Sources: CP staff; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
Eastern Concrete Materials veteran Ed Rieper took the 2017 National Mixer Driver Championship, staged October 1-2 in Grapevine, Texas, during the NRMCA ConcreteWorks Conference. The first place finish earned the Saddle Brook, N.J., driver a $2,500 check from the NRMCA Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau, and adds to his 2016 National Mixer Driver Championship fifth-place and 2015 NRMCA Driver of the Year honors.
NRMCA Operations, Environmental and Safety Committee Chairman Tim Kauzlick (Cemex) led an October 2 ceremony saluting 94 championship contestants. Joining Rieper atop the field, second to fifth: David Mangold of Cemex USA, Cocoa, Fla., who finished fourth in the 2015 competition and was 2016 Driver of the Year runner-up; Gary Bethea of Maschmeyer Concrete Co., Lake Park, Fla.; Benny Grippe of Ferrara Bros. LLC, Flushing, N.Y.; and, Allen Rogers of Concrete Supply Co., Lancaster, S.C.
The National Mixer Driver Championship combines a 12-station challenge course measuring contestants’ ability to maneuver rear or front discharge mixer trucks in common plant or site conditions; visual vehicle inspection and computer-based reaction time tests; and, written exam.