The Allen Report: 7th Annual IMTM Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we continue an annual tradition by ending our season in Auburn, Indiana, for the 7th Annual International Monster Truck Museum Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion. The ceremony is set inside the prestigious Kruse Automotive and Carriage Museum, which also is home to the International Monster Truck Museum & Hall of Fame. Here, legendary monster trucks share the spotlight with hard to find merchandise, trophies and other awards from many years ago. There are even body panels and fire suits on display. With a large number of overall appearing monster trucks, a long list of sponsors and a new attendance record, this was the most successful Hall of Fame Ceremony yet.

This year’s Hall of Fame class consisted of the following personalities:
• Seth Doulton, the person who contributed to bringing corporate sponsorship into the sport and the former promoter of the Monster Truck Madness series, the first promotion company to use “in-house” monster vehicles.
• Jim Ries, the builder and occasional driver of Seth’s monster vehicles.
• Mike Gallaway, one of the sport’s greatest television personalities, both as an in the field reporter and as a booth announcer.
• Jeff Bainter, the owner, builder and driver of the most famous monster Jeep of all time, Hot Stuff. Very recently, Hot Stuff became a ride truck and was on display this year at the Museum for the weekend only.
• Gary Cook, the original owner and builder of 1989 TNT Motorsports National Champion truck Equalizer, which has been on permanent display at the IMTM the past two years.

Other monster trucks that were present at the museum especially for this once-a-year occasion included:
• The current version of fourth Hall of Fame class member Michael Vaters’ Black Stallion.
• A clone of the beautiful Showtime Ford monster, the original owned many years ago by Brian Shell.
• Titan, owned by Fil Tristan out of the quad cities area who was there when the sport was young, his truck having crushed cars with 48 inch tires at one point in time.
• One Bad Hombre, a bright blue monster truck that is only two years old, but is built very much like a traditional old school monster from years gone by.
• Raminator, a truck owned by brothers Tim and Mark Hall which, not long ago, was confirmed by Guinness as the World’s Fastest Monster Truck at 99.1 mph.
• High Roller 2, a rebuilt version of the iconic 48 inch tire monster currently owned by Jeff Krekeler.
• Predator 1, owned by third Hall of Fame class member, Allen Pezo.
• Finally, Taurus Racer, the 1991 USHRA National Champion which has found a new home inside the IMTM. For weeks, the IMTM had been teasing a mystery truck which would be unveiled Friday night and this was it. Original owner and inaugural Hall of Fame class member Jack Wilman Sr. didn’t know that Michael Vaters and his company were recreating the truck and had tears of joy in his eyes as the truck was unveiled to the attendees.

Other past Hall of Famers in attendance were Bob Chandler and Jim Kramer of Bigfoot, Mike Welch of Monster Mash, Jerry Richmond of Terminator, Gene Patterson of Breen Boyz Racing, and many others with at least one member of every single Hall of Fame class. Every so often, Gene would “mysteriously disappear” and original Snake Bite driver Colt Cobra would show up. One of these moments was during the auction on the big night, where Colt took to the stage to sell original Snake Bite concept designs from the early 1990s. In some cases, attendees themselves were notable monster truck industry personalities, such as Charlie “Kid” Rarig, notably of PA Mountain Monster and Thunder Chicken and John Furbee, who often drove Mike Welch’s Monster Mash on the frequent occasion that the iconic Super Pete semi-truck monster and Monster Mash were booked for the same show.

Friday night’s meet and greet started the weekend. There were several tabletop displays of memorabilia, and even a full, modern-day style show with radio control monsters presented by the fine folks at Jconcepts. There were all kinds of old school related activity at the museum and neighboring bingo hall until it was time for all to retire for the night.

The day of the Hall of Fame Ceremony itself got off to a great start with its customary Q&A and history discussion. Mike Gallaway was feeling a bit under the weather and unfortunately that kept him away from the Q&A, but his daughter did a great job filling in. Mike would be fine by evening and was in attendance for the big event. The inductees reminisced about the good old days and was very informative to the younger members of the audience and laughter to all in attendance. During the evening’s catered dinner before the Ceremony began, the spectators were treated to induction videos from past Hall of Famer classes. Finally, the big moment arrived.

Each inductee received a huge ovation from the crowd, both before their “thank you” speeches and after their induction interviews. At the end of the ceremony but before the auction, the silver plaques for each of the newest Hall of Fame class was unveiled before later being taken into the museum itself to join its predecessors. Once more, the night ended by auctioning off all kinds of monster truck related memorabilia. The final several items auctioned quite high, which is great for the museum’s future.

We always attend and enjoy this event every year and sincerely thank former War Wagon driver and IMTM President Jeff Cook for starting this museum and Hall of Fame and we urge as many Monster Truck fans (both old school and modern day) as possible to visit the museum and/or attend the Ceremony at least one time.

Well, that’s the 2017 season for us at “The Allen Report”. We thank each and every promoter who have graciously agreed to having us attend their shows over this past year and making us feel like VIPs. Thanks to all of you, the readers of TheMonsterBlog.com for coming back again and again to see our photos and read our event reviews we both work so hard on. We hope to see all of you at one of our covered events in 2018, encourage you to “Like” our Facebook page “Monster Truckin” with Jim and Chris”, follow our Instagram page and, of course, cheer on!

