This week we continue with the transcript of my experiment in role reversal, where two-time World Racing Champion John Seasock asked the questions to me:

John: I'm very proud of what I do. My ego's huge (laughing) without a doubt. But I don't forget where I came from and I get told that I don't take enough credit but there are so many people behind the scenes that deserve it just as much as I do. Do you ever sit back and think, wow, I'm on Speed now, and reminisce about where you came from and where you're at with people asking for your autograph?

Scott: In a way it embarrasses me a little because really I'm just doing my job. And my job is not necessarily to make myself look good. If I do, great. My job at the event is to make sure you guys look good. To make sure our fans appreciate just how talented you guys are and how amazing these machines are. They can see it, so what can I add to their experience at the event or on TV. I've always looked at the whole package. Everyone who is in this game I have tremendous respect for. Over the years, and I think Dennis will be the first to tell you this, that some of the things that I've done have been beneficial to him, have helped him. But he has built his own legend. When he starts saying "well you really made Grave Digger" that humbles me, but I know that I did not make Grave Digger. I tried to help him out a little bit. Grave Digger is going to be Grave Digger. And Tom is going to be Tom. The fans are going to keep loving everything that they do. From there, though, it has always seemed to me that this could not be a two truck sport or it would never last very long. So it has always been every bit as important to me that the fans understand why Dan Evans, just to pick one of you as an example, is such a special guy, along with Tom and Dennis. It's important to me to make sure the fans know about, and appreciate, everybody in the game, otherwise it's just a two man show. And I've always felt like, and I think Dennis and Tom understand this too, that every time a new John Seasock fan comes on line they are probably going to be a Tom Meents and Dennis Anderson fan too. You're a great example of this as so many new Batman fans follow you. We are not a bitter adversarial sport. I mean we don't have any signs showing up at events with words I can't use in this interview or signs in the back of a pick up truck like you see dissing, say, Jeff Gordon. That's not in Monster Jam, but we do have exciting, competitive rivalries. I guess there may have been a few Grave Digger fans who resented Tom when he started to make a name for himself, but again, for the most part it's not adversarial. I've always believed that for every new John Seasock fan you get, that fan is probably going to like Dennis and Tom too. It spreads out from there. When you look at it I'm just trying to make sure our fans know who you guys are, why what you do is special, and why this is such a great sport. Why it is such a great family sport, why it is such a great competitive sport, and what makes it so much fun. Then for me I'm doing my job in this way and then the Speed TV show comes along - and Speed has been so great for us, there's just no question about that. When the show started some people questioned whether we should be on that network, well I think we're a great fit for Speed. It's almost perfect for us. But, yeah, you don't realize sometimes that here in the TV age how closely fans associate me with the actual event that it hits me a little off guard when I'm asked to sign an autograph. I'm almost like 'why'? But I've learned a lot from you guys, I've picked up that same attitude that these fans really are the reason that we're here. And the fans are more diverse than ever. Big Grave Digger fans, Batman fans, Max-D fans. Well there are also fans - whether it's kids who imitate me or old school fans who've watched Monster Jam forever and like the fact that I've been around for years - who want to come up and spend some time talking with me, and just like you drivers do, even if things are hectic, I make it a priority to spend some time with those folks. As much as anything because I love talking Monster Jam and these are the people that it matters most to, so it's a joy to spend time with them.

John: I know I'm two guys, John the monster truck guy and John the dad. I've got my two sons, J.R. and Kyle.

Scott: And they're great kids by the way.

John: Thank you. Growing up they always played Monster Jam. They would sit in one bedroom, put all their Hot Wheels toys on their Hot Wheels tractor trailer, take 'em down the hallway, and go into another room which would be their arena. Then they'd play the music and they'd imitate Scott Douglass. It's funny but I don't think you realize how key you are in this whole thing. I mean in how the fans look at it. I think that a Monster Jam fan not only likes the trucks, they like the drivers, they like the concept, the whole atmosphere including the announcer. I think that's cool because it's not only us, it's a package deal. We're a team. Now as a father hearing my sons down the hallway imitating Scott Douglass, I think that's cool. It's awesome that this is a family deal all the way around.

Scott: And this is about as cliché as you can get but that is probably the sincerest form of flattery. You know Bill Easterly, one of the key people behind the scenes at Monster Jam, really focuses on those special moments we experience where, you know, the hair stands up on your arms. When a youngster maybe 4 or 5 years old comes over and launches into a "who's ready for Monster Jam", that's definitely a moment that makes the hair stand up on my arms.

