Monster Jam

Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour and television show operated by Feld Entertainment^[1]. The series is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) and takes place primarily in the United States. Although individual event formats can vary greatly based on the "intermission" entertainment, the main attraction is always the racing and freestyle competitions by monster trucks.

Live events

McGruff the crime dog, one of the many Monster Trucks that have been around since 1997.

Although Monster Jam events are held year round, the traditional competitive season (when televised shows are taped) runs from January to March, with a few events to start off the season in November. During the winter run, it is not unusual for up to 10 events to be run in different areas on the same weekend, with one or two major stadium events with 10-16 trucks, and a group of smaller arena events with 4-8 trucks. The season culminates in the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas in late March. There is also a Monster Jam Europe tour in the summer and autumn, as well as a domestic series of summer events known as Monster Jam Summer Heat.^[2]

According to the USHRA in 2004 season more than 2.5 million people attended these events.^[3]

Because of the large number of events and massive popularity of the series, the list of trucks competing in the series is the longest of any promoter. The most popular trucks, which are usually featured on the television show, come from three primary groups: Trucks (or names) which are owned by Feld (such as Grave Digger and Batman), independents or "privateers" (such as Gun Slinger and Avenger), and "corporate privateers" which are independently owned but sponsored by major companies (such as Bounty Hunter, sponsored by CSK Auto, and Amsoil Shock Therapy, sponsored by Amsoil). Feld's ownership of several of the most popular trucks often leads to allegations of favoritism, although they maintain that events are run fairly.

Tacoma death

On January 16, 2009, an accident at a Monster Jam event in Tacoma, Washington resulted in the death of one spectator, a 6-year-old boy. An adult spectator was also injured. The debris, which was actually part of a safety device, struck kindergartner Sebastian Hizey in the head said his father, Jessie Hizey of Puyallup, Washington.^[4] The accident occurred as a crowd of 10,000 watched the truck Natural High make a turn at the end of the stadium during its freestyle run. One of the driveshaft loops, a safety feature to retain the driveshaft, was crushed on an earlier jump and was thrown into the stands. ^[5] The show continued, though a Monster Jam representative later said they would have stopped the event if they had understood the seriousness of the accident. Soon after the show, the Natural High truck was discontinued from the Monster Jam circuit. This was one of only seven fatal incidents caused by a monster truck in the sports near 35 years. The last one to have happened at a USHRA Monster Jam was in 1992, almost seventeen years beforehand.

Television Show

The hour-long Monster Jam television show has aired on Speed Channel since 2003 with the 2003 World Finals 4. Previously, the show was aired on TNN, and in a half-hour clip show format as "Inside Monster Jam" on ESPN2. In the United Kingdom, the show is currently viewed on Bravo 2 and occasionally Channel 4.

World Finals Champions

Racing: Tom Meents won the first three racing championships at the Monster Jam World Finals from 2000 to 2002 driving Goldberg (2000-2001) and Team Meents (2002) but lost it to Brian Barthel who drove Wolverine in 2003. The following year Dennis Anderson finally won a racing championship in 2004 but lost it in the final race in 2005 to Debra Miceli in Madusa. The following year Anderson won his second racing championship which he lost the next year to John Seasock in Batman who won in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 Tom Meents won his first racing title since 2002 defeating Captain's Curse.

Freestyle: Dennis Anderson won the first freestyle championship scoring a perfect 40 (the only one in history) and then Tom Meents won the next two, once in Goldberg (2001) and then in Team Meents (2002). Then Jim Koehler won the championship in Avenger in 2003. Then in 2004 history was made when not only was there a three way tie, but a female won the World Finals, Tom Meents won it in Maximum Destruction, Debra Miceli won it in Madusa, and Lupe Soza won it in El Toro Loco. Then in 2005, Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter (known for tons of championship race appearances) shocked the world and won the freestyle championship. Then in 2006 Tom Meents won a record 7th championship in Maximum Destruction. Then in 2007 Pablo Huffaker took his brand new Captain's Curse truck and won the freestyle championship, followed by Adam Anderson in Taz the following year (which makes Dennis and Adam Anderson the only family championship team). In 2009 Damon Bradshaw in Air Force Afterburner won the freestyle championship by winning with a score of 36.

Racing:

Freestyle

Licensing

Mattel's Hot Wheels brand produces officially licensed toy versions of monster trucks under the Monster Jam name. They also sponsored a monster truck, which competed in the series in previous years. However in 2008, the Hot Wheels truck was not on the circuit, replaced in the line up by Donkey Kong.

Four officially licensed Monster Jam video games have been produced. The first two, Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction, a vehicular combat game, and Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal, an arcade racing game, were published by Ubisoft. The third, titled simply Monster Jam, was released by Activision on November 13, 2007, and a sequel to it called Monster Jam: Urban Assault was released on October 28, 2008.

The Monster Jam license is also held by Kurt Adler ^[7], American Greetings, Birthday Express ^[8]

See also

• Thunder Nationals

External links

• Monster Jam Online Website
• USHRA Website
• The Monster Blog

References