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The Allen Report: All Star Monster Truck Tour – Phoenix, AZ 2017 Part 2

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we return to the Arizona State Fairgrounds, where just two weeks earlier a thrill show co-starring a flame throwing jet car and the kid captivating Transaurus took place alongside the monster trucks. All Star Motorsport Productions, promoter of the thrill shows, also came back for this weekend. But unlike the events of earlier in October, this was a tried and true, full on monster truck show with six five ton, high horsepower mechanical beasts having the spotlight all to themselves on the fair’s final weekend for the year.

Throughout each show, the monsters would participate in Best Trick competition, single run obstacle course racing against the clock and no time limit, no holding back freestyle. Points were on the line for each competition and the truck with the highest number of points at the end of the show would be crowned the Overall Event Champion. As the weekend would go by, result trackers would count the number of Overall wins per monster with the competitor who had obtained the most Overall wins receiving the distinction of Arizona State Fair Champion.

Representing the home state was Marana’s El Perro Loco (translation – The Crazy Dog) with Murph McCrorey behind the wheel. Murph is the stepson of team owner Rod Wood and his tendency to drive like a madman in night shows garnered him the nickname “Werewolf”, a moniker he would live up to equally under the sun and after dark over the days this weekend. To make the truck sound as different as possible from McGruff two weeks earlier, the event announcers billed the truck from Ensenada, Baja, Mexico and had spent years dominating the Mexican circuit before crossing into the USA.

The rest of the field consisted of the entire Straight Up Racing team. Team co-founder and leader Bill Payne took the wheel of his trusty Rock Star. Gabe Montoya was ready to attack the track as the pilot of Reverse Racer, where the body is turned around one hundred and eighty degrees to make it look like the truck is always going the wrong way. Next in line was the vicious looking 10,000 Pound Hound to be driven by Nick Jones. Not far behind was Ezra Wilson in the Identity Theft. The fifth and final truck in the stable was the monster hot rod California Kid, controlled by Dallas Glen Rogers.

In the first of three shows on Saturday, Identity Theft got the show off to a splendid start with a one-two punch of great air and a sweet sky wheelie to get a score of 14 of a possible 20 for Best Trick. When El Perro Loco fell short by just one single point despite sick air and a great sky wheelie, the crowd openly voiced their disappointment. But next out was Bill Payne, who has performed as far away as Europe and Asia in years past. Bill followed up a great sky wheelie off the crush car with a wicked slap wheelie from one end of the floor to the other, taking the Best Trick win and Overall points lead.

Identity Theft set the standard for those coming after by completing the course in just under 23 seconds. The very next pass by 10K Pound Hound proved how tough the competition was by edging out his predecessor in the order by less than one tenth of a second. The colossal canine monster held the lead until Rock Star stormed past him on the stopwatch, reaching the finish line a whole two seconds faster with only freestyle to go.

The freestyle track consisted of a jammer stack for air, a wheelie bump and the time trial finish line crush car for wheelies and the obstacle course track second straightaway offering a distance jump ramp on one side and sideways tires for wheelies on the other. Identity Theft took advantage of his final shot for a trophy to get huge air and cross threaded the jump used as the obstacle course halfway point to stay in the hunt. Ten Thousand Pound Hound gave admirable efforts, including decent air. But Rock Star gave more incredible slap wheelies and hit the kicker obstacle the wrong way to get the early afternoon Overall Championship.

As the weekend progressed, the competition got tighter and tighter across the board. The second obstacle course competition of the day was decided by only half a second between winner Rock Star and runner-up Identity Theft. A few hours later in the evening show obstacle course race, Bill Payne finally pushed his truck too hard, breaking a steering line in the final turn of the course, causing his truck to do a complete 360 and rendering him unable to cross the finish line. This DNF would go on to end Rock Star’s perfect streak of Overall Titles, the final Saturday win eventually going to Identity Theft.

In the second to last show of the weekend, El Perro Loco was in the midst of a high intensity freestyle when an awkward landing from a sky wheelie sent him into the only rollover of the weekend. Murph was okay and the crowd roared when it was announced that El Perro had taken the freestyle lead. This, on top of a Best Trick win and runner-up placing in the obstacle course was enough for Murph and The Crazy Dog to finally take an Overall Championship.

In the last Obstacle Course contest of the weekend, Identity Theft just narrowly slipped past Rock Star with less than half a second being the difference. To end the weekend on a high note, Rock Star joined Identity Theft not long into the latter’s freestyle, causing All Star Productions officials to decree the two co-champions. This brought the crowd’s noise level very high, marking the ideal end to both the 2017 Arizona State Fair and the last weekend of monster trucks. Even so, with three sole titles and one shared win across a total of six shows over three days, Rock Star handily took the Arizona State Fair Championship.

At that, the monster truck action season for us at “The Allen Report” has come to a close. But we also begin to finalize plans for our trip to Auburn, Indiana, for one of our favorite annual events, the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame Ceremony. As of this writing, the number of overall display monster vehicles, weekend and full time sponsors and returning past inductees all look high, which is great news for us, as we are just as much fans of the early days of the sport as we are fans of its current state. With that behind us, a special thanks to Bryan Wagner and every member of All Star Productions for allowing us to cover his events, thank you, our readers, for following our show coverage, enjoy the photos and until next year, cheer on!