John: I don't know if you realize how much that happens. I mean I hear it all the time.

Scott: It blows me away when I hear kids do it in person. And it happens more in Vegas than anywhere else.

John: My sons must have a 150, 200 Hot Wheels. And they'd play Monster Jam setting up race courses and they've done it since they were little boys. J. R.'s 17 now. And they still do it. They use the same intro music and then they're saying "who's ready for Monster Jam?" just the same way you do, and it's so cool. I sit back and I think about where all this has come from and sometimes I take myself out of the drivers seat and look at it as a dad. And I'm proud that you've had that kind of an influence on my kids.

Scott: I'm probably a lot like you drivers are where I'll come into one of these shows and just shake my head, almost in disbelief over our good fortune. A lot of that good fortune comes from hard work by a lot of people for sure. Many of those people the fans will never know because they stay behind the scenes. Think about this. It's hard to form a new sport, a new competition these days, but we did. Sure we're motor sports but we branched off into our own unique sport. And to see how big it has become though that hard work, and great vision by the industry's leaders and tremendous creativity. Your truck is a prime example of that creativity. You must pinch yourself some times to make sure it's real, getting to drive a truck as popular as Batman

John: I'm sure you probably see more of this than we do because you do the TV shows, but people in NASCAR, NHRA, rock bands everybody loves Monster Jam.

Scott: Yeah, hasn't that been cool? And were seeing more and more of that. I was actually thinking about this last night, just looking at this past month. I mean I interviewed Richard Petty at our Atlanta show. How great is that, the King's a fan of Monster Jam. Two weeks later Cruz Pedregon was at our Indianapolis show. I mean he's as big as it gets in NHRA. Then the next week I'm interviewing the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal at the New Orleans event. He's someone with a huge national profile, some people think he will run for President in a few years. And he got a standing ovation in the Superdome! How many Governors are that popular? And there he was with his family enjoying Monster Jam.

John: And Three Doors Down.

Scott: Right. There we are sitting in the hotel lobby in Stockholm and it's the guys in Three Doors Down who come over to us and wanna hang out. And we're all like in awe of that great band and they're in awe of the trucks, they really wanted to get down to the pits and see the trucks up close. It's amazing how loved this sport has become and how many people watch it live and on TV. You know the first thing Richard Petty said to me when I started the interview with him was "this is awesome, I watch you guys on TV all the time." So it made it an interview I'm really proud of because after that first statement I knew he wasn't just a celebrity making an appearance, he knew our sport and I could ask him questions that tied NASCAR and Monster Jam together and his answers were great. Because he watches us so I could get him to relate his relationship in the sport with his son Kyle also racing to Dennis and Adam Anderson, things like that and I felt like it was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've ever done. But then it was afterwards that I'm thinking 'man, the King watches what we do. Isn't that cool?'

John: I met Brad, the lead singer for Three Doors Down and I let him drive my truck. He got out of the truck and jumped in my arms, hugging me. He was telling people back home "I just drove John Seasock's monster truck!" Then they had me on stage for their concert. The biggest crowd they did was 23,000, which is huge. But then think about this. We do 60 and 70 thousand. And he was so stoked about meeting me, and I'm like wow, these guys are cool. And remember back in Vegas when Matt LeBlanc was there.

Scott: Yeah, Matt LeBlanc, Courtney Cox, David Arquette. They were all at the first World Finals, I believe.

John: Matt LeBlanc came up to me, and I had blown my motor that year, and he came up to me on that famous roof that we all hang out on and he says to me "aw, I was waiting for you to do your roof walk." I'm looking at him, shocked and he says "man, we watch you guys all the time on TV." And they were all so popular at that time. He wasn't just pulling my leg, he knew what we are all about. It's so cool to see how it crosses over. I don't think we realize how main stream Monster Jam has become. And the fans are awesome. I don't know what I did yesterday and they know what I did 10 years ago. So that's why I wanted to interview you. I know the fans wonder what's going on in Scott Douglass' head. I'm sure you have a bunch of them, but what would be some of your highlights?

