Tudor Van Hampton/ENR

The World of Concrete opened its doors on Jan. 22 to a stock sell off on Wall Street and a Fed emergency rate cut, which attendees canvassing the floor said may have come too late to stop a slowing U.S. economy from dipping into recession. Show manager Hanley Wood Exhibitions expected the Las Vegas event to bring in 80,000 people throughout the week, 10% to 13% lower than last year’s record turnout of 91,628. But that didn’t stop others from racing to set world records. After Chinese-based Sany announced a record for a new 66-meter placing-boom truck, Sturtevant, Wis.-based Putzmeister America Inc. said it is making a 70-meter truck. Neither unit was on display, though Putzmeister showed a 63-meter pump, customer-ready with a custom fireball-red paint job.