CarCrusher

Okay, well I’ve tried to get someone to listen. I had some good ideas, and the capital to potentially pursue them. But I guess we can’t grant new ideas any fair consideration. I guess they have to be met up front with resistance and disapproval.

You are certainly stating facts that I agree with, and I’m not “attacking” anyone for disagreeing with me. I’m simply annoyed that people just dismiss what I’ve brought to the table without even contributing to the discussion, or attempting to be charitable and give my ideas some fair consideration. Seems intentionally rude to me. That’s all I’m saying. But like I said, your facts are on the mark, and I agree. Where the two of us differ is in how we unravel and interpret the big picture. With Feld, what I see is that you’ve got a situation where what is essentially a multinational entertainment corporation has ceased the industry, and is doing precisely what multinational corporations do - try to monopolize the industry, acquire ownership and control of all aspects, thus choking out the competition and independent teams. Then they intentionally working to dumb-down the collective IQ of their fanbase by offering only “cheap thrills”, and appealing only to children and the lowest common denominator of people. Hence, why the Monster Truck business today is all about “carnage and destruction”, and has no real substance. Substance is not easy to sell. It’s cheap thrills to dumbed-down normies that is easy to sell. They treat the shows the same way they treat Disney on Ice. It’s just a traveling family show nobody cares about once they leave the arena. They dumb down the fanbase, appeal predominantly to the kids, offer no substance that might attract a serious adult following, fill the venues with casual normie fans, and sell cheap entertainment to unattached simps who know nothing about the industry and don’t care. I get that this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s not far from accurate, and it’s certainly headed in this direction. This is why Feld owns most of the trucks in the series, which are only allowed to compete on their circuit exclusively. This is why they’re slowly moving towards 3D bodies rather than real truck bodies, so they can own all the designs for merchandizing and such. They’re not on the side of the independent. You say you’re okay with them because they do let someone indie teams compete. But why is it not comprised of ALL independent teams? Why do they own ANY of the trucks? Shows you where their heart is at. It’s to create a monopoly that is self-contained, eventually dispensing with indies, and continuing to dumb down the fanbase, sell cheap entertainment to casual fans, and rake in all the money for themselves. This the classic multinational corporation business model, and goal #1. They want stupid fans who know nothing about it. Just bring us your money and we’ll give you cheap entertainment, toys, merch, and other fluff stuff. What I’m proposing is to bring real substance, legitimacy, credibility, and real racing/competition to the sport. I want to be on the side of independent teams, lift them up, and grow a sport that has integrity like other motorsports. Edit: I’ll also just add that if I chose to do this, I would not be in this for personal gain. My goal would be to reinvigorate the sport, and do everything I can to help indie teams make money and thrive. I don’t care if I don’t make a red cent.

I’m obviously arguing with a brick wall here, and wasting my time trying to convince a crowd that is not merely apathetic, but I think being intentionally obtuse, difficult, dismissive, and rude towards me just because they can be. If you were being charitable and decent, you would humor me just a little bit, and try to imagine the ideas I’m putting forward, and giving them some fair consideration, but instead I’m doing all the heavy lifting here while everyone else just sits back and blows me off like I’m not worth their time. 6 people voted against my idea in the poll, and not one of those voters has contributed one single post to this discussion. This tells me they’re just doing it to be intentionally rude, and I think they know it. There is such a thing as being charitable, and treating others like they’re somewhat worthy of some your time, and their thoughts are worthy of some consideration. But I see the community here has no common decency really. These are things I’ve thought a lot about. They are dreams of mine, and I’ve actually got the capital now to possibly launch something like this. Albeit, on a smaller scale to start off with, but it would be a start nonetheless. Regardless, it just blows my mind to bits that people actually prefer the crap industry as it is today over something like I’m proposing. You really mean to tell me that you’d prefer a model where a traveling circus production company, not a motorsports/racing organization, owns the series, monopolizes most of the trucks, kicks independent teams to the curb, treats the shows like traveling Disney on Ice shows for kids rather than a true racing series, and destroys the integrity and legitimacy of the sport? You would seriously rather have that than a true motorsports series that appeals to both children and adults, one that is focused on building up independent teams, bringing legitimacy to the sport, growing the fanbase, etc...? You really like the fact that indie teams get paid a lousy booking fee, and can’t get good backing? @NitroMenace, you mentioned that even though it’s geared towards children, the adults still enjoy being there. Well, that’s not really my point. Well actually, it kind of IS my point. My point is that the industry is aimed at children, which pushes away adults from really getting into it. You guys are making my points for me. If the industry did more to appeal to adults too, the dedicated fanbase would grow, and as a result, the sport would thrive much more. Because it’s monster trucks, you will always have the kids following it. You don’t have to make it like Chucky Cheese’s to rack in the kid fanbase. They’ll be there regardless because it’s monster trucks. It’s the adult crowd (ones with the money in their pockets) that you want to appeal to. You’ve got to give them an incentive to follow the sport, and not feel embarrassed to to do so on their own. Anyway, I know I’m arguing with a brick wall. You guys will continue to be purposely obtuse, and will intentionally try to not understand what I’m saying.