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Monster Photos: Monster Mash – Julian, NC 2017

Event Information

Event: Monster Mash
Venue: Piedmont Dragway
Location: Julian, North Carolina
Date: October 27th-28th, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Bad Company (John Gordon), Ice Cream Man (Roy Pridgeon), Jester (Matt Pagliarulo), Reckless Drivin (Jeremy Hosman), Wild Thang (Doug Charles), Xtermigator (Jack Brown) [Read more…]

The Allen Report: All Star Monster Truck Tour – Phoenix, AZ 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we return to one of our hometown venues, the Arizona State Fairgrounds. Bryan Wagner and his company All Star Productions have put together stadium motorsports events here several times before, but this show was different. Billed as a “thrill show”, three earth shaking monsters would be paired with plenty of great motorsports action. The main event of each show, monster truck single run freestyle, would be decided by fan applause, so every move would count. When a huge crowd piled in for every show, it truly was all or nothing for the drivers.

Representing the home state was McGruff. In the opening performance on Friday night, Rod Wood was the man behind the monster for the first time since shoulder surgery sidelined him a few months ago. Step-son Murph “Werewolf” McCrorey would take the wheel for the remaining shows throughout the weekend. Proudly performing for the Navajo Nation was second generation driver Derek Edd piloting the Fanatic. This truck is a southwestern monster finally coming back to this venue after an extended retirement. Finally, former World Champion Jimmy Creten arrived in Bounty Hunter. With each show featuring a single round of freestyle decided by crowd applause, every last move would count.

All shows got off to a roaring start as the monsters turned in a donut or a few during introductions, wasting no time in hyping up the crowd. In the only show on Friday night, Rod Wood looked like his old self with big air and excellent sky wheelies. Derek Edd fought steering issues, a problem that would plague him on and off throughout the weekend, but still gave the fans a nice performance. But Jimmy Creten wasn’t fazed by the show count in front of him, sending Bounty Hunter high into the night sky and digging up the dirt with his back bumper in beautiful wheelies. When the fate of the first championship of the weekend was on the line, there was no question about it when it came to crowd noise. Bounty Hunter took the first title no bones about it.

The monster action wasn’t over after freestyle, however, as the grand finale showcased all monsters returning to the track at once in a “monster train”, each five ton machine following each other over the obstacles before facing the grandstand to bring the curtain down on another great show.

Over the weekend, all drivers pushed their machines to the limit. Derek Edd and Fanatic turned the steering malfunctions in his favor, often upping the crowd noise with long and cheer-inducing donuts. Murph McCrorey seized every chance he got to bring the front tires in the air, succeeding more often than not. But Jimmy Creten refused to hold back, going progressively harder and harder each show.

Then, on the last show of the weekend Sunday evening, Derek Edd threw caution to the wind, executing a spectacular save and continuing to push his truck over the obstacles, smoke billowing from the engine, until it finally gave out. Still, Derek had done more than enough to earn thunderous applause from the spectators. Then, in the last run, Jimmy Creten finally pushed Bounty Hunter too hard as the truck broke a front and a rear axle, but the former World Champion still soldiered on, refusing to let the truck quit before he was satisfied. With the weekend sweep on the line, the crowd was suddenly the most divided it had been all weekend, so a second and final cheer off was decided upon. And the decision went to Fanatic, ending Bounty Hunter’s perfect win streak.

While the monsters were getting maintenance between runs, the crowd was treated to some fiery and noisy fun courtesy of a jet powered Smart Car, the audience often literally feeling the heat as the car belched flames from its afterburner. Finally, young and old alike were fascinated by the car eating, fire breathing antics of the half tank, half dinosaur known as Transaurus. Even when he’d had his fill for each show, the mechanical beast stopped by the grandstand to wave his metallic claws at the fans before departing.

With that behind us, we at “The Allen Report” set our sights on our final shows of the year, same venue and same town. But this show will be a full-on, true to the bone monster truck show where it’s all up to one single local favorite to fend off an entire multi-truck team. Well then, thanks for reading, a special thanks to Bryan Wagner and the entire All Star Productions team for granting us admittance to the shows and wonderful hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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Monster Photos: Monster Truck Nationals – Wheatland, MO 2017

Event Information

Event: Monster Truck Nationals
Venue: Lucas Oil Speedway
Location: Wheatland, Missouri
Date: October 21st, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Basher (Steven Snellen), BIGFOOT #19 (Darron Schnell), Big Kahuna (Shane England), Heavy Hitter (Derick Anson), Raminator (Matt Dishman), Snake Bite (Vinny Venom) [Read more…]

The Allen Report: WGAS Motorsports Season Finale – Turlock, CA 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we make our third and final trip this year to the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, California. This show was the season finale for our friends at WGAS Motorsports with five high flying, dirt slinging and crowd pleasing monster trucks ready to square off in two rounds of freestyle. A maximum of 100 points per round would be on the line with the highest combined score between the two rounds taking the Overall Championship.

