It was just a couple of years ago that the Monster Jam world was buzzing as Linsey Weenk, fresh from exploding on the scene in 2Xtreme Racing’s Iron Outlaw, left Jimmy Creten’s team to join Ford Motor Company’s top Monster Jam outfit, the Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder team. Weenk fit right in immediately for the corporately sponsored big blue oval gang, allowing Ford to have a pair of top level drivers, Weenk and Tony Farrell, competing in different major events at the same time.

Now heading into 2010 Frank Krmel leaves the Donkey Kong seat to join the Blue Thunder team, and Weenk is excited about having that highly regarded talent as a part of the Blue Thunder camp. The goal is to have two top teams, two top drivers, grabbing wins and thrilling fans all over the country, doubling the pleasure for Ford fans. Weenk says he is totally comfortable in his Blue Thunder driver’s suit now. While pointing out that he doesn’t look at it as a number one team and a number two team, they are both looked at as headliner types of trucks and drivers, he is excited about the fact that at this moment he is the most recognized face associated with Ford’s highest profile Monster Jam team. “That definitely hit the most after they hired Frank,” Weenk admitted . “Working with Tony was fun; we had a couple of good seasons, even though we didn’t see each other. It was all just about Blue Thunder doing well. Now that Frank has come on board to replace Tony it kind of feels like I’m now officially the number one guy, you know, the one they call the main Blue Thunder driver, just because I have the most seat time in the truck of the two drivers. But I think that Frank will come along pretty quick and I hope he goes out and really impresses the west coast with his driving talents. He’s a good dude, he’s a good driver. So yeah, I definitely feel like I’m a Blue Thunder guy now. It took a little while to get used to after the successes in the other truck but now I’m really comfortable as a Blue Thunder full time driver.”

Weenk exploded onto the scene a few years ago, when the native Canadian joined Creten’s unit, jumped into Iron Outlaw, and then stunned the Monster Jam world by immediately winning televised racing events against some of the biggest names in the game. Weenk has still found the winner’s stage plenty of times over the last three years, but I asked him if that initial burst of big time wins for a new driver on the top circuit almost came too easy. “It did and it didn’t,” was Weenk’s response. “When you get on that high of winning like that it’s like a drug, I think, where you just floating and if you’re down for even a second, if you lose a race or something like that it feels like the end of the world. You have a hard time with that. So I had that good streak that really shot me out there on Speed, then moving over to a different team and a different truck took a lot of getting used to it. There are different pressures with this team but I’ve gotten used to it, and even though I’m not extremely satisfied with my current stats, you know with my wins in Blue Thunder, I think that the best is yet to come. I’m not put under a lot of pressure by Ford but I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well. I’ve got a new chassis for the truck coming out for the new season so there’s no reason that the truck shouldn’t be in the winner’s circle every time. But I do think I need to put a little more pressure on myself to go there and do even better. Just forget about the little things and worry about the big wins.”

One of the ways Weenk really grabbed the industry’s attention with his initial Iron Outlaw success was that he recorded several wins against Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger to put together his impressive resume. His success against the icon surprised many, maybe even Linsey himself a little.“I don’t know if there was any particular reason because I respect the heck out of the guy, the guy has done so much in the sport and it seems like every time he gets behind the wheel he doesn’t falter a bit. That’s my motivation when I do race the guy,” Weenk explained. “It’s like if I want to have a chance, if I want to make a name for myself, this is the guy to make your name against. If you take Dennis out on a good run it’s a confidence booster and you go into your next round thinking if I can take out that guy, I can sure take out the next guy. It turns into like a chain effect. Going up against Dennis right off the bat it was just a huge honor just to be in the same ring as that dude. But then to go out there and take him down it’s just a huge booster. After I could take him down in a good heads up race with neither one of us making mistakes I knew that I could pull my own in this business. Doing that week in and week out like he does it’s kind of a different story because he can let it hang out there every weekend. I think that’s the difference between newer drivers and older drivers. He’s just so comfortable in that seat and the dude impresses me every time. I think that we all aspire to be like that. He’s someone I look up to and respect and when I do beat him it is a huge motivational booster. I don’t know if I’ll be driving trucks at his age, but nonetheless, he’s motivation for me.”