Thank you for at least sharing your thoughts. At least you weren’t like most of the others who just voted down, and poo pooed my idea, and didn’t even leave a reply, or add any dialogue to the discussion. However, I must kindly disagree with you, and point out that your argument is kind of a circular tautology. In essence, you’re argument is this: “It won’t work because monster trucks appeal to kids.........because the industry gears itself towards appealing to kids.” (in the nicest way possible) Well duh!!! That’s why, as I’ve been saying, in order to draw in the 18-25+ aged crowd and grow the sport, you have to stop making the shows feel like you’re at Chucky Cheese’s or Disney on Ice, and start making the young adult crowd feel like they’re at something more like Supercross or NHRA, or some other event they’re not embarrassed to be at by themselves, or without little kids. As it is today, anyone over the age of 13 thinks “I’m too old to be here”, when they go to a Monster Jam show. This is what bugs me about most people, they just can’t see beyond the status-quo. Doesn’t anybody realize that kids are not the only demographic in the world? Heck, they’re not even the most lucrative demographic to appeal to. At least not SOLELY to. This is because appealing ONLY to little kids results in virtually no adult fans, and as a result, an industry wherein the vast majority of people who show up to the shows are just casual laypeople bringing their kids to “the big truck show”, and have no vested interest in the sport beyond the fact that it’s just an “outing for their family/kids”. There can be little-to-no dedication or growth for the sport this way. Appealing only to kids keeps the fanbase mostly casual/apathetic, and hence you just get stuck with a joke of a sport nobody over the age of 13 wants to admit they like. I personally believe the sport needs reinvigorating. There needs to be something new. The old model is just pathetic and sad in my view. There needs to be a more serious alternative to Monster Jam that focuses on legitimate competition. For starters, it needs to not be owned and operated by a traveling circus promotion company, but by an actual motorsports sanctioning body/racing organization. I also don’t buy the argument that freestyle is more exciting than racing. Yeah, if you’re talking about the standard, crap racing that currently exists in the status-quo of today, sure I’ll give you that. But what I’m proposing much different. If done right, racing is so much more intense and better than freestyle could ever be. Racing today is just a quick afterthought, and the way it is handled is undeniably boring. Take an event like the Circle K Back to School Bash for example. This is an example of a Monster Truck event where the racing outshines the freestyle. That’s because they build awesome tracks, and put the trucks to the test, and the racing is eventful and exciting. What I’m proposing would be even more different than that. Circuit racing with large jumps/obstacles, and 4 trucks at a time, rather then the standard 2-truck, head-to-head format that has been the status-quo for 3 decades. I will break down the racing format I’ve concocted in more detail in the next post. I think it would be awesome, and should be given a try. Lastly, I’m not proposing to outright get rid of freestyle. I’m just proposing to have a more serious, racing-focused series, and the freestyle would be celebratory, not one of the competitions.

Oh I see. Everyone’s too good to respond to me. Well okay then. I won’t bother you guys again in that case.

I see my description of the racing format I’m proposing is poorly done, and kind of convoluted. Let me try to clarify. So basically, it would be a 16-truck field. 4-truck heats. 3 qualifying rounds and a main. Heats are resorted after the first round into qualifying order. “Staggered” starts for the qualifiers (everyone on their own clock), and “heads up” starts for the mains (everyone on the same clock/racing each other). Awards for top 3 finishers and top qualifier. Victory freestyles for top 3 finishers and TQ.

