Monster Truck Jam

Last night we took the kids to their first ever Monster Truck show. We got a bit of a late start, but I think it might have been for the best too. After a afternoon of Chris monkeying around on Bob's truck, we skedaddled off to the show in 39 degree weather. Can you believe that? Luckily enough for us Chris knew a few parking lots close to the dome, but paying $20 for parking is highway robbery. The kids were really excited even Tony seemed to understand where we were going. I was armed with two safety ear cover things and three sets of ear plugs, I knew this was going to be loud.

Once we got into the dome, we had to make our way through the crowds while the officials were making announcements. I think we were better off in the corridors, because they had turned the lights down and I think the Bug was getting a little freaked out. We, of course, were way up in the nose bleed seats, but the view was awesome. Tony was in awe of the place. He sat on Chris's lap in a state of shock. Once they rev'd their engines, the whole place shook.

I was impressed how well the kids did in the environment and the whole show was set up for kids too. Not too many breaks between the races and I think the longest might have been between the races and the freestyle part (15 minutes). Still that wasn't bad either and they broke up the races with a wacky demo derby race with trailers. They had old cars carrying trailer with stuff and the last car running with their trailers won. Boy did Tony LOVE this race. His excited screams got a few people around us laughing. It was really funny to see the drivers get into what they were hauling like campers with stuff in them so when they got hit their stuff went flying. There was another car that actually got on another car's trailer and was towed around the arena.

The freestyle show is what most people look forward too with the big jumps, but I don't think anyone could have predicted the performance Avenger put on for us. This massive truck's run was toward the end of the show. I can only guess how much the body of one of those cost (Chris says they are made of fiberglass), but after Avenger's run there wasn't much of his left. He went on to win the freestyle after flipping his truck twice before his crew shut him down and he was still able to drive it into the pits. The original race winner Massive Destruction wasn't going to go down without a fight but he was only able to flip his truck once in his final performance.

There was a hometown favorite, Martial Law, the Minnesota natives open up the show after missing the races due to truck problems and was pretty impressive too. This truck did the shows first wheelie but was out of commission after plowing into the end of the arena, and to my lack of Monster Truck knowledge didn't realize it until after the tear down of the props that the truck had ran into the dumpsters covered in sponsor banners. I guess that will break off the tyrod that immobilized Martial Law.

There were the usual favorites like Grave Digger and Jasmine like Spike, which looked like a dog, and Tony liked it when the heavy machines had to come out to help a truck off the track. This event will surely go down as a repeat event, but next time I will remember snacks or feed them more at home to avoid a Jayna meltdown again. The poor little girl sitting in front of me got the brunt of Jayna or Tony's moving around.

So the next time we will be prepared by taking advantage of the open spots and getting away from everyone else for their sakes.