The “Flying Spaniard” Tony Canedo brought all three of his trucks to the fairgrounds. Tony himself took the wheel of Playin’ for Keeps. Local driver Jeff Souza once more got into the seat of Enforcer. Finally, David Tucker climbed back into the Survivor machine. Defending spring event champion Bounty Hunter returned and driver Jimmy Creten was ready to defend his title. Finally, teammate and wife Dawn Creten arrived in her trusty Scarlet Bandit, ready to take the boys head on.

Mini monsters were in the house as well, one of which was Skull Krusher driven by Shane Plato. Rounding out the field was Corbin Shockey in the bright yellow Monster Buddy. In addition, fans attending the event witnessed the first ever performance in California of the Wolfpack Mega Truck Team featuring drivers Glenn Miller, Bob Miller and Greg Queener . These machines are true to the bone monster trucks with the exception of smaller tires. However the drivers push these vehicles just as hard as their life size monster driving counterparts.

This event was a family affair for the Souza’s as Jeff’s son Hunter took to the controls of his Wrecking Machine mini monster for the final time as Jeff and Hunter have big possible future plans. Finally, Jeff’s daughter Cheyenne drove the side by side, or Razor, in an exhibition only run over the tuff truck course. This pumped up the large crowd for tuff truck racing which is a longstanding tradition at this venue.

First out of the gate was Dawn Creten. She got big air several times and turned in some great donuts to take an early lead with a score of 75. Two runs later, Enforcer took to the track. In his run he reached for the sky and hit the obstacles the wrong way to take the Overall title points lead with a score of 90. The first round of freestyle was wrapped up by a bumper dragging wheelie, dirt throwing cyclones and consistent huge air by Bounty Hunter to secure the points lead.

As the final round progressed, all drivers threw caution to the wind. Scarlet Bandit had an excellent run highlighted by big air and capped off by Dawn Creten’s customary wave while leaning out the window. Jeff Souza performed an incredible save right in front of the main grandstand to evoke a huge crowd response. Tony Canedo brought Playin’ for Keeps back out and didn’t let a deflated tire and broken sway bar stop him from thrilling the crowd. But the only former World Champion on the roster delivered a storming run, nailing a virtually perfect score and took the Overall Championship.

Then it was time for the grand finale. The four surviving life size monsters, one omega truck and one mini monster all performed donuts at the same time in front of a roaring crowd to end another season for WGAS Motorsports.

Throughout the night, fans were treated to exciting tuff truck racing as well as quad war action with Team Turlock defeating rival team Phoenix in the main event. Also, the crowd was treated to a burnout contest, which proved a hit with fans. Jake Blackwell and Kaylee Muntz provided fans with spectacular Monster Truck rides in the Extinguisher and Zombie Tracker ride trucks respectively.

Well, that completes our first full season with WGAS Motorsports. Next, we head back to one of our hometown venues for the first of two weekends at the Arizona State Fairgrounds thanks to Bryan Wagner and the All Star Productions. We want to give a gracious thank you to John Borba, Chelsea Kessler and all of the members of WGAS Motorsports for their excellent hospitality and having us every chance possible. We want to thank you, our readers, for taking the time to read our coverage, enjoy the photos, please check us out and follow us on Facebook and Instagram under “Monster Truckin’ with Jim and Chris” and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: Gila County Fair Monster Trucks – Globe, AZ 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we make it to a one-night-only show at the Gila County Fair in Globe, Arizona, in the eastern part of the state. Globe hosted a monster truck show at its County Fairgrounds for the very first time two years ago to great positive feedback and we made it back after a year off to see two southwestern household names and a legendary monster make short work of two sets of crush cars and a motor home in exhibition only freestyle.

Making a short trip from Marana, AZ, was Murph McCrorey at the controls of El Perro Loco, meaning “The Crazy Dog”. This was to be a night show, so time would tell if Murph lived up to his nickname, “Werewolf”. From right across the way in New Mexico was multi-time Monster Truck Hall of Fame nominee Jack Koberna driving the beautiful retro yellow painted Tuff-E-Nuff. Finally, having stayed over the week after Tucson Speedway was Mike Phelps in the iconic police themed Monster Patrol. Once again, an enormous crowd showed up for high flying car smashing action.

In the opening round of freestyle, the drivers wasted no time in delivering great action. El Perro Loco made his mark by clearing the entire set of cars on his final hit. Tuff E Nuff, not to be outdone, also smashed the cars before giving an admirable attempt at a slap wheelie. Monster Patrol continued the big air assault, also making jumps without touching a single car. In the second round, all monsters stepped up their game, while El Perro Loco attempted slap wheelies and Tuff-E-Nuff pleased the crowd by nailing some cross-thread moves. Monster Patrol got even bigger air, hyping the crowd for the finale.

In the third and final round, Rod Wood’s stepson driving El Perro Loco got huge air to start the run. The “The Crazy Dog” then attacked the motor home, smashing it to much approval from the fans. Tuff E Nuff hit the cars before nailing another cross thread and finishing off what little remained of the motor home. Monster Patrol finished the show on a high note by doing cross threads of his own, clearing the cars with room to spare and jumping right through the gap where the motor home had been minutes earlier.