Hey guys, I’m back again. Remember me? I’m the guy who was talking earlier this year about potentially building a truck, starting a team, etc. So, recently I’ve been busy working on a new business venture, trying to build the capital to make some of these dreams of mine come true. They are starting to reap benefits, and now I’m starting to get more serious about jumping into the business. As you guys know, earlier this year I talked about my criticisms of the monster truck industry, and also expressed my own dream of creating a new monster truck series that would be much different than the status-quo of the industry as it is today, and would be a legitimate racing series, as opposed to a traveling circus/thrill show for cheap family entertainment. I know that basing a racing-only, or racing-focused series on the standard old traditional format of monster truck racing as it’s always been would never cut it. I understand that there needs to be something new, and reinvigorating to the sport in order to make a legitimate racing-only series successful. Well, recently I had someone give me this epiphany idea of having a monster truck circuit racing series, wherein you’ve got a 16 truck field. 4 trucks compete on the track at one time, and are divided up into 4 groups of 4. The racing courses would have to be held on outdoor racetracks large enough to build a 2-4-turn racing course big enough to accommodate 4 monster trucks at one time. There would be three 3-lap qualifying heats with each group of 4, and one 5-lap main event with groups of 4 in qualifying order. (i.e. the top 4 qualifying trucks would be in the A-main, 5-8 would be in the B-main, and so on and so forth). For qualifying, you would randomly sort the trucks into groups of 4 in the first heat. Then after the first round of qualifying is finished, you’d resort the groups into current qualifying order. After the third heat, you would set up the 4 mains based on qualifying order as explained above. I also envision having “staggered starts” for the qualifying rounds wherein each truck is called separately to start, and is on their own clock, but there are 4 trucks on the track at the same time. But the mains would be “heads up” starts, where the trucks are placed on a grid by qualifying order, and everyone goes on the green light. (what I’m basically describing is how r/c races are run). At the end, purse money and trophies would be awarded to top three fishers, as well as top qualifier. The end of each show would have a podium ceremony wherein the top three finishers would be called out individually. Each would perform a 2-minute freestyle run, and a trophy/money award ceremony would take place afterward (This is how we would smuggle in some freestyle without making the series about that). What do you guys think of this idea for a series? Would you prefer this concept over the current status-quo format of the industry? Please share your thoughts.

Hey guys. I had a couple questions regarding track designs. My first question is regarding the PENDA style tracks. I’m currently looking to build a PENDA style track using cars on my land at home this summer. Does anyone know what the exact specs are on the standard PENDA straight line courses are? I know they’re 300’ in length, but I’m not sure where the actual starting and finish lines are supposed to be located. Also, how many cars are on each set? As you guys know, I’m looking at late summer for building my first race truck, likely debuting it in 2020. I’ve got 200+ acres of land for testing. My team will focus solely on racing, so once things get going and established, I will likely have the most extensive testing and development program for racing in the business. This is my reason for constructing the 300’ PENDA style track, so I can test setup and equipment. Top trucks used to run 4.7- 5.0 second passes on that track, so that would be helpful baseline data by which to test and tune my equipment. My last question is just hypothetical. If you were trying to dream up some new exciting track designs for a brand new racing series, what are some cool track designs you would employ? If you’ve got some cool ideas, please share them here. Thanks!

