This is the April issue, so it'd be appropriate for me to begin by admitting how I made a fool of myself in Mack Trucks' Driving Skills Safety Challenge, held during the recent World of Concrete show in Las Vegas, but I didn't. I got a halfway decent score, and while half is not enough to win, I did enjoy the experience. The challenge required competing drivers to simulate the pre-trip inspection each is supposed to perform every morning. They had to find the mechanical "bugs" in a Granite mixer truck, then maneuver another truck through a maze of stations marked by orange cones and red tape on a parking lot. The red tape was literal, not figurative, because entering was easy. We showed up at a tent outside the Las Vegas Convention Center (which was bustling with thousands of attendees looking at hundreds of exhibits inside and outside the halls). We each filled out a simple form and presented a commercial driver's license to staffers, who issued score cards and instructed us to wait a bit. Some of us read an instruction booklet and watched a how-to video, then strode into the arena and attempted to grab some glory. About 150 people entered, making this the "best year ever" for the contest that was in its third year here, according to Derik Beck, Mack's manager for marketing projects who was in charge of the event. It's also held at the annual Waste Expo, using trash trucks. Using mixer trucks here, nine people finished in first, second and third places in individual and team categories. They and others shared some $10,000 worth of merchandise and gift-card prizes.
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