While the monsters were resting between rounds of freestyle, the fans were treated to hard hitting, car slamming demolition derby action. With that, we at “The Allen Report” make our final California trek of the year to Turlock, CA, in order to attend the season’s final motorsports production by our friends at WGAS Motorsports. This past spring, Bounty Hunter either shared or solely took the Overall Championship trophy and Jim Creten will settle for nothing less than again taking the title all to himself.

Well then, we sincerely thank the Gila County Fairgrounds for having us again, thanks for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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Monster Photos: Monster Jam – Indianapolis, IN 2017

Event Information

Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: October 14th, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Avenger (Jim Koehler), Brutus (Brad Allen), El Toro Loco (Becky McDonough), Grave Digger (Morgan Kane), Lucas Oil Crusader (Linsey Weenk), Mad Scientist (Lee O’Donnell), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Mutant (Steven Sims Jr.), Over Bored (Jamey Garner), Solider Fortune Black Ops (Tony Ochs), Son Uva Digger (Ryan Anderson), Team Hot Wheels Firestorm (Scott Buetow), Wonder Woman (Linsey Reed), Zombie (Devin Jones) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monster Truck Throwdown – Benson, NC 2017

Event Information

Event: Monster Truck Throwdown
Venue: GALOT Motorsports Park
Location: Benson, North Carolina
Date: October 6th-7th, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Avenger (Jim Koehler), Hooked (Bryan Wright), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), Lumberjack (Kurt Phillips), Miss Over Bored (Dedra Ballard), Over Bored (Jamey Garner), Rage (Cory Rummell), Stone Crusher (Steve Sims) [Read more…]

Monster Photos: Monsters on the Beach – Wildwood, NJ 2017

Event Information

Event: Monsters on the Beach: WWNJ Monster Truck Beach Races
Venue: The Wildwood Beach
Location: Wildwood, New Jersey
Date: October 1st-2nd, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Avenger (Jim Koehler), Basher (Richie Yatsko), Bigfoot #19 (Darron Schnell), Brutus (Brad Allen), Heavy Hitter (Derick Anson), Jester (Matt Pagliarulo) [Read more…]

The Allen Report: Tucson Speedway Fall Monster Truck Show 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we return to Tucson Speedway for the final time in 2017. This track is a 3/8 mile paved oval that hosts numerous forms of mainstream auto racing, headlined by a lower tier NASCAR series titled “The Whelen Championship”. However, this weekend was headlined by the rumble of ground shaking, car smashing monster trucks ready to fight it out in a preview freestyle, a half-lap “roundy-round” style race on the asphalt oval and the anything goes, all or nothing insanity of freestyle.

The field was headlined by the hometown truck El Perro Loco piloted by Murph McCrorey, stepson of Rod Wood and known for his hard charging driving style in night shows under the nickname “Werewolf”. Hailing from New Mexico was multi-time Monster Truck Hall of Fame nominee Jack Koberna in the sweet looking Tuff-E-Nuff, performing publicly with a retro paint scheme for the very first time. The other two names in the house were both making their debut appearances at Tucson Speedway. First was Mike Phelps at the controls of the black and green Monster Patrol. The other was Canton, Texas’s own Chris Trussell behind the wheel of his trophy truck bodied Big Chief machine, named for his mother’s Cherokee ancestry.

The show opened with the continuation of a popular tradition. Together, Monster Patrol and Big Chief jumped over the barriers onto the front straightaway to get the crowd hooked early. In the preview freestyle, Tuff-E-Nuff got the crowd into the action early with an incredible save coming down from the van stack. However, doing so also popped two tires and bent one four link bar. El Perro Loco put together two excellent wheelies, but the run was cut short due to electrical problems.

With two of the four monsters being repaired, Tucson Speedway officials decreed to go straight to the racing finals between Big Chief and Monster Patrol. With one truck starting at the track’s start/finish line and the other halfway down the back straightaway, this race was different as only half a lap with one sweeping turn had to be completed, not a full lap with two turns. There was no clear leader off the line, but Big Chief took control of the race going through the only turn which he held to the finish, taking the racing championship. In order to excite the fans about the upcoming freestyle, the two racing finals participants did a brief dual freestyle before heading back to the pits.

Finally, it was time for freestyle. With a van stack, two busses and four cars to crush, plus two different wheelie barricades meant that taking the freestyle championship would not be easy. In the meantime, Tuff-E-Nuff and El Perro Loco had been fixed from earlier breakage and were ready for a better shot at taking a win in front of the home region crowd.

At one point, it looked like El Perro Loco was ready to flop on its side, but Murph McCrorey used his veteran driving skills to bring the crazy dog back onto its sixty-six inch paws. Frustrated by the earlier abrupt ending to his run, Jack Koberna attacked the track with full force, hitting the bus stack several times in each direction and turning in some smoke-causing donuts. Monster Patrol cleared the crush cars several times and got huge air over the busses to remain in the championship hunt.

Unable to choose between the hometown dog and the world’s only winged monster, Tucson Speedway officials declared El Perro Loco and Monster Patrol freestyle co-champions.
When the monsters were resting, there were several classes of regular car oval racing on the race card and some had very exciting finishes. There was also many stock car three lap ride-a-longs and some Shriner minicars.