Scott: When you ask that what comes to mind are moments, things I've been lucky enough to witness or be a part of. So many of them are from Las Vegas just because of what that event has built up to. So that's the first highlight - that I've had the privilege of being a part of every one of the World Championship events and hopefully I will continue to be for years to come. It's lots of Vegas moments that come to my mind right off the bat. I had never gone overseas until I became a part of this sport and now I've been to Europe several times so that I'd list as a real highlight. As far as things on the track I'm a big fan of what you guys do and we all have things that we remember most vividly. Probably the one that comes to mind first was in Gothenburg, Sweden when Tom did the back flip. Whether you agree that it was a back flip or not there's no disputing that it was the first and only time we've seen that. I remember looking back at Roy Janson who has seen a lot more of these shows than I have, and John you were right there, and we all looked at each other and realized no one's ever done that before.

John: Yeah, I was right behind you.

Scott: The things that you see for the first time, those stick out. But thinking about memorable moments, because of the way this sport is built, I have visions of air. Chad Tingler in that Kodak moment of his flying over the triple bus obstacle in Vegas last year. Dennis Anderson in Minneapolis in December 2007. Um, Scott Hartsock at one of the first World Finals where I though he was going to fly out the other end of Sam Boyd Stadium. Those kind of massive leaps stand out. And of course crashes like the unbelievable one Jim Koehler had in that chrome Avenger, Jill Canuso's wild crash at World Finals 2, or the first time I ever saw what we now call a lawn dart crash which I saw for the first time when Eldon DePew was driving Bulldozer. And of course the emotional moments, topped by Dennis Anderson on the floor with his crew and sons after finally winning the racing title, you after you won your first racing title, an amazed Adam Anderson after he won the World Freestyle Championship, and Tom Meents on our first Speed TV show of this season when he won the racing in Minneapolis on the day they buried a young friend of his. And then there are those really special moments that we are so fortunate to get to experience, and I apologize but the young man's name slips my mind at this moment, but he's one of the special kids who loves Monster Jam so much, and we were on the World Finals floor in Vegas during the pit party and the fans were allowed to walk the floor. And he rolls over to me in his wheelchair, and he was excited to see me, and I was really humbled by it.

John: You mean Riley.

Scott: Yes, yes. Thank you. So he and I are talking and he starts doing imitations of me announcing. It was so awesome. Now we're on the live mic, so I hand him the mic and let him interview me. That was so memorable, but then a couple weeks later to receive a letter from his family telling me how much that meant to him with a great picture they took of that moment, that's the stuff I'll never forget. That's the stuff that you keep with you forever.

John: We say this so much because it's true. The fans are everything. I keep everything they give me. I've got cases of stuff - pictures, souvenirs from Vegas, the good luck coins that Riley gave us. It is something that you take back deeply with you. All the time. OK. You've been to all of the World Finals. I remember the first one. I remember being back in the pits and thinking how are we going to go farther from here. Seeing a 200 foot distance, and now we're 50 feet in the air. So where do you think the sport is going to go?

Scott: Well I think that's the great thing about what we do. We have reached a level of spectacularness where it seems likes have to be in an one-up mode. I mean we are not sitting there with a meter that says, ok, Tingler's leap last year was 150 feet long or whatever, and now we have to go 160 feet. In reality, we're at that. What I think is that with the development of the sport the people behind the scenes and our officials, who are really using their brains I think, in the way they now build these courses, are taking this into the future. And it works because of the creativity you drivers have. What I'm saying is that I think we've reached a point where maybe it's not about higher or farther, it's about creativity. And I think the fans are appreciating this. I mean look at the new obstacles that have been brought in this year. That new step-up obstacle, and I don't know if they are bringing it to Vegas, but actually I'm assuming they will, because here's an obstacle that you can hit in, like, 8 different ways, maybe more. So now who is going to do it in with the most spectacular move. So I think we've reached a point where it's not just about higher, farther. It's about who can make the most spectacular move, who can keep their run going. It's not about rolling over on to you roof any more. That's not going to get you any points. Because when we bring imagination and creativity into it, not just flying higher and farther, I think there is no end to where the combination of our brains and this new technology can take us. What guys like Pablo Huffaker and Dan Patrick do in the way they build these new pieces is to allow you to do more things, and to do them safely. I think it is spectacular to see where we've gone and exciting to see where we are going to go. It's more of a technical thing right now.

We'll stop now. John had another couple more questions that I'll answer next week along with a look at the St. Louis Jam.