This week's post will be a bit of a departure from the usual car show review. Instead of going to a car show this weekend, I spent Saturday afternoon attending the Monster Jam show at the Schottenstein Center with my son-in-law and grandson.
More than 70 truckloads of dirt made the Value City arena the perfect environment for 10,000 pound, 1500 horsepower monster trucks.
THE COMPETITION
The Monster Jam consists of more than 60 trucks and drivers, but only eight perform at each show. With names like Avenger, Grave Digger, Master of Disaster, the trucks can resemble anything from a Chevy Silverado to a dragon-like creature.
In addition to the trucks, there are ATV and speedster vehicles that compete in obstacle-style racing events. The speedsters can reach a top speed of 85 mph and are typically reserved for the larger venues. The ATVs, which have a top speed of 55 mph, are used at smaller venues like the Schott. Each ATV or speedster and their driver is paired with a specific truck to form a team. The eight teams compete in an assortment of events to determine a champion at the end show. Points are awarded for each event and tallied throughout the performance.
Some events, such as the wheelies, donuts and freestyle are judged by the spectators. The truck receiving the highest judges points wins that event. This year the show added something new with the judging. Anyone in the crowd with a smart phone could score an event. You just connected your phone to a website and entered a score between 0 to 10 for each truck's performance. The scores were totaled and averaged to come up with a final judges score. It was all pretty slick!
This is my second year attending the show. I was a little disappointed with the performance of the most of the trucks this year. Grave Digger was the only truck that attempted to do any "cool" tricks. Because of that, the crowd rewarded it with the championship of the show.
Despite the lack luster performances by many of the trucks, the show still turned out to be a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday when the weather outside was less than perfect. If you're into loud engines and big trucks, and have children or grandchildren, I highly recommend you take them to a show. Kids really seem to enjoy the performances. Just be warned, you'll probably be hit up to purchase a souvenir after the show is over.
VIDEOS
Here are some videos of the action.
Head to Head racing final heat
Truck blows a tire doing donuts
ATV racing
The winning free-style performance
Car shows for next weekend
I only know of three shows for next weekend. It looks like Big Dawg rescheduled the Pep Boys Carnival of Cars from last Saturday to this coming Saturday (4/29) because of weather. The Tri-Rivers FFA Chapter will be holding their annual car show on Saturday at the Career Center at 2222 Marion-Mt. Gilead Rd. And finally, The Elgin High School Music Boosters will be hosting their annual car show on Sunday (4/30) at the high school. Weather permitting, next week's report will be from the Elgin show. Until then, I hope to see everyone out there cruisin'.