Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Wheeling, WV 2016

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: WesBanco Arena
Location: Wheeling, West Virginia
Date: February 19th, 2016
Photographer: Paul M. Harry

Truck Lineup

Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Bad News Travels Fast (Brandon Derrow), Black Stallion (Matt Cody), Carolina Crusher (Gary Porter), Grave Digger (Jon Zimmer), Higher Education (Jimmy Tracey), Krazy Train (Lloyd Twitchell), Saigon Shaker (Ryan Disharoon) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Indianapolis, IN 2014

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: January 25th, 2014
Photographer: Danny Maass

Truck Lineup

Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Captain’s Curse (Alex Blackwell), Cleatus (Frank Krmel), El Toro Loco (Josh Hintz), Grave Digger (Marc MacDonald), Heavy Hitter (Derick Anson), Iron Man (Dustin Brown), Krazy Train (Mark Noto), Lucas Oil Crusader (Linsey Weenk), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Monster Mutt Dalmation (Candace Jolly), River Rat (Steven Snellen), Team Hot Wheels Firestorm (Scott Buetow), Thunder 4×4 (Jim Bendzick), Wrecking Crew (Steve Koehler) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Indianapolis, IN 2014

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: January 25th, 2014
Photographer: Paul M. Harry

Truck Lineup

Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Captain’s Curse (Alex Blackwell), Cleatus (Frank Krmel), El Toro Loco (Josh Hintz), Grave Digger (Marc MacDonald), Heavy Hitter (Derick Anson), Iron Man (Dustin Brown), Krazy Train (Mark Noto), Lucas Oil Crusader (Linsey Weenk), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Monster Mutt Dalmation (Candace Jolly), River Rat (Steven Snellen), Team Hot Wheels Firestorm (Scott Buetow), Thunder 4×4 (Jim Bendzick), Wrecking Crew (Steve Koehler) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Detroit, MI 2014

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Ford Field
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Date: January 11th, 2014
Photographer: Paul M. Harry

Truck Lineup

Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Bad News Travels Fast (Brandon Derrow), Bounty Hunter (Darren Migues), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), D-Molisher (Scott Liddycoat), El Toro Loco (Becky McDonough), Grave Digger (Chad Tingler), Iron Man (Lee O’Donnell), Iron Outlaw (Trent Montgomery), Krazy Train (Lloyd Twitchell), Maximum Destruction (Morgan Kane), Mohawk Warrior (BJ Johnson), Mopar Muscle (Mike Miller), Monster Energy (Damon Bradshaw), Monster Mutt Dalmation (Taryn Laskey), Northern Nightmare (Cam McQueen), Raminator (Mark Hall), Zombie (Sean Duhon) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Truck Show – Little Valley, NY 2012

Event: Monster Truck Show
Venue: Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds
Location: Little Valley, New York
Date: August 3rd, 2012
Photographer: Jeff Luckey – www.JeffLuckeyPhoto.com

Lineup: Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Illuminator (Jay Snyder), Krazy Train (Pete Robbins), Samson (Dan Patrick), Summit Bigfoot #18 (Dan Runte), Toxic (Travis Petri) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Toronto, Ontario 2012

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Rogers Centre
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: January 21st-22nd, 2012
Photographer: “Monster Truck Fan”

Lineup: Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), Grave Digger (Rod Schmidt), Krazy Train (Mark Noto), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Mohawk Warrior (George Balhan), Monster Mutt Dalmation (Candace Jolly), Northern Nightmare (Cam McQueen), Spike (Jeff Anderson), Wrecking Crew (Steve Koehler)
[Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Kansas City, MO 2011

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Sprint Center
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Date: February 12th, 2011
Photographer: Ross Z. Bonar

Lineup: Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Bounty Hunter (Jay McPherson), Destroyer (Dan Evans), Grave Digger (Pablo Huffaker), Krazy Train (Roger Cardot), Martial Law (Paul Strong), Reptoid (Jim Jack), TMNT (Aaron Basl) [Read more…]

Monster Photos – Monster Jam – Columbus, OH 2011

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Nationwide Arena
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Date: January 7th, 2011
Photographer: Paul M. Harry

Lineup: Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Grave Digger (Gary Porter), Krazy Train (Mark Noto), Mechanical Mischief (Jim Burns), Samson (Dan Patrick), Spiderman (Whit Tarlton) [Read more…]

