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Episode: MT Unlimited 4.8
Event: Monster Truck Throwdown
Venue: Montgomery County Fairgrounds
Location: Montgomery City, Missouri
Date: July 18th, 2013
Videographer: Colby Marshall
Barbarian – Devin Jones
Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten
Iron Outlaw – Trent Montgomery
Tail Gator – Doug Noelke
www.Barbarian4x4.com
www.BigDawg4x4.com
www.BountyHunter4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.MonsterTruckThrowdown.com
Episode: MT Unlimited 4.6
Event: All Star Monster Truck Tour
Venue: Garland County Fairgrounds
Location: Hot Springs, Arkansas
Date: June 14th-15th, 2013
Videographer: Colby Marshall
Barbarian – Devin Jones
Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten
Scarlet Bandit – Dawn Creten
Smashosaurus – Doug Noelke
Stinger – Zane Rettew
www.AllStarMonster.com
www.Barbarian4x4.com
www.BigDawg4x4.com
www.BountyHunter4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.RettewMotorsports.com
Episode: Original Series 6.4
Event: O’Reilly Outlaw Nationals
Venue: Ottawa County Fairgrounds
Location: Miami, Oklahoma
Date: June 7th-8th, 2013
Host: Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers: Colby Marshall, Ross Z. Bonar
Avenger – Jim Koehler
Barbarian – Devin Jones
Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten
Brutus – Chris Bergeron
Ghost Ryder – Larry Quick
Megabite – Brad Allen
Scarlet Bandit – Dawn Creten
Smashosaurus – Doug Noelke
Stinger – Zane Rettew
Strait Jacket – Kevin King
Wrecking Crew – Steve Koehler
www.AvengerRacing.com
www.Barbarian4x4.com
www.BigDawg4x4.com
www.BountyHunter4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.GhostRyderMonsterTruck.com
www.MAPMotorsports.com
www.RettewMotorsports.com
www.StraitJacketMonsterTruck.com
Event: Return of the Monsters
Venue: Canfield Fairgrounds
Location: Canfield, Ohio
Date: June 29th, 2013
Photographer: Paul M. Harry
Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Rap Attack (Dave Rappach), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Scarlet Bandit (Dawn Creten), XDP (Dave Radzierez), and Screamin Demon (Kevin Mileti)
[Read more…]
(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)
This time on “The Allen Report”, we head up to the annual KaBoom show at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, California where the show is sold out for the 11th consecutive year. There, five of the west coast’s meanest monster trucks fight for survival as well as each other in the dirt track course in the infield of the horse racing track. This year’s track warriors are: Roger Stidell in Destroyer, Tony Canedo in the legendary Play N’ 4 Keeps, California’s own Pat Gerber drove Shocker, and Tucson, Arizona’s Rod Wood in El Perro Loco. And finally, perennial Pomona favorite Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter, who had made the voyage up from Del Mar earlier that day.
With an odd-numbered field, the racing bracket was changed. Reigning champion Bounty Hunter would get a bye all the way to the final round and race the winner of a standard four-truck bracket. To start racing, Destroyer had a better card than Play N’ 4 Keeps. Then, Shocker put El Perro Loco in the dog pound to face Destroyer. In a photo finish, Shocker won the race. But in the process he broke the four-link bar, surrendering his chance at facing Bounty Hunter. For the money, Bounty Hunter nailed the tight hairpin turn at the far end then was first past the exit ramp of the freestyle mound to take the racing championship over Destroyer.
Shocker would be unable to freestyle as there was more broken than just the four-link bar. El Perro Loco, the wild dog from the high desert set the bar early with wheelies and smashing one of the motor homes. He was rewarded with a score of 34 out of 40. Destroyer would also give an honorable run, but Jimmy Creten was not to be denied. Clearing the huge center mound’s exit ramp, coasting through wheelies and fast, dusty cyclones had the crowd going wild. To finish his run, Bounty smashed a “double wide” motor home. Right on cue, the pyro experts sent off the preview fireworks, which set the stage for the annual grand final, the 4th of July fireworks. A perfect 40 erased all doubt who the winner was.
