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Indianapolis, Indiana – Monster Jam – January 24, 2009

By | January 25, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: Robert Haught
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
City: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: January 24, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Grave Digger (Randy Brown), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Batman (John Seasock), Monster Mutt Dalmatian (Candice Jolly), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), El Toro Loco (Chris Baker), Bob and Tom (Ricky Brantley), Eradicator (Andy Slifko), Backdraft (Jeremy Slifko), Rap Attack (Dave Rappach), and Rolling Thunder (Jim Bendzick). [Read more…]

Indianapolis, Indiana – Monster Jam – January 24, 2009

By | January 25, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: Chris Kaelin
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
City: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: January 24, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Grave Digger (Randy Brown), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Batman (John Seasock), Monster Mutt Dalmatian (Candice Jolly), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), El Toro Loco (Chris Baker), Bob and Tom (Ricky Brantley), Eradicator (Andy Slifko), Backdraft (Jeremy Slifko), Rap Attack (Dave Rappach), and Rolling Thunder (Jim Bendzick). [Read more…]

Indianapolis, Indiana – Monster Jam – January 24, 2009

By | January 25, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: John Roberts
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
City: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: January 24, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Grave Digger (Randy Brown), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Batman (John Seasock), Monster Mutt Dalmatian (Candice Jolly), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), El Toro Loco (Chris Baker), Bob and Tom (Ricky Brantley), Eradicator (Andy Slifko), Backdraft (Jeremy Slifko), Rap Attack (Dave Rappach), and Rolling Thunder (Jim Bendzick). [Read more…]

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Monster Jam – January 17, 2009

By | January 18, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: Chris Kaelin
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: H.H.H. Metrodome
City: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date: January 17, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Grave Digger (Chad Tingler), Superman (Chad Fortune), Taz (Adam Anderson), Air Force Afterburner (Damon Bradshaw), King Krunch (David Smith), El Matador (Daron Basl), Amsoil Shock Therapy (Jon Zimmer), Excaliber (John Killenger), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Geremie Dishman), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Iron Outlaw (Joe Miller), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Martial Law (Paul Strong), Destroyer (Dan Evans), & Rolling Thunder (Jim Bendzick). [Read more…]

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Monster Jam – January 17, 2009

By | January 18, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: Josh Rhodes
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: H.H.H. Metrodome
City: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date: January 17, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Grave Digger (Chad Tingler), Superman (Chad Fortune), Taz (Adam Anderson), Air Force Afterburner (Damon Bradshaw), King Krunch (David Smith), El Matador (Daron Basl), Amsoil Shock Therapy (Jon Zimmer), Excaliber (John Killenger), Raminator (Mark Hall), Rammunition (Geremie Dishman), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Iron Outlaw (Joe Miller), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Martial Law (Paul Strong), Destroyer (Dan Evans), & Rolling Thunder (Jim Bendzick). [Read more…]

Highland Heights, Kentucky – Monster Nationals – January 16, 2009

By | January 17, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: John Roberts
Event: Monster Nationals
Venue: Bank Of Kentucky Center
City: Highland Heights, Kentucky
Date: January 16, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Bounty Hunter (Darren Migues), Tailgator (Doug Noelke), Big Dawg (Dale Gerding), Bar’s Leaks Eliminator (Greg Adams), and Samson (Dan Patrick). [Read more…]

In The Dirt-2

By | January 16, 2009 | News

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IN THE DIRT

 

by
Aaron Cromer

In
The Dirt is Aaron Cromer’s take on all things in the monster truck
industry, a “monster editorial” if you will. He started as
a fan, created the web site MonsterWorldOnline.com, then eventually
began helping monster truck teams and worked his way up to being the
driver of Anger Management. Here, he will share his thoughts with
us.

In
The Dirt 2-January 16, 2009

Ok all you monster maniacs, week two of the
2009 season is in the books. I hope you all enjoyed the debut
column of “In The Dirt” last week. This week, I will be
touching on a few more shows that went on, once again with some
insider input on things. Let’s start out with a few little news
stories. Kelly Carrington, the widow of the late Calvin Carrington,
is the newest female driver to hit the track, as she has joined
Rob French on Wildfire Motorsports. Rob will still be piloting
Twisted Dragon, as Kelly will be driving a second truck called
“Dragonfly” for 2009. Checkered Flag Productions seemed to
have another good weekend of shows, as they started off the season
last week with two strong shows in North Carolina. I talked with
Zane Rettew, who is in charge of booking trucks and running events
for CFP, and he is very excited about how the 2009 season has gone
so far. I would like to commend Zane, Ed Beckley and the whole
Checkered Flag crew, as they seem to have a strong schedule and
trucks this year.
 
