Once again Monster Jam’s superstars delivered at the sport’s highest profile event. Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals 9 lived up to the pre-event hype, an entire weekend that provided incredible action, great drama and stories, plus riveting emotion as the sport’s two new World Champions were crowded in front of a capacity crowd that was fired –up all weekend at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium. The results from the event and the Awards Banquet at the Imperial Palace Sunday night can be found here on this site, so this column is simply a collection of my thoughts and reflections on an event that stands with the best ever held.
I’m of course looking forward to the event airing on Speed TV, and one thing I want to concentrate on during the broadcast is the first round of racing. As the event unfolded live I really felt like that may have been the best entire round of racing I’ve ever seen. It seemed like every 1st round race was a photo finish, and it really set the table for what turned out to be an awesome night of racing start to finish, absolutely World Finals caliber. It’s clear that every one of the 16 drivers who had to battle in round one treated that first race like it was for the championship, and the fans there live responded and loved the action.

Winning the World Championship takes you to the top of the sport, but backing it up and winning two in a row puts you among the sport’s all-time elite. That’s where John Seasock stands today after driving Batman to a second straight racing crown. John is now in the rarified air where only he and Tom Meents exist, the only two drivers to win back-to-back racing titles. In 2009 John has the chance to tie Meents’ record of three consecutive World Racing Championships. Oh, and here’s a heads-up for you a year out: when I put the odds together for historic WF10 next year, unless some really strange things happen between now and then, Seasock will enter Las Vegas as the favorite in the racing odds for the first time ever. There’s a magic that John has created on the sport’s fastest course, and when you carry an eight round race win streak into next year’s finals you will be the favorite until someone beats you.

It’s mind boggling to consider just how many World Championships Adam Anderson may win. We all knew this was coming, but for him to win so soon, with so much of his career in front of him, Adam seems the most likely of all to someday give Meents a run for the championship record, which Tom now has at 7. Adam’s got a long way to go to get there, but you can’t help but think that he will be claiming a whole lot more championship furniture in the coming years. Of course he may need more than seven to eventually hold that record, because you’ve got to believe Tom’s not done collecting titles.

Sure Meents was badly disappointed when Maximum Destruction would not fire to come out for the Championship Race, but looking back Tom has to feel his racing program in Las Vegas is back at Championship level and I’m sure he can’t wait for another shot at that title next year. Tom looked as dominant in qualifying and the early rounds as he did in the Goldberg/Team Meents days when he once put together a 13 round racing win streak, still the longest streak ever at the World Finals. By the way, in case you didn’t hear the final word from Tom’s team, they are still not sure why the truck would not fire. They tried everything and couldn’t find anything in the RII or the wiring that was wrong. The entire team really felt sick when, I’m told, as soon as Batman and Bounty Hunter entered Thunder Alley in the Championship Race Maximum Destruction finally started in the pits, and the truck continued to run with no more problems throughout Seasock’s celebration.

Chad Tingler should get major props for setting the freestyle bar high last Saturday night. Tingler brought the Monster Mutt Dalmatian out first in the 24 truck draw and went ballistic, and his leap over the triple jump was one of the night’s biggest Wow moments. To perform first and finish that competition in 3rd place is almost impossible to do and a real tribute to how amazing Tingler was. And Dawn Creten really represented for the ladies, as the only female in this year’s field, by turning in what was, without question, the best freestyle of her career.

Speaking of Tingler, the Team Grave Digger driver was in the ride that Candice Jolly had campaigned throughout the season. Candice was terribly disappointed in not getting to perform in the World Finals, but the young Floridian showed nothing but class all weekend. She was on hand all weekend to work with and to cheer on Tingler, and she was clearly thrilled and awed by Tingler’s performance. Her sister Courtney was also in Las Vegas and, I think, earned lots of respect from her peers by still coming out to the finals despite her injuries that kept her from competing. I know her legions of fans were thrilled that she was at the Double Down and the Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits signing autographs and taking pictures with her fans, and like her sister, she was a real team player, showing her support of teammate Cam McQueen in his Vegas debut driving Travis Pastrana’s 199.

Let me add my congratulations to all of the winners at the Monster Jam Awards Banquet. I really found it interesting to see how prominent the Monster Jam World Tour was when the awardees were announced. Neil Elliott’s Best Wheelie Award, Don Frankish’s Best Save, R. L. Arace’s Guts and Grit Award, and Tom Meents’ Best WOW moment all were earned at events in Europe.

Finally, a couple of television notes. It was a thrill to see that CBS is back with special coverage of the finals, and the sport in general in 2008. Monster Jam on CBS will be can’t miss TV when the program airs on April 27th at noon eastern, so make sure you check your local listings for the air time in your area.
And Speed TV is moving Monster Jam into prime time! The new season of Monster Jam on Speed TV beings Thursday night April 17th at 8:00 p.m. eastern time with the Minneapolis racing program. The new shows will be hitting the air each Thursday night at 8:00, so make sure you catch all of the 2008 action on Speed, in prime time, each Thursday night! You can always find the current schedule of upcoming air dates for the show on the home page here at Monster Jam Online.
Finally, a pat on the back for Sara Dayley, one of the new members on our announce team for Monster Jam. The talented St. Louis area broadcaster did an awesome job of capturing the flavor of the whole weekend through her exclusive reports here on this site, and if you did not catch her reports or if you just want to see them again, then check out our video section here back on the home page. A quick fact for you: if you are a baseball fan you may find it interesting to know that Sara is the daughter of former big league pitcher Ken Dayley, who had several great years with the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Actually, I’m very proud of the performance of every member of the stellar announcing/broadcasting team that worked this year’s Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals. Chris Bergeron was super in his first year of stepping out of the Brutus truck and going in front of the camera to bring coverage of what was happening in the pits to the fans at the event live; Sharra and Megan Gunning were on top of all of the developing story lines as the weekend unfolded, and their reports will add so much to the upcoming Speed TV broadcasts of the finals; Scott Rehn was the hardest working announcer of the weekend I think, not only joining Jody Donnelly as that pair was outstanding in covering the Double Down and the Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits, but it was Rehn who chased drivers all over the track and into the stands to get the first interviews with competitors after their adrenalin packed freestyle performances; and last, but certainly not least, a big “job well done” to my new Speed TV partner Mark Schroeder. The Devastator driver proved he is the perfect choice to handle the color analysis duties on the TV show with his rare combination of great knowledge that he brings to the fans along with his incredible enthusiasm for the sport and the rare ability to put that knowledge and enthusiasm together in front of the camera, both on TV and on the live event microphone. Aided by several key innovations in our coverage behind the scenes in the technology department, I could not be happier to have been a part of this team and what I think will turn out to be the best coverage of this event we’ve ever been able to pull off, both live, and for television.