The first half of the Monster Jam World Tour 2008 wrapped up June 28th in Brussels, Belgium, with yet another huge crowd on hand, thrilled by some of the sport’s most popular machines and talented drivers. Four consecutive weekends in June saw more Monster Jam Europe records set with crowds flocking to see the superstars live in Cardiff, Wales; Gothenburg, Sweden; Brondby, Denmark; and finally in Brussels. The tour now takes a two month break before action returns to the Netherlands in September, followed by stops in Spain, Finland, and wrapping up ’08 in Stockholm, Sweden.

This year’s action has been blistering all month and the fans have been lovin’ it. Reigning World Freestyle Champion Adam Anderson has been a part of the Euro action for years and he was back again this year in Taz. Anderson told me that he continues to be amazed by the sport’s popularity half a world away from Monster Jam’s birthplace: “I think it’s doing really well. We’ve gone from all of these small arenas, and we’re still doing a lot of them, but now we’re also doing the big giant stadiums in Europe,” Anderson stated. “It’s unreal over here, to be thousands and thousands of miles away from home, in all these other countries, and people love it.” To no one’s surprise Anderson has been one of the most popular figures with the European fans, in many ways having cut his teeth in Europe and taking that experience back to the U.S. with tremendous success, culminating last March in his first World Championship.

Anderson wrapped up the June portion of this year’s tour by winning the racing competition on the huge oval track in the massive Brussels soccer stadium, and he was quick to give credit to the unsung heroes on the World Tour, the mechanics who do amazing work with somewhat limited resources. “You know when we come over here it is not as easy to work on the trucks. We don’t have our nice race trailers and stuff over here. We actually have to work out of shipping containers, so it’s a lot harder,” Anderson said in praise of the talented pit crews working in Europe.” You know now when I come over here I really look at this as my training that brings me into the first quarter in the States where we’re gonna run all out every week. Now don’t get me wrong, we put on a good show over here and we run all out for the European fans, you just have to keep in mind that there are limitations to parts that we can get and the time to work on the trucks, it’s just more difficult over here. But we come over here and we put on a show just like when we are in the States, and the people love it.”

Another driver relishing the Euro experience was Damon Bradshaw, who had competed in Europe years ago in Supercross, and had the opportunity to return to drive the El Toro Loco machine this year. Bradshaw loved the experience and thrived on the big time competition. “I didn’t have a clue as to who all was coming, and then the first week you get there and look down the line and realize there are no slouches in the line-up,” Bradshaw told me. “So when it comes time for racing or freestyle you really have to be on your game. It used to be put on your race face – now it’s put on your race and show face.” That Damon did well, capturing a pair of freestyle wins during the June part of this year’s Monster Jam World Tour.

Bradshaw also told me he has noticed that another relative newcomer to the sport, Adam Anderson, has taken advantage of the extra seat time a driver can get on the European Tour and turned it into great experience to succeed in the U.S., and that’s a formula he wants to duplicate. “I was really looking forward to getting more events this year for that simple reason,” Damon admitted when we discussed the seat time issue. “Because I want to be the best guy out there, and in order to do that it’s seat time. And I know that last year Adam was over here and did a good job and got lots of extra seat time. Each time I get in the truck I learn something different. I learn from talking to the guys, I learn from watching the guys, I’ll learn ‘til the day I get out of a truck. I want to capitalize on every show and become better and better so that when I leave the track the fans are not going to forget that I was the one driving that El Toro truck, or Air Force Afterburner in the States.”

For driver Cam McQueen, the whirlwind that has been his first year of Monster Jam competition got even more exciting when the opportunity came to drive Jurassic Attack in Europe these past four weeks. “It was an honor to be invited to come over here with the limited experience that I’ve had, really just four shows and the World Finals,” the newcomer exclaimed.” I think I totaled it up after Vegas and I think I was just over the 20 minute mark in actual seat time (in competition), so since I’ve been over here in Europe I’ve doubled that. So basically half of my career now lies in Europe, which has been amazing. Not only that I’ve been able to live a childhood dream of driving a Monster Truck, but also being able to come over here and drive in Europe, to see all the countries over here, to meet a lot of the people and to just experience all the stuff we’ve been doing as well as being able to compete with the best drivers in the world.”

Monster Jam continues to build an incredible following in Europe and the tremendous fan support is really appreciated by all of the drivers who travel so far to entertain many of the sport’s newest fans. At the same time it is clear that the drivers, especially the newer ones in the business, look at the chance to race and freestyle in Europe as the greatest opportunity to improve their game and return to North America ready to continue to make themselves into World Championship contenders.