As well as the monsters and fireworks, four of the most daring freestyle motocross riders in the country warmed up the crowd with gravity-defying tricks like the “Indian-Air” and the “Superman”. But the crowd was calling for the favorite backflip, and the riders didn’t disappoint.
The next stop for us at “The Allen Report” is the world’s best monster truck figure-8 race at multi-purpose racing facility Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley City, Utah. That being said, thank you for reading, a special thank you to our great friends at WGAS Motorsports for putting together this fun yearly event, enjoy the photos and cheer on!
All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2013.
(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)
This time on “The Allen Report”, we make our annual trek to the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California for a series of showdowns between a national name and a home state hero. For the past several years, Kelvin Ramer and his Time Flys machine have made several attempts to replace Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter as King of the Del Mar monster trucks. And he was going to try again this year. However, this was no two truck show. Right behind Jimmy was Trent Montgomery in Iron Outlaw. But Kelvin had backup of his own. That was his own daughter, young Rosalee Ramer, driving Detour. Rick Swanson returned with Wrongway Rick to the place where it debuted one year ago. Son Eric Swanson drove his trophy truck bodied-monster wearing the normal Obsessed logo to round out the field.
Day one of three at Del Mar was the unique High Jump competition under NCAA rules. Bringing the bar down three times meant elimination. Clearing the bar meant raising it. The last truck that could still clear the bar was the winner. In the afternoon show, Bounty Hunter not only won but kept all four tires still on with a height of 8 feet, 2 inches. The evening show started the showdown. First, the 1934 Ford Coupe with Kelvin at the wheel threw down the gauntlet of 9 feet, 3 inches. Jimmy had the officials raise the bar even higher and still cleared it. Not to be outdone, Iron Outlaw and Detour jumped in to help their teammates. But when those two left the building, the game of “Top this!” truly began. It went on and on until the bar couldn’t go any higher. At a venue record 10 feet, 9 inches, Jimmy and Kelvin would tie for the win. But things were just getting started.
Day two was a wheelie competition. Longer distance plus higher vertical equaled more points. Trent Montgomery had come a long way in one day from smashing the High Jump bar the day before with an honorable run in the evening that held the lead until the last two and finished the day in third place. The elder Ramer showed he meant business, getting the loudest applause of the show up to that point in Time Flys. But Jimmy Creten won the Wheelie Competition at Del Mar last year and started the repeat with the crowd roaring for him. In the evening show, Time Flys gave it one last shot with power, slap and sky wheelies all in the same run. But Bounty Hunter rarely shares the trophy a second time. Double wheelies, tons of momentum and excellent pre-wheelie air gave the Tonganoxie, KS native the Wheelie contest win for the second year in a row by better than 10 points over second place. With only a day of all or nothing freestyle to go at Del Mar, Kelvin had only one more try to prevent Bounty Hunter from cleaning house.
Day three was all out freestyle. Bounty Hunter only pulled further into the lead in his first run with a very high score. But the win did not come without a price. Moments before his time expired, Jimmy blew a rod in his engine. Despite the crew’s best efforts, Bounty was out for the day, ending his chances of a clean sweep. With that, all signs appeared to point to Kelvin Ramer sharing the crown with the Bounty Hunter driver. But Time Flys would also find engine trouble. Eric Swanson and Obsessed had finished third place every competition they entered. This was the third day of at least one competition for Eric. By getting scores on the board and finishing his run, third time was the charm for Eric to take the day win. With three different winners in three days, the competition in the Del Mar arena remains tighter than ever.
Along with the monsters, trophy karts started the show on days one and two, while scaled down versions of mid-twentieth century dirt racing jalopies called mini dwarf cars did on day three. Next on the calendar for us is just a few hours up the road at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA, for the annual KaBoom with freestyle motocross, monster trucks and fireworks extravaganza. Well then, thank you for reading, a warm thank you to John Borba and WGAS Motorsports for their hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!
All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2013.