Now, with Tucson Speedway in the rearview mirror, we at “The Allen Report” look towards the final events of the year for our friends at WGAS Motorsports. First up is the final show of the year at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock. More coverage will arrive soon from there. Well then, thank you for reading, a special thank you to Dave Track Guy and Tucson Speedway for allowing us to cover his show and great hospitality, enjoy the photos, don’t forget to follow us on “Monster Truckin’ with Jim and Chris” on Facebook and Instagram, and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: WGAS Motorsports Monster Trucks – Watsonville, CA 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we make a drive to the Santa Cruz County Fair in Watsonville, California, for the very first time to a show promoted by our friends at WGAS Motorsports. We have long known this place as the hometown of the father/daughter team of Kelvin Ramer driving his usual Time Flys and Rosalee Ramer piloting her traditional Wild Flower. This team is wrapping up a phenomenal season that saw Rosalee finish in the top 10 in the battle for the World Finals Freestyle Championship and Kelvin walk away with both the Save of the Year and Stadium Wheelie of the Year awards from the same event. These two came ready to put together the best show possible for their hometown fans at the Ocean Speedway, at the fairgrounds.

The competition was supplied by Tony “The Flying Spaniard” Canedo at the helm of the haunting red Play ‘n For Keeps machine and Jeff Souza at the wheel of his trusty Enforcer, the truck’s red and blue police car style flashing lights making it impossible to miss while on the arena floor.

The all freestyle track, built across the main straightaway of the dirt oval featured two sets of van stacks and a motor home to smash, plus a junk car used for wheelies as opposed to the typical construction barrier. When fans filled the grandstand to the rafters, all signs pointed to a fast paced, highly destructive freestyle battle.

Enforcer opened things up for the monsters by getting big air several times and pointing the truck’s nose towards the sky repeatedly to great positive response from the crowd. The good performance was acknowledged by the professional judges with a score of 65 out of a possible 100. Next, Tony Canedo performed even steeper vertical wheelies than his team truck and followed it up by hitting the wheelie junk car the opposite way. His efforts to upstage his teammate were successful as the judges gave him a score of 75. But the loudest cheers were reserved for the home team.

Kelvin set the pace for what was to come very soon with huge air, great attempts at his signature wheelstands and excellent donuts. The elder Ramer left very little room to top with a score of 95. But the 2016 Monster Jam Rookie of the Year was ready to attack the track. She did so with consistent big air and admirable slap wheelies of her own. Moments later, Time Flys returned to the floor alongside Wild Flower, commencing a side by side freestyle. While Wild Flower was content to jump over the motor home, Time Flys went right through it. For the grand finale, both drivers took a spot on the Speedway infield and began to turn side by side cyclones. Rosalee had her truck rotating at incredible speed, even bringing the inside tires off the ground and back down at least three times yet never rolling over. The fantastic finish garnered Wild Flower a perfect 100 score, handing her the freestyle championship for the night, much to the roaring audience’s approval.

Throughout the final show of the week the following night, all drivers upped their game to please the fans. Enforcer hit the wheelie car the wrong way, just as his teammate had done the night before, and jumped higher still, upping his score to 70. But Tony Canedo refused to back down, reaching for the stars and getting great air several times. And doing so convinced the judges to hand down a score of 85, leaving not much room at the top. But that little room was all Kelvin and Rosalee needed. The father and daughter duo each got huge air and duplicated their finale from the night before, only faster still. Many times it looked like Rosalee had finally pushed her truck over the edge only to bring the tires back down to the ground each time, repeating her perfect score and accomplishing the weekend sweep.

There was plenty of action besides the monsters at the Santa Cruz County Fair. The first night saw a round of quad war action between the good guys of Team Watsonville and the bad guys of Team Los Angeles. It appeared that the trophy would be taken home by the rival team, but race officials had caught a member of the visiting team cheating in an attempt to steal the win. A grudge match with the series on the line was agreed upon, and this time, there was no denying the good guys of Team Watsonville the overall win. The second and final night was highlighted by the daredevil airborne antics of freestyle motocross riders Jimmy Fitzpatrick, commander of the Fitz Army and former X Games Gold Medalist Destyn Cantrell. Their breathtaking feats, from Superman’s to heel clickers to the fan favorite backflips had the crowd gasping for more.

With those great shows now history, we at “The Allen Report” make a quick turnaround to the second and final show of the year at Tucson Speedway. With two participants making their first ever appearance at this venue and the reigning Tucson Speedway freestyle champion, Mark Schroeder’s Devastator, busy elsewhere, it’s almost impossible to predict who will walk away with the championship. With that behind us, thanks for reading, a gracious thank-you to Dave Track Guy and Tucson Speedway for having us, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: Rocky Mountain Raceway Maverik Clash of the Titans 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we hit the road back to Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley City, Utah, for the ninth consecutive year. Once again, we arrive to a stacked lineup of twelve well known monster trucks ready to do battle on the oval track’s figure-8 course, a track that has been equally tough on rising stars and experienced veterans alike.

