Monster Jam Freestyle Competitions have become so competitive, the level of so many superstars keeps rising on a weekly basis, that it seems more and more that the determining factor as to who gets the event win is which driver can make the one big stand out move at just the right time.
The latest piece of evidence to back up that theory came in the raucous Orlando Citrus Bowl last Saturday night, where Randy Brown snatched victory away from David Smith and King Krunch when he nailed a sensational cross thread move across multiple obstacles as the 90 second clock expired. You have to believe that the cross thread finale gained Grave Digger the victory because Brown ended up just one point better than Smith in the scoring of the judges, which indicates that without the huge wrap-up maneuver Digger might have fallen short of King Krunch’s score.
Those results from Orlando just show how many Monster Jam performers have elevated their games to the level where they can win at any given time, and it has never been more difficult for the big names in the freestyle portion of the sport to secure victories. In today’s judging criteria the highest priority is placed on filling the clock, giving the fans the full :90 second performance. To win you must not only fill the clock, but you must hit every obstacle and add in every unique trick that you can to impress the judges. But to get over the top it is clear that a winning driver has to be able to make at least that one special move that separates his or her run from the rest of these competitive line-ups, and if they come up with that “Wow” moment as the clock expires more often than not the judges are going to reward that driver.
Analyzing the Orlando freestyle runs it seems clear that the cross-thread was the winning moment for Brown. Smith had taken the lead with a high energy :90 seconds that was built around monster air, far and away the biggest leaps of the night came from King Krunch, and frankly Grave Digger was unable to match the height and length of those jumps. To Brown’s credit he didn’t try to out jump his Texas based rival, he came out in typical ragged edge Grave Digger style, trying to use constant momentum and an action packed attack on every obstacle on the floor to win over the judges. As Monster Jam fans will be able to judge for themselves when they see this event on Speed later this year, the two runs were quite different, yet spectacular in their own ways, and it had to be tough for the judges to separate the pair and decide the winner. Again, when you examine the narrow one-point margin of victory for Grave Digger it appears that the judges were set to reward King Krunch’s huge air assault with the win until Brown closed with a phenomenal move that no one else in the competition had been able to do, and the fact that a couple of earlier trucks actually slipped or got stuck momentarily trying to cross thread the rain soaked obstacles added to the magnitude of Grave Digger’s finish and saw Randy Brown walk onto the winner’s stage, representing for Team Grave Digger by taking home another freestyle winner’s trophy at a televised event.
More late January Monster Jam notes…..the sensational start to the racing season continues for the Weenk brothers, Nathan driving El Toro Loco to a second consecutive stadium win on Speed TV when he beat Grave Digger in the Orlando racing finals. Earlier in the same venue his younger brother Linsey had made his Blue Thunder the fastest qualifier, then drove the big Ford to a pair of wins to extend his round winning streak to nine straight to open the season before Grave Digger beat Blue Thunder in the racing semifinals in maybe the closest finish of the year, the Digger win coming by two-one hundredths of a second, less than a foot or so separating the pair as they flew across the finish line…..the wild central Florida fans seemed to appreciate the sensational race course created by the USHRA officials. Orlando loves its freestyles as we’ve seen in the past and the fans again were on their feet throughout the freestyle runs this time, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Citrus Bowl crowd so excited about the racing action before. They were as loud then as they were during freestyle. Clearly the fans on hand live in the sold out facility were jacked up about a race track that was designed to be as close as you can get to the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals circuit in Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium, and several close race finishes brought the fans to their feet again and again…..on and off rain in Orlando Saturday did nothing to diminish the enthusiasm and spirit of the Florida fans, many of whom have made Monster Jam a family tradition for two decades. Personally, I can tell you there is no better pre-race food than you will find in the parking lot at the Citrus Bowl leading up to Monster Jam where the tailgate parties start before dawn and by noon or so the smell of all that awesome barbecue