Event: Monster Jam World Finals Young Guns Shootout
Venue: Sam Boyd Stadium
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Date: March 22nd-23rd, 2013
Photographer: Danny Maass
World Finals Lineup: Avenger – Jim Koehler, Bad Habit – Joe Sylvester, Batman – Norm Miller (Racing) / Carl Van Horn (Freestyle), Blue Thunder – Pablo Huffaker, Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten, Captain’s Curse – Alex Blackwell, Captain America – Chad Fortune, El Toro Loco – Marc MacDonald, Grave Digger – Dennis Anderson, Grave Digger The Legend – Adam Anderson, Grinder – John Seasock (Racing) / Lupe Soza (Freestyle), Hot Wheels Firestorm – Scott Buetow, Iron Man – Lee O’Donnell, Lucas Oil Crusader – Linsey Weenk, Madusa – Debra Miceli, Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents, Metal Mulisha – Todd Leduc, Mohawk Warrior – George Balhan, Monster Energy – Damon Bradshaw, Monster Mutt – Charlie Pauken, Monster Mutt Dalmation – Candace Jolly, Northern Nightmare – Cam McQueen, Scooby Doo – Nicole Johnson, Son Uva Digger – Ryan Anderson, Spiderman – Bari Musawwir, Stone Crusher – Steve Sims, Superman – Jon Zimmer, Zombie – Sean Duhon
Young Guns Shootout Lineup: Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Barbarian (Devin Jones), Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), El Diablo (Jean-Paul Ruggiero), El Toro Loco (Becky McDonough), Hooked (Steven Sims), Iron Man (Morgan Kane), Monster Mutt Dalmation (Taryn Laskey), Nitro Hornet (Daron Basl), Razin Kane (JR McNeal), Titan (Donald Epidendio), Wolverine (Dustin Brown) [Read more…]
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Ford Field
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Date: March 2nd, 2013
Photographer: Paul Harry
Lineup: Avenger (Jim Koehler), Bad Habit (Joe Sylvester), Batman (Norm Miller), Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Brutus (Chris Bergeron), El Toro Loco (Marc MacDonald), Grave Digger (Dennis Anderson), Grinder (Frank Krmel), Iron Man (Morgan Kane), Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents), Metal Mulisha (Brian Deegan), Monster Mutt Rottweiler (Rod Schmidt), Scarlet Bandit (Dawn Creten), Son Uva Digger (Ryan Anderson), Wolverine (Dustin Brown), Zombie (Sean Duhon) [Read more…]
(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)
After 30 years of offering a vast variety of motorsports to auto racing fans in the Valley of the Sun, Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ, will close. It was decided, however, to put on one more huge show and what better way to close things out on the Saturday before Easter than to do it with monster trucks, jet cars and Robosaurus. The NAPA Auto Parts Final Event Spectacular was a Saturday night only event. The featured monster trucks included: Jimmy Creten in the new Bounty Hunter Silver and wife Dawn Creten, as always, in Scarlet Bandit. Steven Thompson drove Iron Outlaw and Darren Migues flew the Red Baron. Team Bigfoot was in the house courtesy of Dan Runte in Summit Bigfoot #18. Finally, World Finals Young Guns Shootout competitor JR McNeal was in the driver’s seat of Razin Kane and TJ Tripp had Ice Cream Man at the ready.
Before the night’s mayhem began, a tremendous crowd piled in and stood in line to get autographs from their favorite drivers. The sun set and the action on the quarter-mile drag strip heated up. Jet cars versus funny cars started the action with passes down the strip of over 250 mph. This was followed by the finals of the drag racing whose heat races were run earlier in the day. The fans were then treated to Ed “the Outlaw” Jones in his wheel-standing horseless carriage who made a full quarter mile pass in 12 seconds only on his rear wheels.