I stand corrected. Sorry about that! Anyway, I don’t think anything I said was revolting. In fact, my disdain for PC stuff is perfectly justified because of the very measurable societal damage it does. Look, I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s very misguided to say the least. Let me tell you why it’s misguided if I may..... This notion of saying that “women are as good or better at most things than men” is not only wrong, but it is probably the most egregious denial of the most obvious, self-evident reality I can think of. You used the example of the Zombie driver who you said benches 100+ lbs and “eats men for breakfast”, and could “whoop my butt”. Look man, no offense to you or anyone else, but you’re DREAMING if you think that. And that’s not an indictment against her at all. She’s obviously very talented and strong for a woman. But she’ll NEVER beat the average man physically, and that is just a biological reality. 100 lbs is nothing. That’s the weight I STARTED WITH when I started benching, and not much under that when I started deadlifting. Hell, when I started lifting, I was using just shy of 100 lbs for ROMANIAN deadlifts, which involve holding the bar for multiple reps, and I’m just a very average, if not below average man. I’m nothing special physically. This girl not only couldn’t even come close to beating me up, but if the average guy like me actually tried to fight her and didn’t hold back, she would risk some serious injury or even death against your average guy if he truly fought her as if he were fighting another man. The only way she’s likely ever “beaten up” a man is probably because the man didn’t even try to fight her because he didn’t want to hit a girl. Again, I think she’s great. She was an awesome monster truck driver. She did a spectacular job when I saw her drive. I’m not disputing her place in the sport. She certainly deserves to be there. But it is not sexist to recognize that men and women both possess certain biological imperatives that make them generally suited to certain roles. These biological differences, as Helen said, complement each other in a way that has held human society together and strong for millennia. That’s why I don’t necessarily see it as this unequivocally good thing when we give this unfettered praise to women and try to say that they should be equal to men in every aspect, and proceed to shove them into more masculine occupations just for the sake of “diversity” and “political correctness” even when most of them don’t really want to be there and would rather be doing something else (not saying this is the case with Zombie girl). The evidence clearly shows that society suffers when we try to subvert these natural male and female roles and proclivities. Marriages and relationships suffer, fertility rates suffer, children suffer... It does not necessarily work to the benefit of women to treat them this way. Traditional family principles was the backbone of humanity’s survival for millenia. When we try to tamper with them, society goes straight down the drain. And it’s not an indictment against women to say this. It doesn’t make them “lesser” of the two sexes. It just means that they are an equally important piece to the puzzle, and possess a set of crucial biological imperatives that men can never have. It does no favors to anyone to beat down men, tell them they’re sexist for doing the things they do and holding the place in society they hold, and tell them they have to step down so we can push women into their places. We need men to shine for what they’re good for, and women to shine for what they’re good for. That’s a proven combination.

@Helen Weales I guess I’ll end this conversation about the trucks by saying that there’s no way in a month of sundays I will ever support electric monster trucks. I don’t care if they’d outperform the current ICE trucks. I am a purist of the most hardline proportions. I want the roar of an alcohol V-8. That is MTs to me. It’s like making an electric Harley Davidson. At least half the reason people buy Harleys is for the sound and the feel of having that piece of equipment the way it is. To me, if you make those radical changes it stops being a monster truck. I’m sure you’ll retort with some very articulate argument proving me wrong or whatever. I just disagree with you. Not every argument can be made with syllogisms or axioms. Some times it truly does come down to “I like it this way, and I want to keep it this way”.

I appreciate that you’re sharing your views, but could I please ask that we not go there? @NtheDiggerfan I’m not sure why you dragged a quote of mine from a completely different thread and ranted about it here. That’s kind of strange. It is similar to what you did to me in the last thread where you misquoted me and tried to get me in trouble for saying things I never said. Then when I showed you that you were wrong you just kept on making the same claims. I’m not upset bud, but please quit doing stuff like that.

Just for the record, how many people agree with Helen Weales that a stage 4 electric MT is desirable? Just trying to figure out if this is actually a thing many folks believe, or if Helen Weales is just a fringe individual in his position.

I think you’d find my tone more light-hearted if this chat were in person. I’m not so much making pronouncements on how things are, but rather I’m questioning things, and expressing my concerns. I tend to be hyperbolic when my emotions get the best of me. I tend to also start fires with the subject matters I bring up. I guess it is my mistake for using the internet to vent. Perhaps I’m looking for reassurance. I’m not sure. Anyway, you’re right. I don’t dissgree with what you’ve said.

All I can say is - SCREW YOU FOR BEING RIGHT!!!!! But seriously, I’m afraid you are correct about everything. We are indeed living in dystopian times. I hate living in this world actually. The culture I care about is dead. It’s quickly being replaced by a world I don’t recognize and don’t really want to live in. Unfortunately, I won’t die soon unless I’m lucky enough to get cancer or die in an accident. I’m serious. I truly do not wish to live in this world. Everything that ever meant anything to me seems to be dying out and a new world replacing it. However, I don’t agree that your electric “stage 4” truck sounds appealing at all. Who wants to go watch a quiet electric monster truck race?

