The Sun Bowl in El Paso hosted a pair of incredible Monster Jam events last weekend that served as a great prelude to the upcoming battle for the World Racing Championship March 28th at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

Racing in 2009 has been dominated by a trio of Monster Jam superstars and it added to the El Paso intrigue that all three of them were on the track at the final two pre-Vegas stadium events that were contested in that west Texas city. With my annual odds for the NGK Spark Plugs World Finals field due to occupy this space next week I was watching to see if one of the three stepped ahead of the other two. That did not happen which is frankly no surprise when you consider their 2009 resumes: two-time defending World Racing Champion John Seasock has driven Batman to a pair of Speed televised racing wins, added another stadium triumph at a non-televised show, and has several runner-up finishes as well; Jimmy Creten has been on a roll, his Bounty Hunter has been close to unbeatable on the big tracks this year; and Dennis Anderson, who's new nickname has to be Dennis "Double Down" Anderson, the Icon having driven his Grave Digger XX to five of those trophies that can only be claimed by winning both the racing and freestyle competitions at a stadium event. After two days of great racing on a tough desert track, similar to the type of dirt they'll be racing on in Vegas, picking a favorite to win the racing gold at the finals is the toughest it has ever been.

Creten won the race bracket again during the Saturday night televised event, and it was Seasock who joined him in that Championship Race for a Bounty Hunter - Batman rematch of last year's race that determined the 2008 world champ. So Creten had the upper hand but Seasock did what he needed to do as well, smooth consistent winning runs leading into the Saturday night finale. But Grave Digger fans can point out to the Bounty Hunter and Batman supporters that after setting the fastest qualifying time Saturday Anderson and Crew Chief Dustin Brown decided to abandon the race bracket and replace a deteriorating transmission to assure Grave Digger would be ready for freestyle. Mission accomplished when Grave Digger won that freestyle battle. It was on Sunday where Anderson made his racing statement by driving Grave Digger to a head-to-head victory over Batman in the 2nd round, then defeating Bounty Hunter in an exciting Championship Race in route to taking that 5th Double Down trophy of the year. Coming out of El Paso all three have plenty to hang their helmets on, reasons to believe that they will be the last man standing at the end of the toughest race bracket in the sport to conquer, the assembling of the sport's 24 best at the World Finals.

Other news, notes, and impressions after more than 75,000 fans enjoyed the El Paso Jams: if anyone has any doubts that Candice Jolly deserves her spot in the NGK Spark Plugs World Finals then they need to see the tapes of both El Paso events, because the Monster Mutt Dalmatian had an outstanding weekend. Racing wise she made it to the semifinals before losing to Anderson Sunday, but along the way won the girl power battle by nosing out Madusa in a photo finish. In freestyle she really rocked in both shows, but it was her Sunday performance that was so special that she ended the day just one point shy of victory. Candice matched big air with Anderson and Dennis admitted that her run in the Monster Mutt Dalmatian forced him to push Grave Digger even higher and farther to grab the victory. And of course timing is everything. Several observers said that Jolly's Sunday afternoon run might have won the freestyle during the Saturday night event when Anderson broke in a new Grave Digger transmission and was slightly disappointed with his run despite winning. On Sunday Dennis answered Candice's challenge, but she made him work for the win and made tons of new Monster Mutt Dalmatian fans in the process.....we've seen Candice's natural talent on display from her very first runs a couple of years ago, then watched her grow in confidence when she received a new custom seat that helps soften the impact of big hits on the driver. Now we watch her blossom into a prime time player and it is no coincidence that her fiancee, former Maximum Destruction driver Neil Elliott has been on the road with her and coaching his bride-to-be. Jolly has been soaking up the direction from one of the best we've seen over the last decade and it is paying off. Now Elliott is set to take on an even bigger role as the pair confirmed that Elliott will take over the role of Crew Chief for Monster Mutt Dalmatian when Jolly makes her World Finals debut in less that 3 weeks.....sticking in the Mutt camp Lee O'Donnell was very gracious and a true professional in accepting the Monster Mutt team's invitation to the NGK Spark Plugs World Finals where he'll hand the steering wheel in the classic chop top Merc over to Charlie Pauken. O'Donnell would love to drive Mutt at the finals but is well aware how amazing Pauken has been in recent World Finals driving Mutt. O'Donnell said the main thing to him is that the Monster Mutt performs at a championship level in Vegas to continue to build their ever growing fan base and he said is confident that Pauken will do just that.....Lupe Soza lives in Orange Grove, TX, about a ten hour drive from El Paso but listening to the wild cheers for El Toro Loco you'd think that he's a home town hero there. Soza cherishes the outpouring of love that he gets there where Monster Jam is especially popular in the Latino community, so much so that he refused to put a brand new body on El Toro that his team has ready to go. Soza told them he wanted to run the old body that suffered damage in a couple of rollovers this season, saying he wanted a truck that would match his attitude of giving his huge fan base there a show to remember, and his body panel shearing freestyle performance accomplishes exactly that. When I went onto the floor to interview Lupe after he rolled El Toro Loco over to end his spectacular freestyle Sunday afternoon Soza's words to the fans in Spanish elicited some of the loudest cheers heard there all weekend, and that's saying something because the El Paso fans really rocked!.....different strategies will play out over the next two weekends for the teams prepping for the World Finals. Some examples: Candice Jolly will focus on her big night in Vegas at home in Florida, taking the next two weeks getting ready. Anderson and his crew head to Nampa, ID, for one more pre-Vegas tune-up and then spend the next week after that getting into World Finals trim. Then there is Creten, who plans to stay busy and keep sharp. This coming weekend Bounty Hunter will compete in Fresno, CA, as will some other WF 10 contenders. I'll get to do the announcing in Fresno and I'm looking forward to seeing this awesome line-up doing battle in California's Central Valley this Friday and Saturday.