The world of Monster Jam is deeply saddened after hearing the terrible news that a beloved member of the Monster Jam family was killed in a tragic highway accident, where fittingly he was working to help others. David Hall Jr. may not be a well known name to Monster Jam fans, but he was a special person to everyone in the industry who has ever been a part of the tremendously successful events held multiple times each year in Houston.
Monster Jam is about incredible entertainment provided by amazing drivers in the most spectacular motorsports machines on the planet, but to make these events what they are today takes so much more than just the talented athletes and crews. In virtually every city where Monster Jam goes the sanctioning body of the sport, the USHRA, sends in several highly trained technical and safety officials. But the sheer magnitude of these mega events today means that it takes lots more hard working help to assist those officials and make these shows as spectacular as they have become. That help is known as the Track Crew, or the Club Help, depending on the city. The Track Crew members are the local support for Monster Jam, normally men and women who are involved in a local 4-wheel drive club or an R/C club, and these people have become invaluable to putting these events on because of their love for the sport and their willingness to put in the hard work that it takes to make Monster Jam happen.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of track crew members worldwide, and as much as we appreciate all of their efforts, I don’t know that any face on any track crew that we use anywhere was more recognized, or more beloved, than David Hall Jr. Known to most simply by his nickname, “Chipmunk”, Hall has been a part of some of this sport’s highest profile events formerly in the Astrodome and these days in Reliant Stadium. Always smiling and always busy, Hall loved Monster Jam more than anything and he was certainly one of the most familiar faces at each and every Houston event.
Two-time defending World Racing Champion John Seasock expressed the sadness felt throughout the Monster Jam community upon hearing the terrible news. “It’s a family,” Seasock said. “The family is not only drivers and the crews; it extends out onto the track into the club help and everyone else. Over the years it’s the people that we see day in and day out, and they touch our lives.”

It’s hard to find any track crew member who touched our lives more than Hall. “David, when I first heard about it, I can honestly say all the years that I’ve been doing this, going back to the Astrodome days, I’ve never pulled into that stadium, the Astrodome or Reliant Stadium, without having him run over to my truck before I got it shut off,” Seasock continued. “You know, he would always be there. You always hear people saying ‘he was a good guy’. Well, David really was a good guy. I mean he would do anything for anybody at any given time. He was so much help. I mean he had the whole gamut. He loved to be a part of it, he helped, he was a good friend.” John’s absolutely right. It seems like Hall’s was the first face you saw when arriving in Houston every time we’ve gone in there for the past 15 years, and believe me, there wasn’t anything he would not do to try and help the drivers and the officials to make sure the Houston shows were always amazing.
On a personal note, this tragedy makes it even more special to me that I was selected to be the person to present an award to Hall last year in Houston as Monster Jam honored him for his 15 years of hard work and support. Handing that plaque to him it was so clear how emotional that moment was to him, how much it meant to him. He was speechless, which is something you would normally never say about one of the friendliest personalities we’ve ever gotten to work with. He never expected any special credit or treatment, he just loved to be a part of Monster Jam, so it means so much to me that I was allowed to represent everyone in Monster Jam in honoring him in front of 60,000 people in Reliant Stadium.

Make no mistake about it; Monster Jam will be back and stronger than ever this coming year at Reliant Stadium. Sold out crowds and unbelievable Monster Jam action are a sure bet each time we roll into Houston. But this year, as great as the shows will be, there will be many heavy hearts and eyes filled with tears because something will be missing, someone special will be missing. I’m sure the awesome Track Crew in Houston will step up and make sure the job still gets done, but to everyone in this business, no one will ever replace our dear friend Chipmunk.

Let me give the final word to the World Champion, Seasock: “I mean he was a great, great guy and someone who is going to be extremely missed. I just can’t imagine going back there in January and not seeing him. I don’t know how I’m going to handle that.” John, none of us know how we’re going to handle that. But we will do it together, a sorrowful group that will be missing a very special member of the family.