Now eight years old, the Monster Jam World Finals has already evolved into many things, one of which is: it is the most emotional event in the sport every year. The crowning of the World Champions in Las Vegas has finally given Monster Jam its “brass ring”, that ultimate goal that every team and driver strive to achieve. Now all of the effort and hard work and excellence can be rewarded on a night that truly makes careers. The stakes are so high every March when the best in the business head to Las Vegas that the emotional roller coaster so many teams end up on is almost as amazing as the competition itself. When you put as much into trying to win these titles as the superstars of Monster Jam do it should come as no surprise that this annual trek west is not only the biggest and greatest night in the sport, it is clearly the most emotional.

For most of us that point became obvious in 2004, when Dennis Anderson piloted Grave Digger to the World Racing Championship. During the first four editions of the Monster Jam World Finals Anderson had not been very good racing on the Sam Boyd Stadium course. As a matter of fact, he had never made it out of the second round until that magical night in March of 2004, when finally the sport’s icon exorcised the demons of Sam Boyd Stadium and won his first racing title. It was an exciting win that he recorded over Pablo Huffaker in the championship race, but what many, if not most, people remember is not the race itself. What is most remembered from that historic night was the outpouring of emotion from Anderson, arguably the sport’s most famous and accomplished driver. Dennis being interviewed, in tears, with tens of thousands of his fans on their feet screaming and his beaming, proud sons wrapping their arms around their father at the greatest moment of his career. It’s those moments and those emotions that make the Monster Jam World Finals the most emotionally charged night on the calendar.

The emotions were on display big time again this year, most notably following John Seasock’s first racing championship. John was emotional enough Saturday after winning the crown when he drove Batman to victory over Grave Digger, but that was nothing compared to his reaction to his sons being secretly brought to Vegas from Pennsylvania to join in the celebration of their father’s accomplishment the next night at the Champions Awards Banquet.

We see so publicly the emotions from the champs both live and on Speed, but there are a lot more than just those on stage moments for the winners. The raw emotions behind the scenes, some that never get caught on camera but amaze those who are there at the time, are also more acute at Las Vegas than anywhere else in the industry. To watch Neil Elliot driving a truck he knows is bad-fast and ready to compete for a world title, but unable to qualify because his Hot Wheels machine kept breaking drive shafts. A completely frustrated, yet determined Elliot just stared at his piece for 15, maybe 20 minutes late Friday night. Then things came into focus. Elliot realized that the drive shafts were breaking in the exact same spot, which pointed him to the drive shaft loops. Sure, enough, that’s where the problem was. Back to work in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and Elliot not only repaired his truck, but came from the number 24 (last) qualifying spot all the way to the third round and made a little history himself, becoming the first truck ever in the World Finals to be seeded last after qualifying to defeat the truck seeded number one in racing when he recorded his second round win over Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter.

Speaking of Creten, his 2Xtreme Racing team ran the gamut of emotions through the 27-hour period from the start of Friday night’s practice through the end of WF8. Jimmy was struggling in practice, but as we’ve seen from him before, he just kept adjusting and making changes trying to get things right. The third time he brought Bounty Hunter onto the track Friday was for his official qualifying run and Creten’s team had the combination just right, and as a driver, Jimmy was brilliant. His lap of 15.84 is not the official Sam Boyd Stadium qualifying record, but it was the fastest lap ever recorded the on the course the way it is now configured, so it was kind of an unofficial track record run. As for emotions, though, Jimmy was elated, not so much by his run individually but by the phenomenal night his total team had. All three 2Xtreme Racing trucks qualified in the top six of the 24 trucks competing (Bounty Hunter #1, Linsey Weenk’s Iron Outlaw #3, and Dawn Creten’s Scarlet Bandit #6). Friday’s Double Down night had to be one of their greatest night’s ever as an entire team. Talking to all of the drivers they were sky high at the end of Friday’s festivities.

Yet those emotions, on a real high at the end of Friday night, were deflated quickly Saturday when Bounty Hunter and Scarlet Bandit lost second round races. Weenk had an outstanding night to keep the team pumped up, but was unable to get all the way to the top of the mountain, mainly because of one Pablo Huffaker. The veteran again proved to be Weenk’s undoing, when for the second straight year Huffaker eliminated Weenk in the racing semifinals. Then to add insult to injury, after Linsey turned in the best freestyle of his career and had the tie-breaker advantage in freestyle it was Huffaker who knocked Weenk (as well as Air Force Afterburner’s Damon Bradshaw and Safe Auto Minimizer’s Marc McDonald) out of the hot seat when he powered the new Captain’s Curse truck to the World Freestyle Championship. Again, it’s that pendulum swing of emotions that so many teams experience in Las Vegas that was embodied in the entire weekend for 2Xtreme Racing. Huge highs and devastating lows. Yet Sunday night at the banquet Jimmy, Dawn, and Linsey were only looking forward - to coming back in 2008 and trying to claim all of the championship gold. That’s what the World Finals has brought to this sport. That one “top of the mountain” moment that every team now strives for the other 51 weeks of the year, the quest for greatness that culminates by being called Monster Jam World Champion. It’s easy to see why, whether you achieve that goal or not, your emotions will be on display like they are at no other event you ever compete in.