UNSUNG HEROES COME THROUGH IN EUROPE
Even the most fervent Monster Jam fans aren’t familiar with many of the following names: R.L. Arace, Jesse Barden, Ariel Bollero, Bill Easterly III, Lorrie Evans, Dennis Foltz, Chris Fryman, Brandon Lambert, Becky McDonough, Eric Minger, Coty Saucier, Cole Venard, and Mike Wales. Actually, that group might be more familiar if I went with the more common nicknames for them, like R.L., Twig, Bill Jr., Bucky, Fry Daddy, and Beaver! No, most fans don’t know the names, but make no mistake about it, the group listed above are all the unsung heroes who worked day and night, at times doing what seemed impossible, to thrill the huge crowds of Dutch fans for three Monster Jam Europe events, keeping full line-ups of machines in the field for each show at the Gelredome in the Netherlands last weekend.
With help from many of the drivers who worked with them underneath the trucks continuously throughout the two-day marathon, the above listed group of mechanics made sure the fans in Arnhem got more than their monies worth at all three contests despite an incredible amount of damage as every competitor went all out on a huge floor full of World Finals style obstacles. Sending over an all-star line-up of both drivers and mechanics, plus the best track construction/dirt crew in the industry and some of the sport’s best, hard working tech officials, Monster Jam planners assured the fans the most spectacular weekend in Monster Jam Europe history. The drivers delivered with the greatest action ever seen on that continent, but every driver acknowledged that it would not have been possible to pull off the three major domed stadium shows in a 28-hour period without the dedication and excellence of those thrashing in the pits all weekend.
What amazed me was that no problem, honestly, no matter how bad it was, could not be overcome by this group. Some quick examples: Tom Meents arrived with a massive project in front of him, he and the crewmembers having to repair substantial damage that Maximum Destruction suffered when Neil Elliot rocked the house earlier this World Tour in Brussels, Belgium. Meents and Lambert, with tons of help from every other team, basically lived underneath Max-D from Wednesday on. They pretty much rebuilt the truck before the first show on Saturday afternoon and as you would expect, Tom brought it back almost in pieces after every show and they put it right back together again. Or how about Monster Mutt. The engine on Alex Blackwell’s truck blew at the end of his Saturday afternoon freestyle run. Three hours later the night event got underway and here comes Monster Mutt back on to the track at 100% after the team in the pits changed the engine in less than three hours. One more example: Sunday afternoon, with a pit full of crewmembers who had, at the most, two hours of sleep each after repairing damaged pieces until about 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, all hands on deck rushing into the Grave Digger pit area when Charlie Pauken’s transmission broke during his race qualifying run. Grave Digger missed racing of course, but the crowd came to its feet in shocked delight when the Digger made it on to the floor to freestyle, the new transmission being put in to the “black and green wrecking machine” in the sparse amount of time available between race qualifying and freestyle.
It was amazing to witness. I had to wonder if there was anything that could be done to a truck that the crew would not be able to fix. They were up to each and every challenge, and they kept coming all weekend long. Another amazing aspect was that we’re not just talking mechanical issues here. After Saturday night’s rip-roaring freestyles that caused severe body damage with several trucks flipping and others ripping body panels off, Sunday morning some 10,000 fans showed up for the pit party and every truck was on the floor looking almost like new. The body repair team also was up all night to make sure every truck was looking sharp for the final show of the weekend.
This one stat says it all about the Monster Jam Europe pit crews and how amazing their performance was in Arnhem: with 12 Monster Jam machines in the field and three stadium shows scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, that meant that for the weekend there were a total of 36 individual freestyle performances possible. And what was delivered? Thirty-six freestyle runs! That’s right, every truck in the line-up made it out for every freestyle show at each and every performance.
We see amazing things like this all year, trucks being repaired in minutes to make the show after it appeared that they were doomed, but to see the crews last weekend in Europe able to answer every high pressure challenge in three huge stadium events run almost back-to-back-to-back, was as amazing as it gets. Many of the drivers worked with their crews every step of the way during this sleepless weekend of thrashing, and they deserve to be saluted as well, but today, on behalf of more than 50,000 Dutch Monster Jam fans, and really on behalf of Monster Jam fans year round, all over the globe, I want to say a big Thank You to our sport’s unsung heroes, the greatest mechanics in motor sports today. Period.
