While lots of fans in Las Vegas were surprised last March when Alex Blackwell posted the second fastest qualifying time for the Monster Jam NGK Spark Plugs World Finals and then drove Captain’s Curse all the way to the racing semifinals before losing a close race to eventual World Champion John Seasock in Batman, many inside the industry were not shocked at all. Blackwell has been working his way up the ladder, intensely, for the past several years, and he took advantage of the opportunity to take over full time in that high profile ride this season, making the most of it.
For Blackwell, who had spent years on the mechanical side of Monster Jam and who had jumped at any chance to drive any truck he could get an owner to put him in, getting the call to take over Captain’s Curse was the shot he had been waiting for. “Oh, it was great”, Blackwell said about getting the Captain’s Curse seat to begin 2008. “Finally I get to run a truck that I can run harder than normal. I got the opportunity, I mean they asked me and I didn’t ask any questions, I said ‘sure, when do I start’. It’s been great. I run as hard as I can and I tear very little up, I’ve done the best that I could and so far everybody said that I’ve done a great job at Vegas this year, and throughout the year, and they can’t wait to see me next year back there.”
Blackwell attributes this year’s Vegas success to a great truck, and for him, the proper mindset. “I just tried not to let everything bother me. Everybody talks about the hype there, and there is a lot of hype, you just can’t let it bother you,” Blackwell recalled. “I had a lot of professional motocross races against guys like Pastrana, Carmichael, McGrath, and they had their budgets a lot bigger than mine but you just had to see how well you can do. In Monster Jam a lot of good people have given me a lot of good help and tips. You know you take it in and just try it and if it doesn’t work then you try something else. So yeah, I was surprised (to be the second fastest World Finals qualifier). When I went back to the shop I told Richard (Midget) that if I’d have had a brand new motor maybe I’d have been the top qualifier. But, no, I was very happy and my family was there so it was all pretty cool.”
After putting himself near the top in qualifying, Blackwell was sharp round after round in Captain’s Curse in this year’s battle for the world title and he said his crew took any mechanical pressures off of him. “Oh yeah, that was great. I didn’t get out of the truck, my crew guys said ‘don’t get out of the truck; we’ll fix everything that needs to be fixed’,” Blackwell said in thinking back on this year finals. “Every time I came back they tuned on things and they’d tell me they gave me a couple more horsepower. I said ‘I don’t need to know, just let me go’. It was really great winning races, then to race John in the final four. It was just unbelievable. Watching it back I looked at so many angles of it and it was really a close race, but he did a good job too.”
That big night, and an outstanding debut season aboard Captain’s Curse was not something Alex Blackwell could have seen coming several years ago when he had not yet thought about being in the Monster Jam industry. “I used to race professional motocross for six to eight years, and in 2001 I had some knee injuries and it was time to get my knees fixed, operated on. When I got my legs done, I got both of them done and the same time, and they said I was going to be laid up for awhile,” is how Blackwell says his road into Monster Jam began. “So for nine months I just sat in my house and watched my dogs run around, and I thought that I needed to do something else. I didn’t know it would be monster trucks, but I rode my Harley around thinking about what else I could do. Then Andy Slifko with Eradicator said ‘hey, why don’t you go with me?’ So I went with him one time and I was hooked. I broke my ankle in Dallas in that first quarter and I was off for another three months. That’s when I said I had to do this full time. Then I met Randy Brown. I met him one day and about two months later I was moving to North Carolina and doin’ it full time.”
So fancy that. Another Frackville star putting Pennsylvania on the Monster Jam map. What is it Alex, is there something in that Pennsylvania water that makes Monster Jam superstars? “I don’t know what it is,” Blackwell answered. “Maybe it’s the motorcycle thing. John still rides four wheelers and street bikes. I don’t know. Six years ago if you would have asked me I would not have said I’d be in Monster Jam, I mean I was in the electrical business in Frackville, but I’m glad I’m here now. I’ve travelled to 14 countries doing this. I’m gone a lot, and maybe that will change, now that I moving back to North Carolina with my family. Maybe some of that will change. If not they are now going to be travelling a lot with me.”
Following his great first quarter of 2008 driving Captain’s Curse Blackwell hasn’t just been sitting back and waiting for 2009. Instead he accepted the ride in Monster Mutt on this year’s Monster Jam World Tour and has been outstanding in Europe driving the chop-top Merc. Actually Blackwell is a Monster Jam Europe veteran, catching many eyes by running strong in Europe over the past few years. “My first year in ’05 I was in Europe for four months. That was culture shock, because I had never been out of the country and the first thing they do is send me to Europe,” the now worldly Blackwell stated. “I mean, I’m driving a rental car on the wrong side of the road, I’m on the wrong side of the car, but you can adapt. You just have to have an open mind about everything and it’s important that the people that you are with, your wife or girlfriend, they just have to understand. It’s so much easier if you involve them. I involve my soon to be wife quite a bit and she gets it now, especially when she sees all the people and especially the kids. And things like the stuff we do for Make a Wish makes it a lot easier on us.”
Like every driver in the industry one of the aspects that Blackwell loves most about driving in Monster Jam spending time with his fans, especially the children. “Even the bigger kids, the adults, are just so nice and crazy some times,” Blackwell continued. “The kids come to the pit parties and they draw you stuff and they hand you letters, and say ‘can you hang this at the shop or in your truck?’ It’s just an awesome feeling, especially with the Make a Wish kids. You know we worry about where we are eating or what we are having for lunch, but they’re worried about making it until tomorrow. So it really makes you appreciate what we do and what we get to do every year, day in and day out, a lot more.”
Blackwell has worked his tail off and leaped at any opportunity to advance in Monster Jam, and it has seen him become a World Championship contender driving some of the most popular trucks on the planet. He may not have been planning this for this career his entire life, but now that he’s here he plans on staying with it. “I hope so. I’ve always said with anything that I’ve done, if I’m not having fun I’ll quit and do something else. But if I didn’t drive I might stay in it, working on the trucks in the shop. But as of now, driving, I’m having a good time,” is how Blackwell sums up his status today. “My family, friends, everybody’s enjoying it. And a lot of them like getting a free ride when they show up. I did the show in Wilkes-Barre, which is like 40 miles from my house, and I had 400 people call me for tickets. And I said I didn’t know that many people. But yeah, as long as I’m having fun I’m going to keep doing it, and so far so good. It seems like everybody’s enjoying me, watching me drive and giving me all kinds of complements, so yeah, I think I’m gonna stick with it for awhile.” All Monster Jam fans certainly hope that this talented driver keeps bringing us high flying thrills for many years to come.