Again this year all four members of 2Xtreme Racing came to take on each other, the competition and the track. Not surprisingly, Jimmy Creten took the controls of his trusty Bounty Hunter, complete with the original rendition of his popular and patriotic American Sniper Chris Kyle body. Dawn Creten was again at the helm of her trusty Scarlet Bandit. Mikeal Christensen came along to drive the prestigious Iron Outlaw truck. The fourth member of the equation, Knucklehead, had a different driver each of the two days, Austin Minton on Saturday and Christian Norman on Sunday.

Team Bigfoot returned to the Raceway after a year off with Larry Swim behind the wheel of Summit Bigfoot #21. But not far behind was the mysterious masked man Vinny Venom, recently crowned the 2017 Toughest Monster Truck Tour series champion, piloting Snake Bite. This version of the truck, hugely popular with the kids at the pre-show pit party, was a mixture of classic and current as the iconic “retro red” paint style remained from its 25th Anniversary tour one year ago, but the bedsides clearly showcased the sport’s recent trend of off road race truck bodies.

Back again was one of the father/daughter teams on the circuit as Darren Migues returned in his Nitro Menace truck with daughter Kaylyn in her usual Jailbird. The twins from Gig Harbor, Washington, were also back with Travis in his orange Trouble Maker and Tyler ready to put his Saturday championship from last year on the line in the sleek looking black Double Trouble. Making the trip up from Lake Havasu, AZ was past World Finals field reporter Mark Schroeder in driving Devastator. Finally, ready to defend his home state turf was Ron “the Dunk” Duncombe continuing his tenth year of driving the Maverik Monster Trakker. When a huge crowd came through the gates of the Raceway and into the pre-show pit party, it appeared that the stars had aligned for an intense, go-or-blow monster truck battle royale.

Qualifying set the pace for the rest of Saturday evening. The first three trucks in line went progressively faster than the monster that went before them until Larry Swim and Bigfoot threw down the challenge to his rivals with a time of 30.71 seconds. And Bigfoot’s old rival showed no fear when racing the clock, as Snake Bite bested Bigfoot by just a few tenths of a second. When qualifications were over, Snake Bite and Bigfoot has qualified first and second, sending them to opposite ends of the bracket.

But Vinny Venom didn’t slow down there. He had no trouble at all in the opening round and caught the Iron Outlaw in the first quarter final while Bigfoot beat Jailbird in the first round and defeated the former World Champion Bounty Hunter in the quarter finals. It wasn’t game over for the Tonganoxie, Kansas, team owner though, as Jimmy Creten had gone fast enough to return as the fastest loser. But from there, Creten’s racing luck ran out for the night as he just couldn’t catch Snake Bite in an incredibly close race. In the other semi, Bigfoot escaped the dark horse Devastator to set up another classic Bigfoot/Snake Bite championship round. But it wasn’t going to be easy as the final race was set for two laps, per tradition of the Raceway.

The final race was one to remember. Both trucks were dead even out of the gate, with Vinny Venom drifting around the turns but Larry Swim never let “the Snake” get too far ahead. In the second to last turn of the race, the masked Snake Bite driver finally pushed it too hard at the exit of the turn, the truck’s back end coming so far around the driver had to lay off the throttle. Larry’s took full advantage, slipping past his old rival in the final turn of the race and never looking back to take the Racing Championship to thunderous response from the spectators.

One year ago, RMR officials introduced the Donut Contest (billed as a “Twister” contest at the time), and its huge popularity with the crowd encourage officials to bring it back for 2017. Sadly, Bigfoot had encountered engine trouble so there would be no double win on Saturday. Additionally, Snake Bite wouldn’t get a chance to as transmission trouble kept him sidelined, too. Trouble Maker was the second truck out and went straight to an incredible height with a score of 9.6 with perfection being 10.

Scarlet Bandit stepped up to challenge the good old boys but missed the lead by a fraction of a point. But there were still several more opportunities for 2Xtreme Racing to take the Donut win. Iron Outlaw and Knucklehead both gave admirable efforts, but the team’s big boss was locked and loaded and Bounty Hunter’s lightning fast rotations, smoke rising from the tires and long spinning duration had the crowd roaring and the judges most impressed with a score of 9.85, taking the Donut Contest win.

As the second and final day of monster competition went on, it wasn’t long before the Racing comp got turned on its ear. Fastest qualifier Bigfoot easily won his first race against rising star Kaylyn Migues and Jailbird, but more mechanical gremlins kicked in and sadly kept him out for the remainder of the night. Despite being a first-timer on this track, Christian Norman quickly proved the doubters and skeptics wrong by marching straight to the finals. Scarlet Bandit showed consistency round after round, the driver’s superb efforts paying off when Dawn Creten found herself across the starting line from Knucklehead, the females in the crowd were firmly in Dawn Creten’s corner. And it must have worked because Dawn Creten took the lead early in the first of the two laps and never looked back, claiming the Racing Championship.

With a triple car stack, a large distance jump and a wheelie bump to play with and two long minutes on the clock, freestyle was certain to be a seriously competitive affair. Motivated by his early racing loss, Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter got huge air, put down dizzying donuts, executed several vertical wheelies and several cross threads to shoot into the lead with a score of 36.5. Truck after truck came after him, only to fall short. Only his own wife and the Racing Champion, the last driver in the order, came close at a score of 33.5, but Creten again won the freestyle competition to close the Maverik Clash of the Titans for another year.

