Weekend Race Recap


Friday:

1-800 Safe Auto Presents

US Hot Rod Thunder Nationals

Brought to you by

Advance Auto Parts

Friday, February 11, 2005

UTC McKenzie Arena

Griff Allen – USHRA Announcer

First – the players …

If you think you need dirt to have intense competition with monster trucks, think again. This event on concrete in Chattanooga proved that the monsters can deliver – dirt or no dirt!

RCs on dirt – a neat concept. But the Need for Speed Speedway club showed us that flat trackin’ an RC car or mini monster can prove to be quite a handful! The crowd always seems to love the action of mini RCs and this event was no different. If you haven’t checked out this hobby, put this on your ‘must do’ list!

From Advance Auto Parts, Connie Hatton welcomed the crowd and picked her favorite for tonight’s competition. Aside from reminding us that Advance has over a quarter million parts ready for you in advance, she held her secret prediction to herself.

Talk about a voice – WOW 18 year old Stephanie Whittler started the night off right with the National Anthem along with the Humvee and Color Guard from Ringgold High School.

The wheelie competition is always intense. It always seems to be toughest for the first trucks out. In the order that they ran, here’s how it went.

Heat one of quad wars saw some close flat trackin’ action between Teams Colorodo and Tennessee. On the lap that mattered most, Team Colorodo took the win.

Time for doughnuts! With only a small space to work in, the challenge was at hand to hook up a doughnut and try to convert it to a cyclone. Some trucks had trouble getting hooked up, but others had no trouble at all. Here’s how it went down.

Quad wars once again took center stage. With the racing getting closer and tighter as the warring teams learned the traction characteristics of the course, the finish was more dramatic this time than in the earlier heat. Clearly, we would have one heck of a tight final as Team Colorado was again able to win.

In monster truck freestyle competition, the sky seemed to be the limit as each successive truck had the task of outdoing the previous one. A good show by all, but there can only be one winner. Here’s what the crowd caught.

Coming out of intermission, we were ready for our freestyle motocross competition. Our three gladiators had a tough time in practice with the slick traction characteristics of the concrete floor as well as the limited space of the arena. If monster trucks can race in here, then FMXers can do their thing – and they sure did! After a few practice hits, they one at a time sought to impress the judges and the audience. It looked like this in the end.

Coming out of our second brief intermission, the stage was set for monster truck racing! With Virginia  Giant taken out by a broken axle, the ladder of five trucks was reduced to four. The advancing winner is shown at the top of each pair in bold text.

The final for quad wars was upon us. With the grid set by finishes in the first two heats, Team Colorado dominated the front row. After a brief stoppage to check a fallen rider that got a once-over from medical, competition resumed with a shortened four lap final. What a battle! Overcoming being gridded at the back, Team Tennessee was able to handle up the win!

The time for our monster truck final was at hand. Talk about intense!!! In a close on, Digger got ‘er done!!! After a quick T-shirt toss to the last Digger fan of the night, he and the other drivers were off to the autograph session until the last Thunder Nationals fan was satisfied.

What an awesome Friday night in Chattanooga!

Saturday:

1-800 Safe Auto Presents

US Hot Rod Thunder Nationals

Brought to you by

Advance Auto Parts

Saturday, February 12, 2005

UTC McKenzie Arena

Griff Allen – USHRA Announcer