SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 emcee Shawn O'Malley relaxes for a minute during down time the competition as shows off the Marshalltown children's book.

Special thanks to Gold Sponsor Marshalltown for their continuing support of the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500®.

More about Marshalltown:

When a better tool is made… MARSHALLTOWN will make it! MARSHALLTOWN has been the first to offer some of the most innovative changes in its industry. Its innovative spirit has been evident from the very beginning, and its continuous product development has helped the company achieve and maintain its status as the Standard of Quality since 1890.

From the beginning, the Williams brothers customized and improved upon the tools they made for their customers. MARSHALLTOWN introduced its Xtralite® Finishing Trowel in 1928—the forged aluminum mounting was a big change and upgrade from the heavier, malleable iron mounting that had been used for decades. The company also began offering aluminum hawks and darbies as lighter alternatives to the traditional heavier wooden versions. In 1930, MARSHALLTOWN employee J.B. Troutner was issued a patented for a handle that would be molded onto a brick trowel to prevent twisting. MARSHALLTOWN’s innovation continued as the company developed new products like the Enforcer™ drywall texture sprayer, and further improved upon existing products by adding indestructible bumpers to end mushrooming on brick trowel handles and developing patented technology to offer PermaShape® trowels.

Perhaps one of the company’s largest successes came in the early 1990s, when MARSHALLTOWN was the first company to put a soft-grip handle on a construction tool thereby revolutionizing the hand tool industry. MARSHALLTOWN obtained several patents and registered the DuraSoft® brand name. All of its DuraSoft® handles feature a unique black plastic core and a “brick red” soft-grip material that is easily recognized by tradesmen. Today, MARSHALLTOWN offers its familiar “brick red” handles on hundreds of tools, including trowels, tuck pointers, jointers and sled runners, hawks, taping knives, joint and putty knives, edgers, groovers, floats and darbies, chisels, rasps, tapers, utility knives, sanders, squeegees, texture guns, seam rollers, saws, and scrapers.

To learn more about our sponsors and competition visit www.specmixbricklayer500.com

Tom Clark discusses the importance of Marshalltown for the success of the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500. Not only does Marshalltown support us by providing gift bags for all the regional and national winners, but they provide us ceremonial trowels as well.