Then it was time for the Monsters! The competition was to be freestyle and it got bigger and better with each truck. JR McNeal threw down the gauntlet early with a score of 27. Red Baron and Ice Cream Man also gave great efforts, but could only tie the current best score of 27. Scarlet Bandit and Iron Outlaw also excited the crowd with car crushing action but failed to wrestle the lead from the trio holding on to the high score. Dan Runte’s farewell freestyle to one of his favorite places to perform came to an end sooner than expected thanks to a flat tire after hitting the drag strip’s concrete wall. But for years, Jim Creten and The Bounty Hunter had had a lock on the Firebird Champion’s trophy. Over the years, many had tried to take the title from him, but all had failed. This year was no exception as two tremendous jumps threw away the key to that lock. The first jump had bright blue fireworks on either side of him as he entered the drag arena and the second was completely over Iron Outlaw and Red Baron parked side by side. He nailed a perfect 30, making him the Final Champion of Firebird Raceway. An incredible fireworks show followed the Monster Truck action then the stage was set for the car eating, fire breathing madness only Robosaurus can bring.
Up next for us at “The Allen Report” will be a demonstration car crush of the all electric Bigfoot #20 and the unveiling of the Autism Awareness Bigfoot #18 on Tuesday, April 2, which is World Autism Awareness day. Autism is very near to the heart for us at “The Allen Report” and we are very proud to be able to cover this very special event.
We will also be attending the first ever Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks race just down the road from us in University of Phoenix Stadium. There will be a full field of Monster Trucks providing racing action in addition to the Super Trucks. We will have a report.
Until then, thank you for reading, a very special thanks to Firebird Raceway for 30 years of motorsports action and hosting this great event one more time, enjoy the photos and cheer on!
All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2013.
Monster Truck Radio With Host Ross Z. Bonar & Co-Host Chris Parrish
Date: Monday, January 14th, 2013
Guest #1: Jim Koehler, driver of Avenger
Guest #2: Ryan Anderson, driver of Son Uva Digger
Guest #3: Jimmy Creten, driver of Bounty Hunter
Guest #4: Dan Runte, driver of Summit Bigfoot #18
Guest #5: Bill Payne, driver of Rock Star [Read more…]
Event: Monster Jam
Venue: Nationwide Arena
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Date: January 4th-5th, 2013
Photographer: Paul M. Harry
Lineup: Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Grave Digger (Randy Brown), Grinder (Lupe Soza), Illuminator (Jay Snyder), Madusa (Debra Miceli), Samson (Dan Patrick), Scarlet Bandit (Dawn Creten), Superman (Joey Parnell) [Read more…]
Episode: Original Series 5.11
Event: O’Reilly Outlaw Nationals
Venue: Ottawa County Fairgrounds
Location: Miami, Oklahoma
Date: June 8th-9th, 2012
Host: Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers: Colby Marshall, Ross Z. Bonar
[/column]
[column size=”1-3″]
Barbarian – Devin Jones
Bounty Hunter – Jay McPherson (Friday) / Jimmy Creten (Saturday)
Brute Force – Jerry Perry
Daredevil – Corey Schlichler
Excaliber – Jon Zimmer
Ghost Ryder – Larry Quick
Ice Cream Man – TJ Tripp
Razin Kane – JR McNeal
Scarlet Bandit – Dawn Creten
West Virginia Mountaineer – Kevin Koszala
[/column]
[column size=”1-3″ last=”1″]
www.2XtremeRacing.com
www.Barbarian4x4.com
www.CrashmastersRacing.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.MountaineerMotorsports.com
www.QuickMotorsports.com
www.RazinKaneMonsterTrucks.com
[/column] [Read more…]
Event: Monster Truck Super Sunday
Venue: Colorado National Speedway
Location: Dacano, Colorado
Date: June 17th, 2012
Photographer: John Roberts
Lineup: Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Ice Cream Man (TJ Tripp), Maverik Monster Trakkar (Ron Duncombe), Razin Kane (JR McNeal), Red Baron (Russell Steeley), The Shagman (Jon Zimmer), West Virginia Mountaineer (Kevin Koszala) [Read more…]
(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)
This time on The Allen Report, we come to you from the Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley City, Utah where two of the biggest monster truck teams have to fight to get to victory lane. 2Xtreme Racing was represented by the black Bounty Hunter driven by Ben “Bobo” Winslow and, as always, Jimmy Creten in the blue Bounty Hunter. Dawn Creten, with Scarlet Bandit in tow, had embarrassing the boys on her mind and regular Hurricane Force driver Steven Thompson jumped into the Iron Outlaw for the very first time in a substitute role.
