Sources: CP staff; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.

Joseph “Ziggy” Zygas, a Lafayette, Ind.-based driver for Irving Materials Inc., won the 4^th Annual National Mixer Driver Championship, staged amid NRMCA’s 2009 ConcreteWorks Conference & Expo, Oct. 17-20, in Indianapolis. Second- and third-place honors, respectively, went to Aggregate Industries’ Jeffrey Clark of Crofton, Md., and Irving Materials’ Trent Slavens of Rossville, Ind. The top finishers received $2,500, $1,000 and $500 cash prizes from NRMCA-affiliate, the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB). They were among 34 delivery professionals from 21 states in a competition combining written exam, truck walk around and visual inspection, and 10-station challenge course.

Drivers had their choice of rear- or front-discharge trucks to navigate challenge course stations along the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a few miles from the ConcreteWorks venue, the Indianapolis Marriott. In addition to having the best and most appropriate National Mixer Driver Championship backdrop to date--the IMS winner's circle, pagoda and grandstands--this year’s event was the first to welcome a female competitor: Anna Brown, a Hot Springs, Ark., driver for Martin Marietta Materials. Like all her peers in this year’s competition, she has placed at or near the top of company or state/regional RMCA mixer truck rodeos or related challenges. 2009 NRMCA Chairman Henry Batten (Concrete Supply Co.), NRMCA Operations Environmental & Safety Committee Chairman Terry Green (U.S. Concrete), and TMMB Chairman Charlie Schumacher (Schwing America) led a festive salute to all drivers during an Oct. 19 awards dinner.