Weekend Race Recap
by Zach Cooper
"Do you know where the airport is," was muttered by Maximum Destruction Driver, Tom Meents upon the end of an extremely incredible weekend. Although lost at that point, the people of Antwerp and our new fans made us feel completely at home.
The weekend started with the Monster Jam Team unloading and organizing our race trucks and event supplies. We quickly moved from outside the building, to concentrating on the race surface for the four imminent events. In a matter of days, we transformed the Sportpaleis from a venue that typically holds Belgium’s hottest concert acts to a full-scale Non-Dirt race surface capable of challenging the top drivers in our circuit.
Before we knew it, Friday was upon us and we ushered in a new point in Monster Jam’s history as we opened the doors to Antwerp’s first ever Monster Jam Party in the Pits. Madusa, Tom Meents, Bobby Z, Chad Fortune, Charlie Pauken and Brian Winston all stood by their trucks, eager to hand out autographs to the thousands of fans who waited in line to catch a glimpse of Belgium’s newest athlete, "the Monster Truck pilot". With Red Bull spinning Europe’s most popular music, fans poured in, seemingly from every possible entrance, wide-eyed, curious and excited. Over the course of the weekend, our driver’s signed so many autographs, we ran out of Sharpies.
After a successful pit party, we began clearing the floor for our first of 4 performances ever in Belgium. If I could have looked into a crystal ball prior to the first event, I would have told you that Tom Meents would end up dominating Europe winning six of eight contests by Sunday afternoon. Wheelie and donut contests among the racing and freestyle portions of the events were almost completely wiped clean by the Maximum Destruction truck. Evident in his driving ability was the fact that Meents was able to conform his driving style from the largest stadiums to the uncertain surfaces of Belgium arenas he has never before seen.
To be sure, Grave Digger was up to the challenge, and was particularly energized to bring home a win from Europe. However in racing, our goals sometimes fall short with unforeseen bad luck as Charlie Pauken blew a motor in the first event, putting Grave Digger in the garage. I’ve never seen a race driver as upset as I saw Charlie Pauken that night in the autograph session. "Sorry, Zach. I don’t really know what else to say," is how Charlie greeted me after the event. Knowing his heart break, I patted him the on the shoulder and gave him a quiet nod. The next morning was as busy as I’ve ever seen Monster Jam staff.
Working feverishly to fix our six trucks, there wasn’t a moment to spare.
The news came at around 12:00pm, Antwerp time, that Grave Digger would not return for the weekend. Unshaken, the crew quickly dismissed the bad news and turned their attention to the remaining five trucks. At the same time, and in a moment completely unexpected, Brian Winston approached the Event Manager and asked to have Charlie drive his truck, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. "Zach, Belgium deserves the best and Charlie is the best. I really want him to drive my truck." Monster Jam performances are never without their share of surprises. After a few years of working in the business, one begins to think they have seen it all. I’ll tell you, Brian Winston surprised me that day, and in doing so, gained the respect and admiration of a company and an entire race program. And in the end, the show reflected Brian’s modest gesture. Belgium would, in a sense, still see Digger!
Maximum Destruction saw most of the winner’s circle, with Turtle and Madusa finding their way to challenge through course of the weekend. In every Monster Truck element and in every race, I’ve never seen fans so involved with the event. Screaming, stomping, clapping are just a few of the words I would use to describe the actions of our intense, Belgium audiences. By the Sunday afternoon event, we saw a brand new Monster Truck Final race, Monster Mutt v. Madusa. The two crowd favorites in a duel for who would take the final race. After having issues with his starter, Bobby Z came to the line for what would be the final race of the weekend. In a flash, the with green light, Bobby Z to the finish line in a photo finish and would accept the award for Race Champion.
Sunday Afternoon:
An exhausted but humbled group of drivers made their way to the floor for the final time to wave goodbye. In 6 days, we had gone from foreigners to family. No one would have expected that the 4,000 miles we traveled would be the limit of our journey. We knew that it was our job not only to entertain, but to captivate. It was our mission to not only perform, but to educate and ultimately ask the Belgium fans to accept us as a part of their culture and a part of their world. Certainly, as our worlds have gotten closer, "We’ll be back next year" couldn’t be more true.