We at “The Allen Report” are going to take some time off for now. But when we return, we will do so from Watsonville, California, the hometown of our friends at Living the Dream Racing, home of the popular Time Flys and Wild Flower monster trucks. With that, we send a huge and sincere “Thank you” to Mike Eames, Dan Breach, Ron Craft and all of the Rocky Mountain Raceways staff for giving us such great hospitality and support, thank you for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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The Allen Report: Stanislaus County Fair Monster Trucks – Turlock, CA 2017

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we make a familiar trek in a new time of the year. We have covered excellent monster truck action from the FoodMaxx Arena at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in the town of Turlock, California, several times before, but this was our first time doing so during the fair itself. Six ground pounding, crowd pleasing competitive monster trucks and one mini monster came from across the state to compete in the all-or-nothing freestyle competition over the closing days of the fair.

Vacaville, California’s Tony Canedo had all three of his monster trucks ready to storm the track. The team owner nicknamed “The Flying Spaniard” took the helm of Play ‘N for Keeps. Local driver Jeff Souza got back in the saddle of the Enforcer truck. Jeff’s son Hunter was also back in his faithful Wrecking Machine mini monster. Both father and son were eager to put their respective rollovers from this arena a few months ago in the rearview mirror. David Tucker once again tightened the belts of the third member of the team, Survivor.

Kelvin Ramer had both trucks on standby, but normal Wild Flower driver and 2017 World Finals Freestyle Championship Top 10 finisher Rosalee Ramer was busy with an engineering internship in Michigan. Luckily, a young lady named Molly Bertchie-Berkowitz gladly stepped up to drive the truck into the arena for introductions before giving the seat to Kelvin for the show itself. WGAS Motorsports officials put the runs of Time Flys and Wild Flower at opposite ends of the freestyle order both nights to allow Kelvin plenty of time to change seats.

The field was wrapped up by young newcomer Jonathan Elkins behind the wheel of Terminator, with Gary Schott Sr. retaining ownership. Both nights saw a massive crowd file in to fill the arena, setting the stage for wide open, hard charging motorsports action.

David Tucker took Survivor over the tuff truck jumps as his signature move, got big air and churned some high speed donuts to take the early freestyle lead with a score of 70 out of a possible 100. Play ‘N for Keeps had a great run going and was well in the running for the top spot before a planetary gear locked up, ending his run early. Jeff Souza stood on the loud pedal, getting great air multiple times and pulled out a nice slap wheelie after hitting the step up car stack. His admirable effort garnered him an 85 point score and the lead from the professional judges with only a few runs left to go. All the monsters that came after tried their hardest to upstage the police themed monster, but when all was said and done, Enforcer was still at the highest point on the board, taking the Freestyle Championship, triggering a great deal of loud positive response from the crowd.

As the final show of the weekend progressed, all the monster truck drivers pushed their machines to the limit to please the fans. Jonathan Elkins only furthered his progress as a monster driver with good air and an all around nice run. His run was good enough to garner a score of 50 from the professional judges. Next up was Kelvin Ramer in Time Flys. The recently crowned Monster Jam Stadium Wheelie of the Year award winner put down huge air, great combinations and high speed to become the new leader with a score of 75. None of the following monsters could top him and Kelvin Ramer and Time Flys took the second and final Freestyle Championship.

But the competition monsters weren’t alone in this weekend’s motorized mayhem. Hunter Souza struggled all weekend with an assortment of mechanical problems, but still managed to please the fans. And there was another Souza family member in the house as Cheyenne Souza, Jeff’s daughter and Hunter’s sister drove a UTV around the tuff truck course as a solo exhibition. The tuff trucks themselves were entertaining in their own right, with body panels coming off in some cases and many vehicles taking their suspension to the limit with high jumps and hard landings. Additional activities at the show this week were ten professional bull riders and medieval knights giving the spectators jousting and sword fighting exhibitions.

With that show in the books, we at “The Allen Report” direct our focus towards one of our favorite weekends every year, the Maverik Clash of the Titans Figure-8 race at Rocky Mountain Raceways just outside Salt Lake City, Utah. Double Trouble’s Tyler Groth and Bounty Hunter’s Jimmy Creten enter the event as the reigning champions, but the return of big names like Bigfoot and the slithery Snake Bite will give the champs from a year ago a serious run for their money. Well, a grateful “Thank You” to WGAS Founder John Borba and his daughter and company CEO Chelsea Kessler for their wonderful hospitality, remember to check us out on Facebook under the name “Monster Truckin’ with Jim and Chris”, thanks for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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Monster Photos: 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals – Indianapolis, IN 2017

Event Information

Event: 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals
Venue: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: September 15th-17th, 2017
Photographer: Danny Maass (Check out Maass Media on Facebook)

Truck Lineup

Dirt Crew (Jerry Beck), General Tire (Dale Gerding), Lucas Oil BIGFOOT #21 (Larry Swim), Quad Chaos (Aaron Cain), Snake Bite (Vinny Venom), Tail Gator (Doug Noelke) [Read more…]