TMB coverage has been a staple at Firebird International Raceway over the last 5 years and this year is no different as we present to you coverage from this past April’s NAPA Monster Truck Nationals!! Our awesome contributors Jim and Chris Allen were on hand to provide the great write-ups and amazing photos from each show. In addition, our own Lauren & Lynette Bonar attended the Saturday event to bring you more great video coverage from one of the southwest’s biggest events. So read on below to enjoy Christopher Allen’s great recap from the events:

“There once was a time in the monster truck racing sport when if you broke, you did not bother to try and fix it in time for the next round. Once that happened, you could just load your truck on the trailer and go on home. The fans would have known you with the dreaded words “out for the night”. Then came freestyle and this was less often the case. But, as we will see, the words “out for the night” are not in the dictionary of “Team Scream”, especially when they are competing at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Arizona for the annual NAPA Auto Parts Monster Truck Nationals.

The participants, along with Avenger and Brutus driven by Jim Koehler and Chris Bergeron, were Dan Runte and Bigfoot #16, Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter, Firebird regulars Travis Sturges filling in for Uncle Sam Sturges in Unnamed and Untamed, brother Ronnie driving Nasty Boy, and returning to Firebird were Mike Hawkins in Equalizer after a couple years away, along with teammate Isaiah Morales in Hot Tamale.

Following some 300 mph jet car action, exciting introductions and an Independence Day rivaling fireworks show, was the long jump competition. Hot Tamale was the opener and made a nice jump, slightly tagging the freestyle van stack just off the landing. Nasty Boy, more known for wheelies, didn’t quite make the distance. Then came Brutus. He just didn’t make it in the actual jump, but then tried to make up for it by attacking the tire pyramid, but when he did, disaster struck. To find out how, check out the video coverage and photos! Following Brutus’ clearing of the track, Unnamed & Untamed, Equalizer, Avenger and Bigfoot each tried and failed to beat Hot Tamale, but then came Bounty Hunter. He easily made the distance, then ran into the van stack but saved it to take the win.

Freestyle is often the “Main Event” of monster truck shows, and tonight was no different. Each driver put his truck’s major horsepower to the ground to out-perform the next guy. Mr. Runte is always a potential winner at Firebird and got a near-perfect score of 29. Then the shocker of the night came with the return of Brutus, having been fixed just in the nick of time. Showing no mercy, the other half of the loudest interviewees in the sport hit literally every obstacle the track threw at him. With a perfect score of 30, all Mr. Creten could do was tie. And that is exactly what he did.

The announcer then got word that since there cannot be co-winners in the race to get a highest total score for the weekend to become the year’s undisputed champion, it was decided that the showdown Firebird fans long deserved would occur the next day. With one wild, rabid dog in one corner and a hard to beat old west tracker in the other, Sunday might very well see the greatest throw-down in Firebird history.

The NAPA Monster Truck Nationals employs an interesting championship crowning system each year. The distance in the long jump is calculated with the scores in freestyle and whoever has the highest distance-score combination wins, and that driver has been Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter several times as of recent memory. But there was another driver, Chris Bergeron and Brutus, who also scored a perfect 30 on Saturday night, making this war arguably Jimmy’s greatest Firebird challenge yet.

Unique to Firebird Raceway is the challenge of having to watch out for swarms of bees around the facility. A slight bee attack delayed the show about half an hour, making the monster truck drivers’ job even harder, but they did not disappoint. Bounty Hunter made the first jump in the jump off contest look easy. Truck after truck came after him only to fall short. Then came a fired up Jim Kohler with Avenger that had two things on his mind: slowing down Brutus and beating Bounty Hunter. After he made the jump that looked almost identical to Jim Creten’s, the fans knew this was going to be close heading into the finale, the winner take all freestyle.

The first freestyle is always a challenge but the Bounty Hunter driver showed he did not fear anyone who followed, if his freestyle, which was worth a 28 point score, said anything. The remaining headliners, Avenger and Bigfoot must have been paying attention, because they showed no mercy, either. But when it was all said and done, Jimmy and Bounty Hunter, with three wins and one tie, overall never finishing out of the top two all weekend, was declared the undisputed monster truck champion of the 2010 NAPA Monster Truck Nationals.

Hopefully, Firebird Raceway fans went away with some new memories and even some new fans of the monster truck racing sport were made. The bee attack notwithstanding, another great show at the historic race track is in the books.” – Coverage By Chris Allen

Thanks again to Christopher for the great write-up of this year’s event. Now click the links below to see Jim Allen’s incredible photos from the event and also Lynette Bonar’s great video coverage. Thanks to all our TMB’ers for the great job out in Firebird this year.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW JIM ALLEN’S FIREBIRD RACEWAY PHOTO GALLERY

CLICK HERE TO VIEW LYNETTE BONAR’S FIREBIRD VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS