Based on last Saturday’s sensational start to the new Monster Jam year at the SPEED televised event in Houston’s Reliant Stadium not only will this be one of the greatest years that we’ve ever seen in terms of competition and spectacular moments, it is sure to be one of the most interesting campaigns we’ve ever witnessed.

Even the 25 th anniversary of Dennis Anderson’s career in Grave Digger is off to an unexpected start with the icon still healing from a shoulder injury. Dennis was in Houston, but not competing, instead serving as a coach, mentor, and head cheerleader for his son Adam who got to compete in his father’s truck for the first time ever last weekend. Dennis is feeling well and he says it’s pretty much week-to-week as to when he returns. That return to competition will be determined both by doctors and by how Dennis feels. He was happy with his shoulder’s progress in Houston, yet he wants to make sure he is 100% when he gets back behind the wheel, and he expects that will be soon. Certainly Adam’s impressive performance in Houston, and the way the Monster Jam fans got behind his son in Texas has Dennis feeling that everything is in great hands during this short hiatus. Adam appeared to be headed for a racing finals showdown with Tom Meents and Maximum Destruction before the blower belt ripped, contributing to his second round loss to George Balhan’s Escalade. Prior to the mechanical issues Grave Digger and Max-D were putting down the fastest laps on a unique new racetrack design, and Adam had actually out-qualified Tom by one-tenth of a second. Capping the night off with a roaring freestyle that won in Houston showed that Adam can handle the pressure of filling in for his famous father in this short term situation, and he’ll be even better from this experience when he gets back into the Taz truck.

That racecourse the Monster Jam officials created in Houston is one that I hope we see a lot more of in the future, and one that SPEED viewers are sure to enjoy. A pair of dirt table tops were constructed on opposite sides of the floor to serve as the Advance Auto Parts starting lines, and coming off the start the trucks actually raced toward each other until reaching their race lanes side-by-side. Then turning away from each other they flat tracked their way the length of Reliant Stadium before making the final turn toward each other, in close races literally looking the other driver in the eye before hitting the final stretch by soaring over the crush car stack to the Ford Finish line. It was a fun course that the drivers loved, and it provided for great competition all night. The race of the night actually came in round one between John Seasock in Batman and Balhan’s Escalade. Several looks at the videotape appeared to show a dead heat before the Monster Jam officials were able to break the video down by frame and prove that Batman had won the race by the narrowest possible margin. Hopefully this new course, which we’ve been calling “Houston Style” because it debuted in the Texas city, will be used again in the future in other locations.

Don’t look now but Tom Meents has driven Maximum Destruction to the first two racing wins of the year. Meents was on a mission last year to re-claim a World Championship, and he accomplished that mission winning the World Freestyle Championship at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas last March. He continues to tell the fans that freestyle is the priority because that part of the event is all about thrilling the fans, who turned out in standing room only numbers in Houston last Saturday. But deep down I get the sense that Tom is more committed than ever to returning to the stage this year as the World Racing Champion, a title that has eluded him since he won it for a third straight year in 2002. I know it’s early, but Tom has been virtually flawless in racing thus far this season as he heads to Atlanta’s Georgia Dome this week, a facility that he has dominated the competition in for several years.

After the event Saturday I heard several drivers commenting that they were impressed by the debut of Candice Jolly, the older sister of Pastrana 199 driver Courtney Jolly. Candice brought the brand new Monster Mutt Dalmatian to Houston and made a respectable first showing for herself. What most impressed the other drivers that I talked with was that Candice, who has an extensive racing background, didn’t over drive or abuse the equipment, which can be a common mistake for newcomers, yet at the same time she was competitive. It’s pretty obvious that all this single mom needs is seat time and she has the potential to be a player in big time events. And the look of her new truck is great, a real hit with all the fans, especially the kids, throughout the Houston weekend.

Jimmy Creten was not happy with his night as Bounty Hunter struggled but his teammate Linsey Weenk in Iron Outlaw picked up where he left off from his breakthrough 2006 season and made it all the way to the racing finals, where he lost to Max-D. Weenk will again be a major contender every where he competes this season, but right now he clearly has one problem when you talk about him as a potential racing champion – he has not been able to handle Meents. Weenk owns multiple wins over the likes of Creten, Dennis Anderson and most of the other big names, but thus far Tom has his number. That will be a match-up we should keep a close eye on as it comes up again, which I expect it will on multiple occasions. As for Creten, Bounty Hunter fans should not be concerned by his rough night in Houston. We’ve seen Jimmy start the season slow before as he and his top-notch team try new things and search for the best combination for his powerful Ford Expedition. In the past when Creten has struggled early he has been able to right the ship near the mid way point of the winter and always seems to roll into the World Finals with a ton of momentum. No reason to think that will change this year.

By the way, Mr. Creten obviously knows how to stay on the good side of his lovely wife. Jimmy told me he put more than $200,000 into building the all-new Scarlet Bandit for Dawn who will be back on the track soon. Dawn took off about a year and half to have the couple’s third child, but now she’s ready to get back into Monster Jam action. So rather than try to just throw together some existing pieces and get her back in competition 2Xtreme Racing built her a state of the art new truck that, according to Jim, she is thrilled about. Creten even hired Dawn her own crew, since there will be weekend’s when she competes in an event separate from Bounty Hunter and Iron Outlaw, with those trucks scheduled to continue to travel together and share resources all season.

Some final notes from Houston’s first SPEED event of the season (we will also televised the event there in February): we’ve always known that George Balhan’s got that in your face attitude that many fans, especially teens, love. Now he’s got a crew chief that is just as bold, but in almost an opposite way. Ben “Bobo” Winlsow was firing up the Escalade fans all night, but what really is entertaining to watch is the pair together. Bobo is like the country alter ego to Balhan’s punk rock persona. They are quite a pair…..Daron Basl turned some heads in Reliant, coming out first in freestyle and posting a score that kept him in the Hot Wheels Hot Seat as the event leader for most of the event until Balhan finally topped him in Escalade…..Seasock is thrilled to be in the Batman truck and was strong in both racing and freestyle…..Gary Wiggins has fans that go back more than 20 years to his Mopar Magic days, and he picked up some new ones in Houston. After flipping and damaging his truck in race qualifying, not only did Wiggins and his team get Stonecrusher back on the track for racing, he followed that up with a destructive freestyle that the Texas fans loved…..although he did not defend his 2006 Houston racing win, Carl Van Horn looked sharp in the Traxxas T-Maxx, and believe me, he’s not far off. A few more adjustments for that team is all that it’s going to take for Van Horn to get back on the winner’s stage…..it’s great to see the Monsters on Main Street promotion back, and Blue Thunder’s Tony Farrell is fired up about it. Every chance he got Tony was encouraging fans to go to monstersonmainstreet.com for the chance to not only win a trip to the World Finals, but to actually bring Tony and a star studded to field to the winner’s home town for their own Monster Jam event.