Speaking of Checkered Flag, there is one
driver who is rejoining the full CFP tour this winter, a former
CFP Winter Nationals Champion, Brad Campbell. Brad won the 2006
title driving Monster Moose, as he won racing as the CFP finals in
Pocatello, Idaho, and placed third in freestyle giving him enough
points on that night to take home the big trophy. The following
year he ran a part-time schedule, but still returned to Pocatello
to defend the racing victory, and once again, he came out
victorious. This means the CFP drivers have something to be
worried about. Brad Campbell had never lost a racing event in
Pocatello. Campbell is driving Public Disturbance this year, with
his wife Jen driving the former Monster Moose truck by the name
of  “Bombshell.”  Brad had a pretty good first
week, so I think he is one to watch out for this season for the
Checkered Flag Productions Winter Nationals Championship.
 
Moving onto some Monster Jam business now,
Bill Payne in “Rockstar” notched a racing victory this weekend
in Alabama. This is the first season Bill has had the opportunity
to run with Feld Entertainment, and I am sure he is going to make
the most of it. Bill is a hard worker, as he has put in a lot of
hours recently into the Rockstar machine improving it so he can
keep taking it to the next level. Anaheim, California saw some
intense action this weekend, as they had one awesome course set up
for freestyle.  The stadium is as wide as it is long, so the
drivers were able to hit obstacles in any direction. Kelvin Ramer
debuted the new “Time Flys” machine out of the “Living the
Dream” racing stable. It is a brand new RaceSource chassis with
all the trimmings. Kelvin put on one heck of a freestyle, hitting
everything on the track, catching big air and grabbing some
awesome slap wheelies. Good to see the new truck work well for
him, and Kelvin is really stepping up his game. Another guy who
had a sick freestyle in Anaheim is California driver Dan Radoni in
“The Patriot.”  The home state driver hit the track
with huge air, slap wheelied the truck right into the next
obstacle. Dan went into a donut, then the truck got up on two
wheels. Dan drove the truck on its sidewalls for 6-10 seconds; it
was by far one of the most amazing two wheel driving acts I have
ever seen. It did eventually go over after an awesome effort. I
give Dan the “almost save of the year award.” 

^Radoni’s freestyle run
from Anaheim^

 
Atlanta,
Georgia always sees great action year after year, and 2009 was no
exception.  Dennis Anderson came in and took both racing and
freestyle, but let’s look at some other points of the show.
Andy Slifko in Eradicator had a decent freestyle that turned into
a real good freestyle when after getting a nice cyclone donut going, the
truck hooked, got up on two wheels and balanced itself on the left
two tires for about ten seconds in one place. It was what I call
the Kodak moment of the event. The fans seemed to really like it.
Former Batman crew chief Coty Saucier (Two-time championship crew
chief) made his crewing debut with his new team, Randy Moore’s
War Wizard in Atlanta. I spoke with Coty and he seems very
happy with his new team. They had some first-show bruises, but if
anyone can get a truck back to 100 percent, it’s Saucier. Coty said Randy had a good freestyle that
ended with some blown hydraulic lines in the rear, and a broken
housing.  I would like to extend an extra good luck to Cody
with his new team as I have know Cody for years, and he is a great
guy, and a hard worker. We have been internet reporters together,
and we have worked in the pits together…good luck Coty.
Cam McQueen is starting to make his mark as a serious driver on
the Monster Jam tour this year.  After a short rookie season
in ‘08 that took him to the NGK Spark Plugs World finals, he is
back in his sophomore season in full throttle. He had some huge
air in the Georgia Dome, which ended with a hard rollover.
This guy is coming on fast, definitely going to be one to look out
for in the Pastrana 199 machine.
 
                                         Well that’ll do it for this week. Toronto is coming up next week, always a good show, so stay tuned. You’ve been “In The Dirt.”

Anaheim, California – Monster Jam – January 10, 2009

By | January 11, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: Andrew Ellingwood
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Angels Stadium
City: Anaheim, California
Date: January 10, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Backwards Bob (Mike Wine), Blue Thunder (Tony Farrell), Grave Digger (Pablo Huffaker), Jurassic Attack (Kristy Edge), Maniac (Don Frankish), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Obsession (Rick Swanson), The Patriot (Dan Rodoni), Shocker (Pat Gerber), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Aaron Basl), Time Flies (Kelvin Ramer), and Tropical Thunder (Phil Foster). [Read more…]

Huntington, West Virginia – Monster Nationals – January 10, 2009

By | January 10, 2009 | 2009 Photos, Photos

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Photos By: John Roberts
Event: Monster Nationals
Venue: Big Sandy Superstore Arena
City: Huntington, West Virginia
Date: January 10, 2009

Field Of Trucks: Tailgator (Doug Noelke), Holman’s Beast (Bobby Holman), Samson (Dan Patrick), High Maintenance (Jocelyn Perrin), and Ironman (Shane Smith). [Read more…]

In the Dirt-1

By | January 8, 2009 | News

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In The Dirt

by
Aaron Cromer

In
The Dirt is Aaron Cromer’s take on all things in the monster truck
industry, a “monster editorial” if you will. He started as
a fan, created the web site MonsterWorldOnline.com, then eventually
began helping monster truck teams and worked his way up to being the
driver of Anger Management. Here, he will share his thoughts with
us.