TMB TV Episode 3.8 – Montreal, Quebec

Event:  Monster Spectacular
Venue:  Olympic Stadium
Location:  Montreal, Quebec
Date:  October 23rd, 2010
Host:  Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers:  Colby Marshall, Ross Z. Bonar

Lineup:  Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Black Stallion (Mike Vaters), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), California Kid (Garrett Ladelle), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), Illuminator (Jay Snyder), Iron Warrior (Trey Meyers), Krazy Train (Roger Cardot), Ms. Bigfoot #11 (Amber Walker), Red Baron (Ben Winslow), Rock Star (Bill Payne) [Read more…]

Montreal Monster Spectacular – The Doug De Nance Report

(Recap By Doug De Nance) “X marks the spot! While that might be a line out of pirate legends, the legend of monster trucks in Canada, Chris Arel made a new high water mark with a monstrous X in Montreal’s Monster Spectacular show that brought out top media reporters like Ross Bonar of TheMonsterBlog.com to report first hand on this incredible event.

The X in question was in the middle of the most unique monster truck racing course ever seen on this continent. The giant floor of the Olympic Stadium was laid out in a huge dirt oval with an X made of up two distinct school bus jumps criss-crossing through the center. To top it off, the trucks would have to race this challenging course side by side.

And what a slate of trucks there were to take on this incredible track. Fourteen of the top trucks on the planet had been assembled for one night in front of 45,000 fans. Just listen to the names: Bounty Hunter, Avenger, Black Stallion, Miss Bigfoot, Bad Habit, Rock Star, Brutus, Aftershock, plus the newest star in monster trucks, the Chris Arel The Red Baron truck and many more all came with guns a blazin’ and engines roaring.

The night began with all 14 trucks pitted in a wheelie contest, hitting the car stacks on either side of the oval portion of the track. It was such rapid fire action that the Big O looked like a Saturday afternoon traffic jam at the local mall – except every vehicle was a monster truck. Like a three ring circus, there was so much air-born action it was hard to keep track as truck after truck soared vertical. Despite many incredible wheelies, Jay Snyder and Illuminator lit up the judge’s scorecards for the win with a 12 o’clock tail stand on the cars that sent him crashing to the concrete like a giant redwood under the lumberjack’s axe.

Racing was exactly what was predicted by the incredible track – wild and crazy. The tacky clay dirt caused many trucks to hook up extra hard. Bad Habit found that out the hard way in the very first round of bracket racing, tumbling the truck over and tearing the body completely off and sending Trey Myers and Iron Warrior to the quarter finals. The driver of The Red Baron was a masked mystery coming into the race, but the respect was fast coming as he made Aftershock his first kill of the night. Black Stallion had an easy time of his race as Chris Bergeron took Brutus over an unintended obstacle, one of the Super 4 racing cars that had been abandoned on the side of the track.

The wildest and craziest race of the first bracket series saw the wild man from Washington, Bill Payne and Rock Star matched up against the pretty petite Amber Walker in Miss Bigfoot. Payne had said that this was the final night for the original Rock Star truck as he is busy designing a brand new version from the ground up. That should have been the tip off to Amber Walker that Payne would do what he does the very best – destroy everything in his path. The two trucks were bumper to bumper as they launched off the start line and over the first bus stack through the center X of the track. When they came to the first turn something had to give. So Payne gave it a little extra and ran up the rear tire of Miss Bigfoot, sending Payne up onto his back wheelie bar and Amber Walker wobbling from side to side. Somehow she kept the rubber side down but stalled out. Payne managed to get Rock Star back down to earth upright and finished the lap to move on to the quarter finals.

The story of the Red Baron is the stuff of legend from World War I. But a new legacy to that legend was been written during the subsequent rounds of racing by the unknown driver of the new Red Baron truck. Former world champions like Bounty Hunter and Avenger were expected to be able to adapt to the full contact that this new track created. A racing legend like Mike Vaters in Black Stallion would have been a good bet to make to the finals, but lost out to Jimmy Creten. However, it was the Red Baron astounded all who watched the masked driver win again and again to eventually face Bounty Hunter in the final race.

From a truck perspective, it was a draw. Both trucks were Ford Expeditions with 572 cubic inch engines kicking out more than 1800 horsepower. That wasn’t a surprise since Chris Arel had commissioned Jimmy’s 2Extreme Racing Team to design the new Red Baron truck. So the wild card was unknown track record of the driver of the new truck versus the legendarycompetiveness of Jimmy Creten.

