A Diehard fan through and through
The lights dim, as a familiar song begins to blast from the stadium speakers. As an engine revs to life, you see two red headlights in the darkness. The crowd roars and jumps to their feet. The song continues on until the lyrics "Bad to the Bone" begin. At the very same moment, you see a truck hauling down a dirt alley into the arena. The crowd is roaring on their feet chanting, “Grave Digger!” Monster Jam World Finals is a hidden gem; Very few people even know about this event, or that they have been held every year since 2000. This year, they changed the event to a two-day show instead of a one day like previous years. At first, I wasn’t sure if two days was going to be a good fit for this event. The price of the tickets went up increasingly or some it seemed. Many people would say that they should have kept the event at a one day. Although I believe that even though the price might have gone up. The two-day event is actually beneficial to you and also the finer quality of the show you receive.
Excitement and anticipation overwhelmed me as I stood in line to enter the stadium. The first night was the racing potion of the championship. As you enter the immense red dome, you are immediately greeted with concession stands everywhere. All the cinder-block walls were a mustard yellow with massive signs separating the different sections of the seats in the arena. I walked into the arena down a long tunnel that had the same color and textured walls as inside the dome. Once at the end I saw the arena it stretched as far as two football fields. The arena was a circular shape. The course was full of dirt, with hills like ramps colored red and outlines in yellow. We made it up to our seats right as they dimmed the lights and began to welcome everyone out. A woman was introduced, and she started singing the national anthem. There was a single spot light that was on her, the rest of the arena was dark. Suddenly spectacular red, blue, and white fireworks started to burst into the air.
They concluded and then it was onto the show. Two trucks were in both alleys revving their engines waiting to start. Green lights flashed and they were off, racing down the sides of the arena making a sharp turn to get to the dirt ramp and jump over the finish line first. This continued until all 20 trucks had raced and eliminated each other until only one truck was still standing Son of a Grave Digger was crowned the winner. The second night is probably the most interesting event for me. This night, each truck driver competes for 30 seconds on the clock to do the craziest stunts without having their truck either stall, start on fire, or lose a tire the list goes on and on. They are judged and get a final score for their freestyle show, and the driver with the highest score is crowned Monster Jam World Final Champion of that year.
Once in my seat, I see that the course is changed in its layout. There were four enormous mountains of yellow dirt positioned as squares making the course very challenging for a driver to do a freestyle without losing control. The announcer welcomed a truck out and over the speakers, you heard the theme song for the truck. The first trucks were new comers who didn’t last very long on the horrendous obstacle course that was designed for more skilled drivers. Then it came to the time for the older drivers that everyone knew to have their 30 seconds of fame. Avenger came out of the dirt alley speeding down the lane until he abruptly stopped to make a sharper than usual turn to jump onto the mountain of dirt. He flew through the air like he was a paper plane. He landed hard onto the ground, then continued into a flat surface of dirt and started to do the infamous donuts that monster trucks are known for. Dust started flying into the air until you could only hear the roar of the truck going around in a circle position. The crowd is on their feet yelling. I shortly stop cheering the driver on and close my mouth and have the gritty sand pebbles in my mouth from the dirt that was filling through-out the stadium.
It felt as if you got better than 30 seconds of a freestyle of the trucks. The main trucks competed twice during this show. Normally, there was not enough time during prior years. After the 30 seconds if the truck was still running correctly they gave them a bonus 10 seconds. This is also was something that has never been done before. All around you seemed to get a more action at this show this year than prior years simply because they had more time to make the obstacle courses amazing instead of hurrying to set up while fans wait in the stadium.
I think that people would be surprised to know that 50 monster truck drivers compete against each other all around the world to be the final 20 drivers standing to compete for the title of Monster Jam World. Even though the prices have gone up, I have not, nor will I miss an event. This show has a very deep meaning to me besides; I absolutely love these trucks. Every year since I was 10 years old, we have celebrated my dad’s birthday by going to this. It was one of our very few daddy daughter dates that we go on that I see my dad let loose and have fun and not worry about anything but being there with me at that moment. To summarize at the end it’s all just money. You can’t take it with you when you’re gone, so make memories while you're here.