Monster Jam has moved into several new homes in recent years, most in cities that have already built strong traditions in the sport. All of these new buildings have been impressive but it's the newest stadium that has to rate as the most spectacular: Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The eagerly anticipated debut of Monster Jam in this sports palace after years of great events in the RCA Dome was sold out in advance and the fans were rockin' all night. Every driver was in awe of the beautiful new building and loved the size of the floor which is one of the largest on the tour. Along with the beauty and convenience of Lucas Oil Stadium everyone really loved Lucas Oil's huge motorsports display in the lobby of the stadium. I mean how can you not be impressed when you are staring right at a pair of Top Fuel dragsters as soon as you walk through the door. Monster Jam has an incredible new home in Indy for sure.

Speaking of drag racing, the stars continue to come out to enjoy Monster Jam. Just two weeks after NASCAR legend Richard Petty enjoyed the Atlanta event there was two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon and his entire team on hand for the Indianapolis Jam. Pedregon has been sponsored for years by one of Monster Jam's biggest sponsors, Advance Auto Parts.

On the track in Indy both Chris Bergeron and Candice Jolly were turning heads with impressive performances. Like his teammate, Jim Koehler and Avenger, Bergeron has a brand new truck this season and both of the Team Scream drivers are off to great starts in 2009. Bergeron surprised everyone by turning in the second fastest qualifying time on the cyclone style track, and it wasn't a fluke. Brutus was flying all night until Bergeron rolled the truck over to end his pursuit of the night's racing trophy. He didn't win the event but he had lots of people talking about how fast the new Brutus truck is.

As for Jolly, she's really coming into her own, and in my opinion, she is the most improved driver in the sport so far this season. After turning in the 4th fastest qualifying time in the Monster Mutt Dalmatian the Florida native came up six inches short of what would have been the biggest racing win of her career. With the Speed TV cameras rolling Jolly pushed seven time World Champion Tom Meents to the limit in their semifinal round race, Meents finishing with a blast off of the final turn to get Maximum Destruction across the finish line by that six inch margin over Monster Mutt Dalmatian. USHRA officials had to look at a super slo-mo replay to call a winner in the photo finish race, and Jolly barely fell short. It was a great race with neither driver making a mistake, a race that the fans that I ran into the next day were still raving about.

What makes her performance against Meents so impressive is that it came on a turning course. Candice has won events in the past on straight line tracks where her uncanny ability to cut a great starting light, which I've written about in this column previously, gives her a tremendous advantage. But in her first two years in the sport she has struggled on turning courses. Several observers noted that her fiancee, former Max-D driver Neil Elliot was in her pit in Indianapolis and speculated that she is getting some great coaching from Elliot, long considered one of the best drivers in the game. What ever the reason, the bottom line is that Candice Jolly appears to be developing in to a top tier Monster Jam racer.

With Randy Brown taking the Indy freestyle win Team Grave Digger is off to what may be the greatest start to a season ever for that team, and that's saying something. Along with Brown's win Pablo Huffaker has been dominating west coast action in January and Dennis Anderson already has several high profile stadium victories this season as well.

Last week in this space I noted how much I was looking forward to being a part of the Lucas Oil Stadium debut. This coming Saturday night is another date that I've had circled on my calendar as well. It's so exciting that we are bringing the New Orleans Superdome event back onto the Speed TV series, and I can't wait to get back down to the Big Easy, one of my favorite cities, for the first time in several years for this weekend's event.