Time seemed to slow down to slow motion as the trucks took off from the starting line. Side by side they launched off the bus stack and into the first turn. The only advantage seemed to be the inside lane as it gave the Red Baron a bumper width lead. It was the thinnest of margins but they say racing is a game of inches. The Red Baron only needed an inch to defeat Bounty Hunter for the racing win.

The Red Baron driver kept the mask on to keep the mystery intact as the trucks headed into freestyle. There was even a red plane as an obstacle that looked tailor made for the racing winner. But Joe Sylvester lived up to his trucks name as the Bad Habit driver tore up everything on the track. Sylvester has set the new world record for the monster truck longest jump in September of this year, sailing the Cadillac 208 feet and besting the 202 foot record held by Bigfoot for many years. Well, Sylvester looked like he was trying to beat his own record as he flew through the air off every obstacle he could hit. While the Red Baron and trucks like Black Stallion, Bounty Hunter and Avenger all had spectacular runs; it was Bad Habit making a habit of rocking freestyle – just like he had done at the Monster Spectacular finals in June.

The mystery of the Red Baron was solved at the conclusion of freestyle as the driver wearing the Mexican wrestler mask took to the mic. The southern charm and soothing accent of Ben “Bobo” Winslow didn’t require the driver to be unmasked to be recognized. The former driver from the Sudden Impact team, who had dazzled fans on the Monster Spectacular tour during the summer, had continued to wow the crowd behind the wheel of the new Red Baron. Winslow looks to fly high in his new ride.

As is always the case with Monster Spectacular, Chris Arel treated fans to much more motorsports entertainment, ranging from autocross with Baja styled racers culminating in a champagne soaked trophy presentation to a street style Super 4 series with supped up 4 cylinder customs to a full contact tough truck battle to welcoming back Kamikaze the jet quad and Felix Famlard and his incredible sport bike freestyle team. Perhaps the biggest treat was the introduction of Arel’s newest venture with Vic Theriault, The Legends of the Fighting Arts. Many stars from the fight game, including Jean-Yves Theriault witnessed the kickoff of the program with awards going to such famous fight names as Michel Jette, JF Bergeron, Regis Levesque and Jacques Rougeau. There will be much more to come next year with Legends of the Fight Arts.

It’s always a sad moment when the crowd has left the building in Montreal in October because it means the last Monster Spectacularshow of the year is over. But the good news is that a new season of Monster Spectacular is just around the corner in 2011. Watch for the biggest monster truck show in Canada to rumble into your area soon.”

A huge thanks to Monster Spectacular Tour Announcer Doug De Nance for another great season of keeping TMB posted on all the happenings with the Monster Spectacular tour!

Monster Spectacular – Montreal, Quebec – 10/23/10

Event:  Monster Spectacular
Venue:  Olympic Stadium
Location:  Montreal, Quebec
Date:  October 23rd, 2010
Photographer: Stephanie Cotnoir

Lineup:  Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Avenger (Jim Koehler), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Black Stallion (Mike Vaters), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), California Kid (Garrett Ladelle), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), Illuminator (Jay Snyder), Iron Warrior (Trey Meyers), Krazy Train (Roger Cardot), Ms. Bigfoot #11 (Amber Walker), Red Baron (Ben Winslow), Rock Star (Bill Payne) [Read more…]

Red Baron, Bad Habit Big Winners In Montreal

The TMB crew headed north of the border this weekend for the huge fall Monster Spectacular in Montreal, Quebec as Chris Arel Motorsports put on one of the biggest events Canada has ever seen at Olympic Stadium!! The event featured 14 of the top trucks from the U.S. and a wild new race course design that was sure to create excitement and controversy. The event kicked off with a wheelie contest as all 14 trucks took one hit on the cars. Despite great efforts from Brutus, Bounty Hunter, and Red Baron, it was Jay Snyder in the Illuminator taking the win as he stood absolutely straight up and down before rolling hard onto the roof.

The unique race course would not only see the trucks running side by side over school buses, but would also see the trucks racing off road style after the first jump with no lanes, anything goes, “rubbin’s racing”. The concept wouldn’t take long to provide the controversy as wildman Bill Payne in Rock Star drove hard into the corner following Amber Walker in Ms. Bigfoot, making contact with her truck and nearly sending her over as she made a great save to keep the truck on all fours. Payne ended up on his tailgate before backing down onto all fours and continuing on for the win.

