After a phenomenal weekend of Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam competition in front of a sold out, absolutely electric crowd of more than 60,000 in Orlando last weekend I was in Chicagoland  Monday as we put the finishing touches on the first Monster Jam on Speed programs for the New Year, and they will be hitting the airwaves in the coming weeks.

In a break from recent tradition our opening of the new season is not the first Minneapolis event of the season. The Metrodome racing and freestyle will still be on the televised series, but this year we begin with racing and freestyle shows from a new Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam venue, University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

With a new season the TV series has lots of new aspects that we hope fans will enjoy. Some, like new music and graphics, show just how talented the team is that puts all the extra bells and whistles on these shows. Great stuff. Others, like some amazing camera angles, earn props for our creative team and the videographers who have learned how to capture this sport on screen better than ever. While we have some great on board cameras that bring unique perspectives to the viewers, one camera that I really loved was the one that the production team mounted inside the bus that made up one of the biggest obstacles on the freestyle course. The tough camera survived the whole night despite the fact that the superstars kept aiming their 10,000 pound machines right at it, which brought home phenomenal pictures.

Something else that I think will be popular with our fans in 2010 on Speed is that you will find expanded behind the scenes coverage. In Glendale lots of thrashing on the Maximum Destruction and King Krunch trucks is captured on the show, as well as some riveting decision making for the Grave Digger team, as Crew Chief Dustin Brown and driver Dennis Anderson make major changes as the freestyle competition was beginning on the floor. The goal is to bring viewers the greatest action in 2010, sure, but to also go “Inside Monster Jam” like never before.

Another new element to the Speed coverage is on the announcing team. Once again I get the honor of handling the play-by-play, and I’m thrilled that Mark Schroeder is back as the regular analyst. The new element is adding a third perspective to the broadcasts. As often as it is possible this year we will be adding a guest announcer, an active Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam driver, to our call of the racing and freestyle to add another in-the-know opinion to the great action. For these first two shows our special guest is one of the newest superstars in the game, 19-year old Monster Mutt driver Ryan Anderson.

As always you can check the schedule of upcoming Monster Jam on Speed broadcasts by looking at the center of the home page here at MonsterJam.com. When you see “Glendale” on that schedule in the next few weeks you’ll know that the new television shows are rolling out each Saturday.

Now let’s get to this week’s Power Rankings. No change in the top two spots since Tom Meents took the Double Down home in Indianapolis while Dennis Anderson powered Grave Digger to the same feat in Orlando, but the gap between the two in the panel’s point system is a little narrower this week. Adam Anderson moves back up to third on the strength of his New Orleans freestyle win driving Taz.  There’s also some minor shuffling in the 5th through 10th spots this week and that is likely to continue since the actual Power Rating numbers are extremely close in those positions.

The biggest mover in the rankings this week is Frank Krmel, who won his second major stadium event in the first month of the year. The Blue Thunder driver’s racing win in Anaheim boots him up 7 spots to number 13 this week. Also moving up, to no surprise, is Cam McQueen who comes off the biggest win of his young career when he drove Nitro Circus to the New Orleans racing win last week. Travis Pastrana’s buddy rises 3 positions to 15th. Again this week could be a week that causes some major shuffling with Speed TV events in Tampa and St. Louis, plus other awesome action all across North America. So get out and “Live it Live” if there is an Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam event anywhere close to you. The competition and the thrills have never been greater than they have been so far in 2010.

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MONSTER JAM POWER RANKINGS FEBRUARY 1, 2010 

Pos   LW  Driver                  Power Rating         Comment 
1         1 Tom Meents                  19.5     Double Down in Indianapolis last week

2         2 Dennis Anderson          18.7      Double Down in Orlando

3         4  Adam Anderson           18.0 Won New Orleans freestyle 

4         3   Pablo Huffaker          17.1 No wins last weekend for the first time in 2010

5         6   Jim Creten          14.6 Topped his wife for race win in Phoenix

6         7 Linsey Weenk                14.0   Another outstanding FS in Indy

7         5  Charlie Pauken              11.9  Tough weekend in New Orleans

8         8 Damon Bradshaw         11.6 Back on top with Anaheim FS triumph

9        10  Scott Hartsock              11.5 No one is getting bigger air this year

10        9 Alex Blackwell          11.1 Consistently in the hunt for race and FS wins

11      11 Neil Elliot                        10.5 Pushed Dennis to the limit in Orlando

12      14  Jim Koehler            9.8     Freestyling like it’s 2003 all over again

13      20  Frank Krmel           7.8 Should move to SoCal, wins Anaheim racing again

14      12 Chad Tingler                    7.7 Two more FS wins in snowy South Carolina

15      18 Cam McQueen               5.1 Biggest career racing victory in New Orleans

16      16 Lupe Soza            4.6 Getting close to putting AAP Grinder on winner’s stage

17      17 George Balhan                 4.2 Another podium in Indy FS

18     15 Marc McDonald            3.0  Has fallen off a little after great ’10 start

19    19 Candace Jolly            2.5 Remains the highest ranked female in 2010

20     13  Randy Brown            2.2 Looks to rebound from tough weekend in Indy

Just missing the top 20: John Seasock, Kreg Christensen, Mark Hall, Steve Sims, Dawn Creten, Madusa, Dan Evans, Jon Zimmer, Jocelyn Perrin