Last Saturday night in the racing finals at the Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, Frank Krmel reached up and tugged on his belts one last time and gripped the steering wheel tightly, focusing on the green light in his Championship Race showdown with Adam Anderson. Locked in to win, Krmel whipped Donkey Kong around the Chicago style oval as Anderson had Taz even with him into the final turn. Both drivers went for something extra, but Taz bicycled up onto two wheels and Krmel grabbed the event victory, then pounded his chest Tarzan style before the screaming crowd of Swedish fans following yet another great race.
Less than 24 hours before that scene played out it was that pair of rivals, Krmel and Anderson, pitching in side-by-side into the wee hours of Saturday morning, assisting crewmembers any way they could as Donkey Kong’s engine was completely changed after it blew in racing Friday night. Not just Anderson and Krmel were chipping in either. With R.L. Arace, who heads up the European pit crews and fleet boss Henry Cross overseeing the operation, Donkey Kong Crew Chief Dennis Foltz was getting help from every other team’s crew members to get the old engine out and the new power plant installed. Then with precious little sleep every one of those people were back at it for two shows on Saturday. Friends and co-workers to deal with the major problem on Friday then turning back into fierce competitors on Saturday, everyone trying to earn a trip to the victor’s stage in front of the appreciative Swedes on hand.
That balance of camaraderie and competition sums up Monster Jam’s European portion of the 2008 World Tour. Some of the best talent in the business travelling across the Atlantic Ocean to thrill the sport’s newest fans, and they all came to win. At the same time, once off the track, strengthening tight bonds and friendships, everyone displaying the ultimate team attitude when it comes to travelling as a group all over Europe.
Monster Jam was able to put together a group of competitors to take to Europe that revel in winning, each of whom hate losing, but all of them can balance that desire to win with admiration and respect for their opponents. Take Charlie Pauken, on hand to represent team Grave Digger. Few drivers in the sport today have as much respect from others in the business as Pauken, and everyone on the tour loves seeing Pauken in the pits and on the track. That said he knows there is a big target on his back because along with that respect comes a burning desire from the other superstars to get the best of Pauken. It was amazing to watch especially World Freestyle Champion Adam Anderson push Pauken at each and every show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a driver look better than Adam did in all phases of his game this weekend to be shut out of the win column. Adam was incredible but Pauken kept finding an answer, especially in freestyle. Pauken is such a nice, mild mannered guy at the hotel and in the pit party, then you put a helmet on him, strap him into the truck, and Chucky comes out, a take no prisoners driver dedicated to doing whatever it takes to win and please the huge legions of Grave Digger fans all around the world. By the way, next week in this space make sure you check out my interview with Pauken.
As well as all of this year’s Euro competitors got along off the track they had plenty of on track battles that were close, thrilling, and maybe a little bit personal. It was actually Alex Blackwell who got the smack talk rolling with his public challenges to Dan Evans, actually telling the Swedish fans that he felt sorry for Dan’s wife and Crew Chief Lorrie. “She’s working so hard”, Blackwell said, “and Dan’s not going to win racing.” To make it worse on the veteran Jetix driver Blackwell told the crowd after he backed up his mouth by winning the Friday night racing bracket in War Wizard that he was giving his trophy to Lorrie since he was going to make sure Dan would not be winning a trophy for the Jetix team in Stockholm. On it went, and that’s the unique balance that was fun to watch. You could see every time one driver threw down the gauntlet to another that the battle heated up even more, but once the trucks were parked and everyone headed back to the hotel we were all on the same team again. At least until the next show time arrived.
Monster Jam’s European Tour was again a phenomenal success in 2008 and every sign tells us that the phenomenal growth of the sport overseas will continue in the years to come. Great work by all of the behind the scenes people who put the tour together, both in the U.S. and those who are a part of the team in Europe, will assure that. The love that the European fans have already developed for the sport’s superstars also will insure that the sport continues to grow all over the world. More and more great sponsors are jumping in across the pond as well to strength the sport worldwide.
We also now are seeing more and more Europeans involved in Monster jam overseas, and that has to be encouraging the young fans who will grow up wanting to be a part of the sport as well. We actually were able to take some time before the opening ceremonies at the Stockholm events and explain safety features on the trucks to the crowd, something we do in many places. But this instructional period was done all in Swedish, with Swedish announcer Kenny Madson talking to Swedish Monster Jam Tech Official Fredrik Tidborg and Swedish driver Anders Flogard, who had a great weekend driving Thor. It was great to see this truly American sport expanding in such a way that it keeps its American identity while opening up to new participants in new lands, like Belgian Ronnie Vranken, who has become a valuable official working at most European events, having been trained in Chicago with all of the American techs.
But make no mistake about it; one of the biggest keys to the success of Monster Jam Europe is the high level of competition that plays out on the track at each stop of the World Tour. Europe wins have become special to today’s Monster Jam stars and they each put everything on the line every time out, yet at the same time they are able to balance the intensity of the on track battles with a special off the track camaraderie that they carry, in today’s Monster Jam, all over the globe.