The rest of the racing brackets would be much tamer as the truck on the inside lane at the start usually held the advantage. Bounty Hunter, Black Stallion, Brutus and Red Baron would be the final four and like so many other times in Montreal, it would eventually come down to an all 2Xtreme Racing final round as “Bobo” Ben Winslow would take on Jimmy Creten for the big win. The officials deemed Red Baron the fastest truck in the semi-finals giving him lane choice and that was all it would take for Winslow to hold off the boss for the biggest win of his career.

Freestyle would see all the trucks taking on a tough and treacherous course that provided plenty of big air and wow moments through the competition. Avenger, Bounty Hunter, Black Stallion and Red Baron all turned in stellar runs but it was Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit who rocked Olympic Stadium with an epic performance to take the victory.

TMB’s Ross Z. Bonar and Colby Marshall had a great time once again attending Montreal and both filmed for what should be an amazing episode of TMB TV, which will premiere Wednesday, November 10th at 8PM Eastern. Stephanie Cotnoir handled the photo duties and came up with some amazing shots that you will soon see in a full photo gallery – check out the TMB Facebook and become a fan to see lots more teasers from the show. TMB thanks Chris Arel Motorsports for all their support in helping make this coverage possible and we are already looking forward to the next Monster Spectacular in Montreal!! Stay tuned for great coverage from this major event coming soon.

Monster Spectacular Returns to Montreal w/14 Trucks, Figure 8 Racing

(Montreal, Quebec) The Monster Spectacular is returning to Olympic Stadium this Saturday night for one of the wildest events the Big O has ever seen – a 14 truck lineup and monster truck figure 8 racing!! The racing portion of the event will be unlike any other figure 8 ever seen as trucks will race together on the same course in a unique concept tested earlier this year at Quebec City Speedway. The lineup is stacked as always as Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter returns after sweeping last fall’s event while Team BIGFOOT sends new sensation team driver Amber Walker and Ms. Bigfoot north of the border for the first time to try and take him down. Also returning will be superstars Jim Koehler in Avenger, Chris Bergeron in Brutus and Mike Vaters in Black Stallion.

Making their first trip to Olympic Stadium will be the Straight Up Racing team out of Washington as freestyle juggernaut Bill Payne will make his final appearance in the current Rock Star chassis before scrapping it and debuting a new piece next season. Joining him will be team truck California Kid and rounding out the lineup will be big names including the “monstah lobstah” Crushstation, Bad Habit, Aftershock, Illuminator, Iron Warrior, Siberian Express and the debut of The Red Baron.

As if all that monster truck excitement wasn’t enough, the Monster Spectacular in Montreal never fails to have an amazing support card as this year’s event will feature the North American Autocross Championship and much more.

If you haven’t got your tickets already, head on over to www.MonsterSpectacular.com and get them now as this is one event you just don’t want to miss!!

Cornfield 500 Featuring Bad Habit World Record Attempt Photos

TMB would like to welcome a new contributor to our family, a great 25-year veteran motorsports photographer named Jeff Luckey out of New York. Jeff was on hand for the action of the Cornfield 500 event at the Blair Miller Farm in Columbus, Pennsylvania this past weekend and has been kind enough to send us over a great gallery of photos from the event. The event featured Aftershock, Krazy Train, Black Knight and Tow Mater in freestyle exhibition leading up to the big long jump world record attempt by Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit.

A big thanks to Jeff once again for the great photos and we look forward to seeing more of your incredible work here on TMB. Click the link below to see all the action from the 2010 Cornfield 500!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW JEFF LUCKEY’S CORNFIELD 500 PHOTO GALLERY

The Cornfield 500 – Columbus, PA – 09/05/10

Event:  The Cornfield 500 Featuring Bad Habit Long Jump World Record Attempt
Venue:  Blair Miller Farm
Location:  Columbus, PA
Date:  September 5th, 2010
Photographer:  Jeff Luckey, www.JeffLuckeyPhoto.com

Lineup:  Aftershock (Bob Robbins), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Black Knight (“Hillbilly”), Krazy Train (Mark Noto), Tow Mater (Jeff Bursey) [Read more…]