in the
NMDC competition by NRMCA staff and
volunteers from
.jpg)
NRMCA’s
ConcreteWorks. Larry Lowe of GCC Mid-Continent Concrete
Company in Sallisaw (shown at right) earned the
champion’s check of $2,500. Lowe has been driving a ready mixed
concrete truck for GCC Mid-Continent Concrete Company for 12
years. He currently drives a Kenworth 4-axle truck with a
McNeilus rear discharge mixer. He is an NRMCA Certified Concrete
Delivery Professional and Smith System trainer, and the reigning
2011 Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association Mixer Driver
Champion.