Representing Team Bigfoot was Dan Runte coming to RMR in the radical Bigfoot #18 for the very first time with Larry Swim behind the wheel of Vi-Cor Bigfoot “Bessie” #16. As always, the Salt Lake area’s own Maverik Monster Trakker was in the house driven by Ron Duncombe, and rounding out the field were the twin brothers Groth: Travis driving the ever patriotic Captain USA and Tyler driving the truck they had built from the ground up, Double Trouble.
From the start, the world’s only cow themed monster truck was driven to its limit, taking the number one spot as the sole driver to qualify in the 29 second range. Due to the odd number of competitors, Bessie got a bye run in the first round, but from there it only got harder. To face Bessie in the finals, both Bounty Hunters had to race each other, with the ever experienced Jimmy Creten in the Blue Bounty taking the win. Bigfoot #18 tried his hardest against his own teammate, but Larry, who drove Snake Bite to the finals in one race of this event a year ago, was not to be denied.
In the 2 lap grand finale, the event’s perennial racing finalist Bounty Hunter Blue got the matchup he wanted with Larry. But “the cow”, as the announcers called Bessie throughout the weekend, had the corners down better than any other driver, taking the Saturday night racing win, despite being behind at the start of the final lap.
As a prelude to freestyle the next day, a wheelie contest closed the first night. All drivers gave their best efforts, but the two time reigning champion, with now no chance for a three-peat, unleashed his truck’s inner beast, carrying a slap wheelie three-quarters of the length of the front straightaway. Not surprisingly, Dan’s score was an almost perfect 9.4 out of a potential 10.0 to take the win. But the weekend was far from over.
On Sunday, Dan and Bigfoot #18 had their eyes on the prize, and it showed. He was king of the hill once more in qualifying, missing his own track record by just seven-tenths of a second. Things took a turn on the wild side when Maverik Monster Trakker tried to make up for lost time against Bigfoot #18 in the quarter-finals, only to cartwheel hard on its roll cage in a savage crash. While Ron was only rattled, a continuous list of broken parts meant there was no saving the home state monster.
Dan’s march to the finals required him to take out the rising star they call “Bobo” in Bounty Hunter Black, and he delivered. Back in 2010, Jim Creten and Dan Runte had faced each other in the final round both nights, with Dan, at the time driving Retro Bigfoot #16, going two for two in those races. The final race of the weekend this year would mirror that sight, with Bounty Hunter fans watching in bitter disappointment as Runte took another racing trophy.
This time, the grand finale was all out freestyle. The four runner-up finishes in six final round races over the past three years made the former World Freestyle Champion even more determined, hitting everything with tremendous speed, creativity in a class all its own, and unbeatable air on every obstacle and erased all doubt about who the winner was. The Tonganoxie, Kansas native narrowly edged out Larry Swim in Bessie who also had an excellent run with a score of 36.85, stopping the Bigfoot clean sweep and winning freestyle at RMR for the third time in as many years.
As usual, the entire weekend saw Basalt, Idaho’s own Ron Barrows and his ride truck called “Thumper” giving rides to everyone who wanted one. With a different racing winner each night, there was no Undisputed Champion for the first time since “The Allen Report” started representing TMB in West Valley City. But as both racing winners had the name Bigfoot on the sides of their trucks, the overall racing winner was team Bigfoot.
Next up for us is the 2nd Annual International Monster Truck Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where legends become immortals. Until that time, thank you for reading, a special thanks to everyone at Rocky Mountain Raceways for their wonderful hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!
All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2012.
Week Ending: August 11th, 2012
Truck(s) Featured: Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Creten), Summit Bigfoot #18 (Dan Runte)
Video Type: Fan Video
Courtesy: www.YouTube.com
Description: The Maverik Clash of the Titans at Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley City, Utah absolutely never disappoints. Check out this incredible final round battle between two heavyweights of the sport, Dan Runte and Jimmy Creten!
