Those without any knowledge or experience with Monster Jam might think that it is just a bunch of huge “monster” trucks racing each other. Monster Jam visited Atlanta this weekend and it turns out its much more than that.
The first part of the show was the racing competition. The competition consists of two rounds, Semi Finals, and the Championship Round.
The Semi Finals featured the top performers of the night: Grave Digger, driven by Dennis Anderson, Son-uva Digger, driven by Ryan Anderson, Spider-Man, driven by Bari Musawwir and War Wizard, driven by Randy Moore. Due to having the best times, the Championship Round came down to father against son with Grave Digger facing Son-uva Digger.
Audience members watched and cheered as the two trucks tied for first place. After a few minutes, the judges reviewed the tapes. Unfortunately, one of the front tires on Son-uva Digger missed the ramp and Grave Digger was declared the winner.
During intermission, four men competed with monster truck toys on the track to win tickets to the Monster Jam World Finals competition in Las Vegas. In
addition, the event announcer gave away prizes to a few “lucky” winner seats in which contestants had to answer trivia questions. These “games” kept the audience entertained as the second part of the show was being set up.
Then, the “Freestyle Competition” began. Mass chaos ensued as trucks destroyed cars, vans, mobile homes and even the track itself to score points. Drivers are given two minutes to demolish as many things as possible, given that their trucks’ tires do not blow out, get stuck somewhere on the track, or the truck flips over.
If the trucks survive the two minutes, the drivers are given a bonus round of 30 seconds to try to score more points. During the two-minute competition, competitors can score “bonus” points if they perform tricks like spinning around. The spinning can lead to car parts flying off in any direction.
Driven by Chuck Werner, crowd favorite El Toro Loco’s horns came off as the vehicle twirled around. In a visual spectacle, the car’s headlights shone red and steam came out of the “nostrils” of the truck. Werner went out into the crowd and gave the horn to a father and son who were wearing “bull horn” hats.
Monster Energy, driven by Coty Saucier, performed several jumps, spins, but eventually became lodged on the track in such a way that even construction trucks and forklifts could not move him. So, Saucier’s truck remained on the track as the competition continued.
Grave Digger performed incredibly as the fourteenth competitor and scored 25 points. He introduced the last competitor, which was Son-uva Digger and yelled into the mic, “Ride-baby-ride!” And boy, did Son-uva Digger ride. By the time it was Son-uva Digger’s turn, there were four Monster Jam trucks stuck on the track. Ryan was the first one to attempt to jump over them and succeeded in jumping over two of them in a row.
Then, he performed several spinning tricks and jumps. Finally, he slammed into the Monster Energy truck, which still was not enough to budge the truck. Nevertheless, the crowd went wild and Son-uva Digger was declared the winner of the Freestyle Competition.
Amid all of the destruction, one simple, yet noteworthy point was that there was some diversity among the drivers. For instance, Scooby-Doo was driven by the only female competitor, Nicole Johnson; while Spider-Man had the only African American male driver, Bari Musawwir.
Only coming to town every so often, Monster Jam is truly a spectacle that should not be missed by veteran attendees and newcomers alike.