@Helen Weales when you say monster trucks would have to move to an alternative power source to get manufacturers attention again, do you mean that MTs would likely go electric, or some other kind of fuel? I can promise you that I would never pay one red cent to watch electric monster trucks. That would be the lamest thing I could ever think of. Everything you say is unfortunately exactly what I’ve been afraid of. The modern world with its technology marching right along will soon completely alter the world we all know. Automation will do everything for us. There will be no jobs. All vehicles will be self-driven, IC engines will become a relic of an age gone by, people will barely leave their houses because they won’t be working. The automation taking all the jobs will necessitate government dependency because working will become virtually obsolete. This will cause a missive shift in zeitgeist which will destroy things we once loved like motorsports and such. It will become irrelevant because cars in general will lose relevance, just like nobody really cares about horse racing anymore, though it used to be widely popular if you go back far enough in time. Now it’s a primitive relic that time has left behind. I know that I’ve feared this stuff for some time now, and I feel that these major changes are just around the corner. In many ways I envy the older generation now, because they got to live their life in the golden period before any of this happened. I’m only 28, so I’ll have to live with this stuff for decades. I look around and even now the younger generation is becoming more and more worthless with basic skills and knowledge that used to be commonplace. The young men have no handy skills, no car knowledge, or anything like that. I don’t want to live in that world. Sadly, we’re already living in the beginning of it.

Now that I got that bit about MJ and the MT industry out of the way, I’d like to address the main topic of this thread, and that is.....what seems like the decline of motorsports. Just speaking purely from a standpoint of just the overall changes in society and the shifts we’re seeing in the world, it just doesn’t seem like motorsports will survive the drastic changes going on, both technologically and culturally. I could be wrong, but it honestly doesn’t look like regular cars or IC engines will be around for a whole lot longer with everyone pushing for “green energy”, and wanting to get off fossil fuels. And let’s face it, IC engines ARE motorsports for the most part. I personally wouldn’t pay a broken penny to see an electric monster truck race. Hearing the thunder and feeling the ground rumble from the engines is a huge part of the experience. Once IC engines become extinct, motorsports will effectively die I think. Even if we still use IC engines in motorsports, who’s going to come see it when the general public doesn’t even know what an IC engine is, or wasn’t even born when they were produced (which will happen one day)? By that point the relevancy of motorsports will have completely vanished. People will be riding around in these electric bubbles, glaring into their phone screens, and have absolutely no sense of mechanical things or handy work or anything related to engines or racing or motorsports. Perhaps I’m just panicking for no reason, but I believe our societies are on the precipice of changing in some very drastic ways in the very near future that will ultimately alter life as we know it, and our current cultural traditions and activities (like racing and motorsports) will be lost. Some of the changes that I think will occur are things you wouldn’t even think would affect motorsports, but ultimately culture, society, technology, and economics are all inextricably-linked phenomena, and drastic changes to any of these can drastically change the others. It is already being said that automation will soon rid our country of half its jobs and labor force. It just seems scary to me to see what is ahead. You can already see a major zeitgeist shift in people’s attitudes towards most parts of our traditional culture and values. I guess I’m just worried that I will have to live through the destruction of most everything I know and love and everything that has ever meant anything to me, the world that I know, etc... I know I sound hysterical and overly-dramatic, but these are things I think about a lot, especially recently with everything that’s going on in this country and most of the developed world.