in the air must drift for miles. Ribs, the incredible “sprayed chicken”, you name it. They love delicious food in Orlando almost as much as they love big trucks…..I was checking other results on line at this site and I’m seeing an interesting trend this year, a trend when Monster Jam drivers are taking it upon themselves to try and overrule the judges at trophy presentation time. I saw this first in Houston, when the judges scored a tie for the freestyle win between Maximum Destruction and Grave Digger. During the presentation Dennis Anderson refused to accept his share of the win, claiming Tom Meents was a no doubt winner and handing the trophy to Meents as he said goodbye to his fans and left before the victory presentation started. Now, on to last weekend. First in Anaheim, where George Balhan abandoned a potential highly coveted “Double Down” trophy when, rather than wait for the results of a planned cheer off to break the tie for the win according to the judges scores, Balhan grabbed the winner’s trophy and walked across the track and handed it to Charlie Pauken, proclaiming that Grave Digger deserved the win. Again, Balhan was in line for the “Double Down” after he drove his Escalade to the racing triumph on the sloppy track at the “Big A” in Anaheim, and backed it up with an awesome freestyle…..now let’s head over to Chase Field in Phoenix, where the judges scored Maximum Destruction the winner, and Grave Digger, according to the judges scoring, finished way back in sixth place in the freestyle results order of finish. Max-D driver Neil Elliott chastised the judges, wondering what competition they were watching as he claimed it was Dennis Anderson and his performance in Grave Digger that clearly was the best of that night in Arizona…..as I have done all year in this column I’m going to continue to sing the praises of the drivers who come out early in freestyle and set the bar high with outstanding runs that force every other competitor to step up their game. This week those praises go first to Randy Moore, whose spectacular freestyle in War Wizard was highlighted by several incredible wheelies where he was dragging the rear bumper of the exotic looking Willys across the Citrus Bowl floor. Deservedly, Moore sat in a rather wet hot seat most of the rest of the night until the King Krunch air assault I wrote about earlier moved David Smith into first place at that time. Also I want to give credit to Dan Evans, who refused to take the easy way out. What I mean here is that it is very difficult to hit a move in reverse flying across a huge van stack in perfect conditions. Still, despite the rain and the wet, slippery conditions, Air Man Dan proved to be a man of his word. After promising his fans at the record setting Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits that he would pull out the reverse move he refused to let the conditions stop him and blasted his beautiful new Destroyer Ford over the van stack in reverse, causing another standing ovation in Orlando…..as much as I loved being in Orlando last weekend I wish I could have also been in Indianapolis for the final “Jam” in the RCA Dome, which will be torn down when the Indianapolis Colts move into the incredible new Lucas Oil Stadium next season. Appropriately it was Meents, on hand at what he considers to be his home stadium, who was on fire all night, winning the racing bracket and tying for the freestyle win with Pablo Huffaker and Grave Digger…..also in Indy, reading the recap from the main page here at Monster Jam Online, I see in the excellent report on the Indy event written by announcers Steve “Lurch” Scott and Leslie Mears (a new, fast rising talent in our industry I should point out) that my new Speed TV broadcast colleague brought his “A” game to Indianapolis as well. Mark Schroeder, according to the recap, really turned the Monster Jam fans on when he pulled a huge Power Wheelie from a standing start, and rode his Devastator across the spacious RCA Dome floor. Way to go, partner!.....It is another huge weekend of Monster Jams all over the continent coming up this weekend. Among the potential highlights: Dennis Anderson leads an incredible field into Miami’s Dolphin Stadium; north of the border, it is Chad Tingler who represents team Grave Digger and Neil Elliott who will carry the banner for the Maximum Destruction team as fans in Canada can witness the next chapter in the greatest rivalry in motorsports live, Digger vs. Max-D at Vancouver, British Columbia’s BC Place Stadium…..and we’ll have the Speed HD cameras heading back to Reliant Stadium in Houston where Tom Meents and Pablo Huffaker will wheel the Max-D and Digger machines respectively against a huge, star-studded field. This is also one of the best weekends of the year for Monster Jam action in arenas from East Rutherford, NJ, to Oakland, CA, and several awesome venues in between. It is definitely a weekend that you and your family need to “live it live” and catch all of the Monster Jam excitement in person!
