Don Hastert, a driver for LRM Industries Inc., Lawrence, above, was a finalist for the 2007 Ready Mixed Truck Driver of the Year Award, presented by the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

Hastert, who drives a 2005 Kenworth mixer truck, typically hauls 6,620 yards of concrete each year. That would be enough to pour a sidewalk 20 miles long – a ribbon of concrete stretching from Midland Junction, north of the Kansas River, to the southern edge of Douglas County.

Howard Hasler, vice president at LRM, said Hastert had been in only two accidents during his 41 years driving a mixer truck, and that both could not have been prevented. The most recent accident, in 1996, came when a car rear-ended him while he was stopped as a traffic signal.

Also notable: While LRM does not keep track of rejected concrete loads, Hasler said, Hastert has had “no more than a couple” during his more than four decades on the job.

“LRM does not have a truck rodeo or an employee of the year award,” Hasler said, in his nomination letter, “but we are quite confident that Don would win if we did.”