So
with the first weekend of the 2009 monster truck season in the
books, let’s look back on a few things.  The first thing that
grabbed my attention was Joe Sylvester with Bad Habit. Joe had a new
chassis built for the 2009 season. As of three weeks ago, the
chassis had just arrived at Joe’s shop in Ohio, with nothing on it
except the powder coating. I would like to give a big nod to Joe and
the people at his shop, whoever they were, that did the hardcore
thrashing to get that truck from a bare nothing, to a working,
breathing monster truck in just three weeks’ time. As a former crew
chief and driver, I know what it is like to thrash like that, and
let me tell you, it’s minimal sleep and maximum effort! Awesome Job
Joe! (photo from this past weekend’s Winston-Salem, NC Checkered
Flag Productions show, courtesy Dustin Hart)

 

Now
let’s take a look around at some different shows from the weekend.
Checkered Flag Productions had a couple shows going on this weekend.
One was in Charlotte, where the new “Bad Boy” Bigfoot made
it’s debut with Larry Swim behind the wheel. This show also saw
the return of Isiah Morales in Hot Tamale. Isiah seemed to have not
missed a beat and was back getting big air in the red Chevrolet
owned by Mike Hawkins.  The other CFP show on tap was in
Winston-Salem, NC. This is where Joe Sylvester debuted the new Bad
Habit chassis. I talked to Joe after the weekend, and he said
despite a few minor steering problems, he was very happy with the
way the truck felt and handled. I expect to see big things from Joe
this season, as he and Paul Strong with Martial Law have teamed up
and are traveling in the same trailer this year. They have a few big
shows on deck with Monster Jam, including Minneapolis, Phoenix, and
Houston. I wish those two hard- running independent guys lots of
luck. (photo from Charlotte, courtesy Dustin Hart)

 

On
the Monster Jam side of things, I will just touch on a few topics
for the first week. This was a bit of a hard week for me, as it was
the first week one of a season I have not been to in five years. It
has been a while since I was not driving or wrenching on a truck.
First thing, Rochester, NY. Mike Vaters and Randy Brown seemed to
have good weekends, sharing a few wins. Trey Myers with Iron Warrior
was sporting a new Ford F-150 body with an awesome new paint scheme.
I talked to Myers after the first show on Friday night. He made me
laugh as he said, “the first night went pretty much like you
expect a first night to go…nothing went right, nothing went
smooth, but we got through it.”  Sometimes that’s how those
first shows are. There always seem to be those little things that
become a problem. Trey had to change a rear steer pump after Friday
night’s show. Des Moines, Iowa saw the first show for Kreg
Christensen driving Maximum Destruction. Kreg is a long time veteran
of the sport and starting really getting into the Monster Jam world
last year, driving Iron Outlaw. Kreg had a few little mishaps this
weekend, rolling the truck over, but he is still getting used to the
Meents-style monster. The state of Ohio had some awesome action this
weekend. Columbus, OH saw some high-flying action on the freestyle
motocross hill. Marc MacDonald in Safe Auto had some of the most
insane air I have seen in a small arena in a long time, and he was
pulling out some power wheelies from a stopped position. Ricky
Ownley made his return to the seat of Mopar Magic with Carl
VanHorn’s departure. Ricky and Steve Sims started 2009 right where
they left off last year, running the trucks hard for the fans. Ricky
went for the FMX hill, he got a little crossed up coming off, and
drove the left front of the truck into the ground hard.  The
damage looked pretty substantial, as I know there was a tire blown
off the rim, kinked 4-link bar, and I am sure more. The Monster
Trucks Unlimited guys have some work to do to get Mopar Magic ready
for next week. But I know those guys will get it done and come out
and turn the fans on more and more. (photo from Des Moines, Iowa
courtesy Robert Haught)

Well that’s it for me this week. Keep checking AllMonster.com
every week for coverage, updates, photos, and columns by me and
Robert Haught. Until next time this is Aaron Cromer, and you’ve
been “In The Dirt.”