Okay, soooooo many things to say about all of this..... First, before I delve into my heresy about Monster Jam, I would actually like to start off by praising Monster Jam. MJ is without the slightest doubt the best monster truck series there has ever been. One primary reason I believe this is because they have truly pushed the envelope in terms of innovation in their trucks and equipment. The trucks they own, and the others that compete with them are the finest, most state-of-the art equipment in existence, and it keeps getting better. They also lead the way in terms of having the best show, and keeping monster truck competition alive and continuously reinvigorated. I really don’t hate Monster Jam. I think they’re great honestly. I think the issues I have with it pertain more to the focus of the industry, the business model, and the way it affects the status and credibility of the sport in the eyes of die-hard fans and potential die-hards. You mentioned how the money comes from the casual fanbase rather than the die-hards. Well, I think that’s probably true. BUT, I think you honestly need both, and I think you alluded to this when you talked about being part of the statistic of die-hard fans contributing to the fall of NASCAR by walking away from it. It shouldn’t be any secret to anyone at this point that Monster Jam primarily markets to kids and parents of small kids. More money is likely made in the merchandising, toys, t-shirts, and video game sales end of the business than ticket sales to events. It is also clear, as you and I have both noted, that the shows are geared towards kids and family-entertainment as well (I will get to the show in just a bit). But because MJ has decided that it’s business model will be to market primarily to children and their ignorant parents, and to intentionally keep their clientele dumbed-down so they can sell them “family entertainment” at a competitive price, there is virtually no die-hard fanbase for monster jam or monster trucks outside of a select few nerdy neckbearded guys who live in their mom’s basements. As an adult, you can’t feel right going to a MJ event on your own these days because they are so obviously made for kids. As such, MJ’s fanbase is not comprised of die-hard race fans who are there to see real competition between real drivers who are there to win. As you stated, MJ now owns nearly all the trucks, and becoming a driver is more likely auditioning for an acting role. The drivers now are young, chiseled, cheeky millennials with prefabbed personalities, and giant, fake, sh*t-eating smiles on their faces. They’re like Disney princes and princesses, and the show is like Disney on Ice with monster trucks, as I’ve stated before (which isn’t a coincidence). Drivers used to be a bunch of burly, chest-beating men like Dennis, Meents, and Porter., not a bunch of sweet little mamby-pamby Disney characters. What I believe the sport needs is real competition. They need to focus primarily on racing, which I know is a drastically unpopular opinion. Freestyle is entertaining and all, but I still contend that high-speed, high-flying, side-by-side racing is far more exhilarating than aimless stunts. I’m not saying completely abandon freestyle, but ultimately something has to be done to bring back some true race fans. It needs a balance of both, and I honestly believe that you don’t have to market heavily to the kids in order to capture that market. Kids are going to love monster trucks without having to have trucks that look like giant sharks, puppy dogs, or dragons. At the recent event I went to I noticed the same thing about how they just rushed through racing so fast you barely knew they did it. And now they don’t even race over cars anymore. How lame is that! Take away the biggest trademark feature of monster truck racing why don’t ya - the crush cars! It honestly infuriated me. It seems as though MJ over the years has slowly diminished racing in favor of just being a spectacle and stunt show. It’s even worse than than an afterthought now. Racing is basically just a short warmup before the show begins. They have consistently undermined the racing portion, and while I do enjoy freestyle to some degree, I firmly believe that monster trucks are not supposed to be stunt vehicles that do backflips, somersaults, and stoppies. I think, on that front, MJ has jumped the shark. In doing so they have deprived the sport of any sort of credibility as a true motorsport. I believe freestyle should be there for the entertainment value, but it should always be secondary to racing. Monster trucks are made to engage in high-flying racing, and to me that is what captures the essence of the sport. Regarding the show, aside from how sugar-coated and watered-down it is now, it seems that they are trying to get away with offering much less. The show to me was cringy. The girl driving Zombie (I don’t know her name) was insufferable, and she was about to drive me up the freaking wall with that stupid “zombie dance”. Not to mention the fact that I sniffed some very noticeable PC-ness in the show. Seemed like every 5 mins they had to remind you that “Monster Jam is a sport where both male and female ‘athletes’ compete together on the same field” and the zombie chick would not shut up saying “girls can do anything boys can do blah blah blah”. It was just painful to sit through. There were some other very notable PC things I noticed throughout the show that I won’t go into. I’ll just say that I’ve developed a radar for this kind of crap, and the stench of PC was so strong at that show it was incredible. Overall, I think Monster Jam would be the absolute sh*t if it would make some key critical adjustments. It needs to back off a bit on marketing to kids and their intentionally dumbed-down parents. It needs to try to pull in some more die-hard race fans who don’t feel out of place and abandoned at the shows. As it stands now, there’s nothing for a true race fan to get behind. It is not designed with them in mind. It is just a show with minimal competition and minimal substance designed to sell toys and merchandise to parents of small children. I guess that’s business, but the other business model I’ve alluded to could be just as lucrative because it would tap in on both markets. Monster Jam should stop trying to own every single truck that competes in their series. They should instead use their status and resources to get some good private teams on board, help them get into corporate sponsorships, help them get well-funded, and foster some true and free competition, rather than own it all and have 5 Diggers and 5 MaxDs occupy all the slots at the World Finals instead of inependants. I suppose doing it the way they do ensures fewer issues and fewer lawsuits regarding trademark rights and branding, but it still sucks for the rest of the sport. I agree with you that the sport needs a sanctioning/governing body that organizes the events. I personally have toyed with the idea of pursuing that dream. I have always wanted to found an organization of my own that brings true racing competition back to the sport. The only problem is that it is difficult to make that happen when the industry has its roots dug in deep into what it is now, and most people out there are cognitive-misers who can’t comprehend what you mean anyway when you try to explain it. I believe a series can be made that involves real racing, a grand spectacle, and kid/family-friendly entertainment at the same time. Ultimately it needs to appeal to more people rather than just kids. They’re a good and indispensable market, but by far not the only one.

