For the first time ever the Monster Jam on Speed TV cameras were in El Paso, TX, last Saturday night to televise the racing and freestyle events from the Sun Bowl on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. That is just one fact that illustrates what an incredible success the southwest Texas event has become thanks to several years of hard work, excellent planning, and great performances from the stars of the Monster Jam series.
From day one El Paso appeared to be a great locale for Monster Jam events. A large population full of people who drive and love their own trucks, in a state with a great history in the sport, and a huge stadium just made for Monster Jam. Still, the first few events held there were sparsely attended, partially due to some bad luck with the weather at the outdoor facility. But clearly Monster Jam officials knew that the market had tremendous potential and the building was a real gem for the sport. Literally cut into the mountains there, the Sun Bowl has to be one of the most scenic settings for an outdoor event anywhere in the world. And while it is not one of the state-of-the-art, new buildings that the sport competes in like in Houston and Detroit, the first rate management and staff at the Sun Bowl keep it one of the most fan friendly environments on the circuit.

So even in the first few trips to El Paso when the crowds were not as big as hoped for, Monster Jam officials never gave up on the area, and worked hard to make the events better and better each year. The competitors also built the market by coming up in year after year and turning in sensational performances that created a huge word of mouth buzz. Fans in El Paso telling their friends and families that in good weather and in bad weather Monster Jam was putting on the most exciting events in the market every time out, at the most affordable prices for the entire family on an annual basis.
The El Paso Monster Jam has now blown up into one of the year’s biggest events, which is exactly why the event will be seen on Speed later this year for the first time ever. With thousands of standing room only ticket holders lining the upper rim of the uniquely designed facility and every seat inside the stadium filled with enthusiastic fans, El Paso was treated to one of the year’s best events in 2008 and the appreciative crowd roared its approval the entire night. I mean these fans were on fire! All of the competitors, not to mention everyone behind the scenes in event planning and execution, who have been a part of the early years that laid the foundation for this to become a truly special event on the season schedule should take great pride in the amazing success of what Monster Jam in the Sun Bowl has now become.

On the track the fans saw great racing on another cyclone style course and one of the closest, most hotly contested freestyle events of the year. This being the final stadium event before the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals March 29th in Las Vegas, virtually every driver in the El Paso field talked about this event as being key to building momentum for the upcoming battle for the two World Championships. If that’s the case, then it will be seven-time World Champion Tom Meents who will blast into Vegas with the momentum after earning his first “Double Down” trophy at a televised Monster Jam this season (he also won the Double Down award at the non-TV event in Indianapolis in ’08). Meents powered Maximum Destruction to the racing event win, then completed the sweep by edging out the all star line-up on hand for freestyle. On the winner’s stage while accepting his trophies Meents was quick to credit Max-D crew members Tim Missentzis and Brandon Lambert for their efforts in making the winning effort possible. Despite winning round after round during the race bracket Max-D had several mechanical difficulties throughout the competition, most notably a major steering issue that the crew kept fixing in time to get Tom back on the track for win after win. In the Championship Race the Illinois based team cut things really close, with Maximum Destruction being put on the one minute clock after his opponent in the finals, Candice Jolly in the Monster Mutt Dalmatian, had reached the Advance Auto Parts start line. Meents was able to fire the truck up with only :30 seconds to spare and made the call for the finale where he crossed the Ford Finish line a couple of lengths ahead of Jolly, who was in her first ever Championship Race at a televised event.
Speaking of Jolly, what a night the single mom from Florida had in her spotted chop-top Mercury. After finishing in the runner-up spot in racing Candice blistered the freestyle course with the best performance I’ve ever seen her turn in, and she spent most of the night in the “Hot Seat” with the top freestyle score and eventually finished third behind only Meents in Maximum Destruction and Tony Farrell, who was incredible piloting Blue Thunder. In the final order of finish Jolly’s score was only two points less that Meents' winning total.

The freestyle in El Paso was so close the judges were really in a no win situation, and it was actually the new bonus system that determined the winner. By “no win situation” I mean that you could make the case that at least five of the performances (Meents’, Jolly’s, Farrell’, Pablo Huffaker in Grave Digger’s and George Balhan’s in Escalade) could have been scored as the event winner, the action was that thrilling and competitive. Had Meents not scored 2 points for his first :30 second bonus period and another 1 point for filling out the :30 super bonus time with a badly damaged machine Farrell would have taken home another Blue Thunder freestyle win since with the bonus points Max-D outscored the Built Ford Tough piece by just a single point. The action was that fantastic and the scoring was that even.

At the end of the night every fan in the capacity crowd was standing and screaming, and you just know that Monster Jam selling each and every seat in the Sun Bowl will now be an annual occurrence, which is why thousands of fans have already purchased their tickets for the 2009 Monster Jam in the Sun Bowl, making sure they are not left out of what has become El Paso’s biggest sports event in the first quarter of the year.
While the next stadium event on the schedule is the big show in Vegas, that doesn’t mean the Monster Jam stars are on break until the end of March. Exactly the opposite. Many teams will stay very busy over the next couple of weeks with several Monster Jam events scheduled in arenas all over the continent, so make sure that you are “living it live” and getting your tickets now if Monster Jam excitement is coming to an arena near you during the next two weekends.