GIRL POWER! COURTNEY JOLLY CONTINUES GAINING MONSTER JAM EXPERIENCE
Getting ready for her second full winter of Monster Jam competition, college co-ed Courtney Jolly is looking forward to putting to use the valuable lessons she has learned in her first year-plus in the sport, and adding even more big moments to her growing motorsports resume.
Like any newcomer to the sport, Courtney has had her share of rough moments and disappointments so far in her burgeoning career, but she has had several highlights as well already and believes lots of great days are ahead for her in this unique industry. “The more time I get to be behind the wheel, definitely, it helps,” Courtney says. “It really does. I feel a lot more secure, and I’m not near as nervous as I used to be getting behind the wheel.” For Jolly that settling of the nerves has becoming as important as getting more comfortable in her equipment. Despite her youth Courtney is a racing veteran, has grown up in a motorsports family, and has years of experience behind the wheel of several different types of race vehicles. So while she feels at home in a Monster Jam machine and enjoys getting more and more seat time in the largest vehicles she’s ever driven, she admits that one of the toughest parts for her is the mental aspect of the sport, especially with her quick rise into many of Monster Jam’s biggest events early in her career.
One moment that told her volumes about the psychological part of Monster Jam this winter came in the final major stadium event of 2007 before the World Finals, the record setting Monster Jam held in Jacksonville Stadium. It was a disappointing night for Jolly in her home state, especially when she made a mistake and flipped the Pastrana 199 truck over early in her freestyle. Looking back, Courtney says it was the mental part of the game that contributed to her problems in Jax. “That was a rough weekend for me,” Jolly remembers. “I was worried about being able to make Vegas. I can tell when I’m stressed and things aren’t going right for me and that’s when I don’t perform as well. So when I’m on a good level, it’s like people say, ‘when you’re on you’re on and your freestyle rocked’. So if I just stay level headed I’ll be on.” So often the focus is on the trucks and the driver’s physical capabilities, but clearly the Jacksonville experience emphasized to the young Floridian how important mastering the mental part of the sport is in rising to the top levels. She’s learning already that the best in the business have a keen mental focus, an ability to block out everything else except their performance when they pull onto the track.
Jolly says that one of the biggest factors for her in gaining experience and continuing to improve is being able to tap into the wealth of experience that the Monster Jam veterans have, and she is appreciative of the fact that so many of them have been so willing to help her learn the ropes. “Definitely. In Vegas everybody was wanting to help,” Jolly told me. “Even Dennis and Tom, they were all about helping me. Somebody else is Alex Blackwell. He’ll be the first one to jump up and say ‘what do you need? Tell me and I can help you. You can do it this way or this way.’ Adam Anderson’s been a big help. Chad Tingler’s been a big help. But the number one guy is definitely Paul Cohen because he’s been there from day one. If I’ve ever had a question I can go to him. Paul’s got my back. He’ll tell me what to do and how to get through it.”
Along with trying to compete with the best in Monster Jam Courtney has to compete in her own home, with older sister Candice completing her rookie season aboard the Monster Mutt Dalmatian. Even though Courtney has rarely driven her Pastrana 199 truck in competition against Candice’s spotted Mutt, she says that she and her sister prefer to look for ways for both of them to succeed, rather than worrying about any sibling rivalry: “We try not to (compete against each other). At home if Monster Jam is on we watch it. We watched her run in Houston the other day, but we try not to make it a rivalry because we want to be more of a team that works together, trying to show the boys what’s up. So I can’t be against her because I need her. I need her to help build up women in the sport. I don’t want to go against her because when it comes down to like me and her against Tom and Dennis we need to be as strong as we can to conquer all.”
That aspect of representing women, and seeing more them come into the sport in all capacitates continues to be a major motivator for Courtney Jolly. Having Becky McDonaugh join her crew this year has been a big step in her process of hoping to eventually lead the first all-female team in the sport, and it is clear that Jolly is thrilled with her new mechanic’s progress. “I definitely feel that over the last three months Becky has picked up so much,” Courtney explained. “She’s such a fast learner. It’s unbelievable the things that she can do underneath the truck. I feel so much safer having her. You know the thing is, it’s that girls bond. Girls pay attention to detail; it’s a proven fact. So having her under there, it honestly makes me feel better. I mean Bucky’s (Crew Chief Dennis “Bucky” Foltz) a great guy, but Becky’s there to pay attention to detail and pick up on anything that he might not pick up. And she’s doing awesome, she’s a killer mechanic.”
The learning curve has come fast for Courtney Jolly, already competing on some of Monster Jam’s biggest stages. And while she has struggled at times, like in Jacksonville, you can also point to impressive performances like her freestyle at Ford Field in Detroit where only a brilliant Tom Meents freestyle in Maximum Destruction kept her from claiming the winner’s trophy when Meents edged her score 30 to 29. Add to that how well she acquitted her self in her debut at the Monster Jam World Finals last March and it’s easy to see that this young lady is set to continue making her mark in Monster Jam for a long time to come.