That is precisely what happened to me. Lol. I’ve always been kind of critical of monster jam, but the recent arena show I attended last month really irked me more than usual. By the end of it I had a vast number of thoughts and criticisms going through my head. I’m going to collect my thoughts and come back with a long post dealing with all of these topics. Just to be clear, I don’t want to take this thread in the direction the other thread went, so I’m going to try to keep to the topic of motorsports. But I do have more things to say specific to monster trucks.

@DiggerFan13 brother you just laid so much truth and reality on the table, and some very fine analyses might I add. Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough post! Basically exactly what the essence of my other thread was about before it was locked down. I’ve got so much to say regarding what you’ve said here, but it will take me some time to gather my thoughts and address it all. Stay tuned!

I’ve recently heard a lot of talk about NASCAR’s drastic decline in popularity, and it got me to thinking, maybe motorsports in general is slowly on its way out (at least in the form we know them today). Do y’all believe motorsports are going extinct? If so, what do you attribute it to?

For sure. I was just talking strictly about chassis for that bit. I’m thinking I’m probably going to go with PEI shocks unless y’all have some other recommendations that would be better. Probably going to get a lot of my components from PEI actually like axle housings and such. Good-looking stuff it seems. Will also probably just go with BKT tires. Might look at some others in addition to that too just to have options. Trying to do all my homework over the course of the summer. Build won’t commence until late summer into winter. Going to start a YT channel detailing my build from start to finish. Try to put some information out there and educate other newcomers who might like to do the same and start a team/build a truck of their own. I hope to have a plentiful crop of videos once it’s over packed with good information.

You know it’s interesting, coming from an r/c racing background, and having spent 18 years competitively in the hobby, I’ve come to really know a lot about balance, setup, and such. I’ve paid attention to the way certain monster trucks handle in racing, and certain chassis tend to hook better, but be a lot more tippy, while others seem to generate less side bite but stay planted. This is noticeable when you watch trucks race on turning courses and when they try to do donuts. For instance, I notice that Bigfoot 21 does some things very well (better than any other truck actually), but it struggles in other areas. Where it shines is in jumping and landing. It is probably the most plush landing truck I’ve ever seen. But it struggles in tight corners. That truck and trucks like it seem to have a very high roll center that makes them get tons of side bite, which prevents them from flat tracking well. I think the trucks that seem to handle all around the best from what I’ve seen are the new Hall bros trucks. The low-CG and long wheelbase seem to help them stay planted but generate tons of corner speed. I’m hoping to have a truck that handles this way. I’m all about the racing and trying to go fast! And also, I think there’s no question that you have to give monster jam credit. They really do seem to have the best trucks. Their equipment is top notch. It’s just unfortunate that it’s all an inside job and those trucks cannot compete on other circuits. It would be sweet if trucks like Monster Energy, blue thunder and Digger could race on other series. But they’re not private teams. Kind of a bummer.

I’ve already decided to go with him. Money is no issue with me. I want the best, and I’ve been to enough MJ events to know that those engines are downright amazing. They sound strong and powerful, and like you said, built for longevity and reliability. I will almost certainly go with Cohen’s chassis too. Midgette said his 540 chevys spec at 1400 hp at 10% overdrive (which I guess is what you’re limited to?). That sounds like one killer big block Chevy to me! I think with the Cohen chassis putting that power to the ground and the right setup that’s probably a lethal combination.

For anyone who wants to know. I just spoke to Paul Cohen and Richard Midgette. Paul’s chassis are $23k and Midgette charges $38k for his 540 big block chevys.

Thanks @NitroMenace. Okay, one more question and I’ll let this thread rest a while. Does anyone have any contact info on Paul Cohen or this Eddy Makija guy? Do they have actual businesses or businesses emails/phone? Thanks.