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THE 2005 SCOTTY AWARDS, PART 2
Scott Douglass
Now let’s wrap up the naming of this year’s Scotty Award winners by handing out the honors in several more categories:
USHRA Website Scott Douglass column 8-30-05 Last week in part one of my personal picks as the best of 2005, we named Scotty Award winners in the following categories: Team of the Year (Racing) – Winner: Madusa & Superman/Runner-up: Team Grave Digger Team of the Year (Freestyle) – Winner: 2 Extreme Racing/Runner-up: Team Meents Driver of the Year (Racing) – Winner: Dennis Anderson/Runner-up: Tom Meents Driver of the Year (Freestyle) – Winner: (tie) Anderson and Tom Meents/Runner-up: Tony Farrell Upset of the Year – Winner: Madusa defeats Grave Digger in the World Finals championship race/Runner-up: Predator wins Atlanta racing Crash of the Year – Winner: Brutus and Gunslinger in New Orleans Now let’s wrap up the naming of this year’s Scotty Award winners by handing out the honors in several more categories: FREESTYLE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR Winner: TOM MEENTS, MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION, Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis – While Meents had his share of ups and downs in 2005, his freestyle in St. Louis standouts out as a true high spot. Honorable mention here must go to Jason Witte in Wild Hair, Mark Schroeder in Devastator, and Dan Evans in Destroyer. By the time Meents hit the Edward Jones Dome floor those three had the crowd on fire with performances that each can rank among their career best. On any other night Witte, Schroeder, or Evans would have walked on the stage for the big trophy. Meents knew the only way he could win was to top the incredible performances turned in by those three, and he did just that. Living by the credo “go big or go home” Meents picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the trio mentioned above. He absolutely went off and nailed his best freestyle of the season to grab a narrow victory. Runner-up: DENNIS ANDERSON, GRAVE DIGGER, Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis – Yes, the top two in this category came on the same night in the same freestyle competition. It was clear what Anderson had to do, and he did it. After seeing what Meents did to top the great runs laid down by Wild Hair, Devastator, and Destroyer the icon responded to the challenge with his best freestyle of 2005. The judges gave Maximum Destruction a one point win over Grave Digger although many in attendance thought Anderson should have grabbed the close win. No matter who you thought won the competition the real winners were the Missouri fans and the Speed Channel audience that witnessed, first to last, the year’s best freestyle competition. FREESTYLE MOVE OF THE YEAR Winner: DAN EVANS, DESTROYER, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas – Air Man Dan wins here for pulling off a move we had never seen before and for doing it on the sport’s grandest stage. We have seen some awesome moves in reverse before, most notably Lyle Hancock’s in Wrenchhead at the finals a few years ago. And right before Evans took the track for his freestyle at the 2005 World Finals Michael Vaters in Black Stallion successfully nailed a reverse leap that wowed the crowd. But Evans found a way to raise the bar even higher when he completed a combination move over two separate obstacles in reverse. He pulled it off brilliantly and finished near the top of the World Finals freestyle competition. Runner-up: TOM MEENTS, MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION, at home in Paxton, IL – I can’t make this the award winner because it did not come in competition, but in terms of Speed Channel highlights this moment certainly rates as the year’s most memorable. After completing construction on a beautiful new home in Illinois, Meents brought the cameras along to watch him destroy his old house with a “take no prisoners” Max-D exhibition freestyle. Before destroying the house Meents accomplished a breathtaking leap over it to solidify his self proclaimed title as the “King of Air”. RISING STAR AWARD Winner: GEORGE BALHAN – Putting this former rookie of the year into a tricked out Escalade has been the perfect marriage of man and machine. Balhan loves all of the bling-bling, and he has driven the wheels off of this awesome looking Caddy. I’ve said it on TV and I’ll write it here: someday we will be referring to George Balhan as a World Champion, and my guess is that it will be sooner rather than later. Runner-up: CHRIS BERGERON – We found out one thing for sure in 2005. When Brutus pulls onto the track you don’t take your eyes off of this 10,000-pound dog, because more than likely something spectacular is about to happen. That may be good and it may be bad. The bet here is that as time goes on it will be the good stuff we’ll see more and more from the protégé of 2003 World Freestyle Champion Jim Koehler. MOST IMPROVED DRIVER Winner: DAWN CRETEN – In 2005 Scarlet Bandit mechanically was the best truck that Dawn Creten has ever driven, and she elevated her driving abilities as well to become a legitimate contender to win every time out. Her biggest win had to be at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix where she topped an all-star line-up full of some of the sport’s biggest names. It was fitting that in 2005 Dawn earned a berth in the Monste r Jam World Finals for the first time in her career. Runner-up: JASON WITTE – Mainly in freestyle Witte’s performances in Wild Hair caught a lot of attention, as well as capturing lots of high scores in 2005. His best may have been the previously mentioned hometown freestyle at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. The truck name Wild Hair has a long history in the sport and in 2005 Jason Witte brought that name to new heights on some of Monster Jam’s biggest stages. BEST NEW TRUCK Winner: SUPERMAN – The combination of an up and coming driver, top shelf crew chief, and possibly the world’s best known and most beloved superhero give Superman the nod here as the top new monster truck we saw debut in 2005. Making it into the finals the first night out in Atlanta showed just how quickly Chad Fortune took to his new ride. Looking at the huge lines in pit parties with fans wanting to meet Chad and get an up close pic of the super machine showed that this truck is already a prime time player. Runner-up: T-MAXX– John Seasock’s new digs turned heads right from the get-go. Long one of the most popular drivers, not only among fans but his fellow competitors as well, Seasock’s Traxxas sponsored T-Maxx is not only an awesome looking truck, but performance wise it is clear that as John keeps elevating his game this is the best piece of equipment that he has ever driven. The new truck’s popularity became even more evident when Seasock won this year’s internet “Fan’s Choice” award. COMEBACK OF THE YEAR Winner: GUY WOOD – Even though he really wasn’t gone very long, Guy Wood’s coming out of retirement to drive for Team Meents revitalized his career and gave Meents yet another shoe capable of putting his top flight equipment in the winner’s circle. Wood was especially effective for the Meents camp heads up against Grave Digger, proving to be a thorn in Dennis Anderson’s side all season. The icing on the cake came in Indianapolis where Wood recorded the biggest racing win of his career, driving the Bob & Tom Ford to the RCA Dome event racing victory, knocking off Allen Pezo and Predator in the finals. Runner-up: ROB KNELL – Coming back from injuries it was great to see “cousin Rob” back behind the wheel in 2005. He came back slowly in ’05 working first as a crewman for Maximum Destruction and Hot Wheels, then got back behind the wheel late in the season. Here’s hoping we see lots more of Rob Knell the driver in 2006. Remember, this is a driver who won a major stadium event in New Orleans on television a few years ago in the now defunct nWo truck. Knell is another from the Tom Meents School of Monster Trucks who can flat drive…..and win. SAVE OF THE YEAR Winner: PHIL FOSTER, MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION, Olympic Stadium, Montreal – In the semifinal round of racing, matched up against the reigning World Champion at the time, Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger, and with the huge crowd on its feet in anticipation you just know that Phil Foster was sky high and ready to take out the Digger or destroy Max D trying. He did neither but elicited a huge gasp from the crowd when it appeared he flipped the truck, only to somehow avoid the roll and pull back onto all four wheels. It cost any chance for a win against Anderson but had the crowd screaming in delight and in tribute to his masterful save. Runner-up: RANDY BROWN, GRAVE DIGGER, RCA DOME, Indianapolis – Randy Brown had another one of those amazing Grave Digger moments in route to winning the freestyle competition in front of yet another sold out house. Not only was it an unbelievable save, it was crucial. With Meents and Maximum Destruction scoring a 28, Brown would not win if he rolled the truck before the time expired. Pulling the Digger back into the run after the truck appeared to be laid on its side and then rolling on to finish the run in spectacular fashion probably earned Brown the extra point he needed to edge Meents 29 to 28. That’s it for this year’s Scotty Awards. As we head into the biggest European Tour ever, and with the new Speed Channel/major dome/stadium event season just around the corner all of the above mentioned award winners will force everyone in 2006 to raise the bar even higher to make new Monster Jam history. There is one thing we know from past experience though – that bar will be raised, and new levels will be reached in Monster Jam thrills throughout the new season.