Weenk made his name as a racer and is still considered one of the toughest draws in any racing bracket, but he has finished in the top five in the World Freestyle Championships a couple of times over the last few years. Does Weenk think that people underestimate him in freestyle? “I don’t know if they do or not,” was his answer. Weenk then went on in more detail about his freestyle attitude: “I’m not boosted up there with some of the big guys, and even when I’m watching freestyle runs after me I’m thinking why wouldn’t I try that combination, and you’re constantly questioning yourself. I’m not up there defending myself saying that I should have gotten a better score or I got ripped off, stuff like that. I really go out there and analyze why I’m not getting firsts and seconds. I think when you are so busy looking towards the top that you don’t really look down because you are focusing on who is doing better than you and you’re not really focused on who is underneath you. So in my view I’m looking at Digger and Meents because they are always up there one-two. What does it take to be like them? And even Adam Anderson, someone who doesn’t have the years that I have under my belt actually driving, but the kid’s got skills and he’s already got a game that escalates him into that top three almost every time he goes out for freestyle. I spend a lot of time looking up to see what they do. People probably don’t rate me as a top freestyler yet but I’m learning a lot, I’m taking a lot in, and I will be taking less cautions with freestyle this coming year, you know more like Dennis and Tom who come out with guns blazing rather than like a lot of us who look to settle in for the first thirty seconds and get comfortable and make sure you get a :90 second run out of us. Now with those guys you might only get a twenty second run, but if they do go full time, which they usually do, that’s how they get their wins. I’m learning that and I’m changing my ways every year. Hopefully I’ll make good progress and be in that one-two range this year and next year and for years to come.”

Since joining the Blue Thunder team Weenk has had some spectacular crashes that have made the year end highlight reels, but I wondered if he ever looked at the video to see how he got himself into some of those situations. “I’ve done that, I do like watching a little bit, but I really don’t like it,” Linsey told me. “I like to keep a level head. And sometimes people who get used to watching themselves on TV turn into blowhards and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be like that, I want to be level headed and just be one-on-one with the fans. So I don’t watch a whole lot of my runs, and that might not be a good thing. I’m not a big fan of watching myself on TV because I tend to criticize everything that I do. But watching and learning is a different story. I watch and analyze Dennis and Tom and I ask them questions when I’m done. Not in the heat of the moment, but it might be the next day. Like ‘if you can help me with one thing, what can you help me on?’ And they will shoot you answers. Like on some of my landings, Dennis said ‘you make it look too easy, you’re not making it look rough enough.’ Maybe it’s my throttle timing, stuff like that, how I handle the truck when it’s in the air and when it lands. But every driver is different and if we had a bunch of trucks out there doing the same thing it might be a lame show. I just keep trying to do my own thing and sharpen my edges a little bit more every time we go out.”

Linsey Weenk is relishing his role as not only a high profile Monster Jam driver, but having a high profile within Ford Motorsports. He’s joined Toby Keith and other Ford spokespeople a year and a half ago in Detroit to unveil the 2009 Ford F-150, and among his extra Ford duties this year was a trip to the desert to race the new Ford Raptor, where his teammate was NASCAR superstar Greg Biffle. “Yeah that is neat. When you get pulled into the ring with Greg Biffle to run the Raptor down in Primm (Nevada), that’s a huge ego booster that they put you on that level,” Weenk said. “I really don’t walk along thinking I belong here with these dudes and before you know it Greg Biffle is in the seat beside you in Ford’s new production truck. Their grass roots racing director is saying ‘go out there and tear it up, we trust your driving skill,’ that shows all of these guys are watching. The right people are watching. As long as I’m getting put in seats like the Ford Raptor and the race truck, and I’m talking to them right now about maybe doing a little drifting with Ford Racing, getting to do stuff like that. Lots on the horizon. I love my Monster Jam career and as long as I can dabble with the off-road racing and other stuff with Ford, and maybe get into this drifting stuff a little bit with the Ford Mustang, I’m a happy camper. I’m a motorsports enthusiast and as long as I’m in motorsports, no matter what, I’m happy. But Monster Jam, that’s my number one.”