It’s way to early in the season for me to be making decisions on my annual “Scotty Awards”, but last Saturday night’s Monster Jam at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta has to immediately become the favorite to be my “Freestyle Event of the Year” award winner. The fans in the Peach State were treated to a series of runs they’ll remember for a long time, and those who watch the event later this year on SPEED will see why we may have set a record for standing ovations at an event. The Atlanta fans seemed to stay on their feet almost the entire night for several memorable freestyles.

I’m glad I didn’t have to be a judge at this one. To be able to decide if Adam Anderson, driving his father’s Grave Digger XX, or Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction actually won the event would be impossible for me. Two phenomenal performances worthy of the highest accolades. Adam went before Tom and raised the bar to an incredible height with a ragged edge assault on the Georgia clay that may be most remembered for at least four separate, seemingly impossible saves that allowed him not only the fill the clock in all-out fashion, but to actually continue on well past the :90 seconds the judges scored, just for the fans. Meents then answered the young Anderson’s challenge with another run that was not just :90 seconds of amazing feats, but bonus time for the fans as well, and not one of the 65,000 plus fans in the sold out dome that I could see was sitting for even a second of Tom’s run. Credit for that goes to both of the big guns. Adam got the crowd so fired up you couldn’t hear what someone sitting next to you was saying, and Tom kept them at them level. Maybe the most amazing moment (and there were several amazing moments) of Tom’s freestyle came when he actually rolled Maximum Destruction completely over, a total 360, landed on all fours, then just kept going. It was unbelievable.

There is a reason that this year’s Atlanta event set a record as the earliest Monster Jam sell-out ever in the Georgia Dome, and that is that the fans there know that year in and year out the Monster Jam drivers respond to the incredible support they get from those fans with some of the year’s most amazing performances. As great as all of the drivers performed it is worth noting that no has given more to one group of fans over a sustained period than Tom Meents has to the fans of Atlanta. It may go into the record book as a Grave Digger win since the officials used a crowd cheer-off to break the scoring tie between Max-D and Digger, but don’t lose sight of what Meents has done in the Georgia Dome. This makes six straight years in Atlanta that Tom has nailed it there, six straight years when no one has scored more points from the judges: four outright victories, a tie with Dennis Anderson’s Grave Digger that was left as a tie three years ago, and this year’s event where he and Adam Anderson each earned a near perfect score of 29 from the judges.

In the past when I look at what I think the “Freestyle Event of the Year” is it is always about more than just the winner, or the top two, and that is why this year’s Atlanta event is going to be thought of as one of the year’s best. What happened in freestyle before Adam Anderson pulled Grave Digger on to the track already had the crowd on fire, and the biggest kudos for that go to Tony Farrell, Jim Koehler, and Chris Bergeron.

Bergeron had gone big in Atlanta last year and many fans were talking about that performance during this year’s pit party. What Chris did this season to make Brutus’ run even stronger was that he lasted the entire time, and didn’t back down from last year’s high energy level. Brutus went big early and really got the event rolling.

Farrell in Blue Thunder and Koehler in Avenger then really set the table for the final two with amazing runs themselves, and what was awesome was how different each run was. Farrell, I’m sure, will be remembered for some of the best wheelies we’ve ever seen on that sometimes slick clay surface, Blue Thunder several times riding a wheelie the length of the huge Georgia Dome floor. As for Koehler, he has probably established himself as second only to Meents in the big air category, and he gave the fans plenty of that sic air in Atlanta. Each of the drivers who competed in Atlanta gave it everything their truck had, and all of them, but most notably Farrell, Koehler, and Bergeron deserve credit along with Adam and Tom for a truly spectacular event.

While the freestyle was that memorable it would be totally wrong to just write about the freestyle here, because the racing providing several great stories as well, the biggest being popular John Seasock recording arguably the biggest win of his career. Through his days in Sudden Impact and the Traxxas T-Maxx Seasock was always a contender, especially in racing. But his move to the Batman team this year has elevated his status to clearly among the elite and he proved that in Atlanta. After beating Scott Hartsock (who’s brand new Gunslinger looks and runs brilliantly) in a great, photo finish race for the championship in Atlanta racing, Seasock showed a unique combination of pride, emotion, and humility as he reveled in a victory that I believe he’ll never forget. While every competitor wanted to beat him in racing it was moving to see the respect the other drivers showed him after the finals with their heartfelt congratulations to him as he walked off the winner’s stage with the big racing trophy.

Seasock earned the win, period. But I must also point out that Meents remains undefeated in round racing this season. He was eliminated from the Atlanta racing not in defeat, but due to one of those “WOW” moments. After beating Allen Pezo and Prowler in the first round Maximum Destruction went into a summersault and crashed, landing atop the wall protection. That his crew, with help from other teams, was able to fix the truck and get it back into shape for Tom to perform his amazing freestyle is a tribute to the hardest working men and women in motorsports, those who make up the pit crews for today’s Monster Jam teams.

Finally, a Dennis Anderson update. Then icon continues to make great strides in his recovery from the shoulder injury he suffered in Minneapolis in December and could be back any time now, maybe this week. My understanding is that Adam will continue to go with the Grave Digger XX team until Dennis actually gets in the truck, and then will return to racing and freestyling in Taz. Just watch for Dennis to back behind the wheel sooner than later.