Official Monster Truck 2K18 Thread

[InfernoRampage99]

The Old Stone Crusher Got Turned Into A Monkey

[maxdman]

I thought that was the old Crusher, anyone have any info on the current Stone Crusher chassis? I didn't realize Steve got a new one

[Outlawed]

@InfernoRampage99 anymore info or photos?

[NtheDiggerfan]

Official Tampa Triple Threat results and thoughts:

1 P.M. (sold out)-  The lesser of the two shows for me, but still an improvement on last year. Pit party was a ton of fun, and show was pretty solid. Scooby blew a motor in intros, so that was a bummer. Meg popped a tire early on, but was ready for donuts. Racing was won by Tyler Menninga with a 9 second run. He was extremely solid tonight. Two Wheels and Freestyle were also taken by Menninga. Quads were dominated by Colton Eichelberger (pretty norm now), and Speedsters was won by Zombie and Bari (bad weekend for this guy sadly). Freestyle was pretty tame, but Colton and Tyler really shined here. Tyler was able to park it on the nose, and sat still for 20 seconds solid. Colton got a cross pad moonwalk. Tyler had better flow, and took the win. (On a side note, Jack Brown is the Bad Luck Brian of Monster Jam. Myranda Cozad is a close second.) Overall Event was won by Tony Ochs (his first EVER, very surprising). Overall, a fun show, but plagued with a few bad breaks and some forgettable runs.

7 P.M. (sold out)- This show was everything I'd hoped it would be. Entertaining, close races and competition, spectacular moves, and an edge of your seat sense the 1 o'clock was missing. Started with a racing win from Tony Ochs (everyone either screwed up the paper clip style course or was just slow AF.) Jack Brown didnt make it to race. Two wheels was taken by Menninga in SPECTACULAR fashion with two nose wheelies/moonwalks and a CRAZY WHEELIE that he settled on the tailgate mid-pad. Scooby Doo wrecked, and Jack Brown didnt make it back. Atvs was won AGAIN by Colton, with a rematch of the 1 o'clock show final (Megaladon and Max D). In Speedsters, Tyler took it over Jack Brown who made it in only due to a lane violation by Megaladon. A wicked crash from Colton in the Speedster races won the 1-800-Ask-Gary crash of the night. In donuts, Myranda Cozad somehow won Donuts with only 1 and a half rotations that were slow as hell. Colton got in 10 or 12 and they were cyclones, with about 3 on 2 wheels. But who am I to judge... Also, Jack Brown (Bad Luck Brian) couldnt get the truck a foot without it shutting off. Freestyle was siezed by Tyler again, with an AMAZING save and some moonwalks. Miranda came out, and on the first hit, rolled into the seats. The meme continues. Colton came out for FS and didnt really do anything notable. Jack Brown doesnt return. Max D gets the Event Championship.

Pit Party- The Pit Party seemed more alive this year than ever. Many familiar faces, but the track was packed, and the music was fun, but repetitive (you can only hear Carolina or I'm Coming Over so many times before considering suicide.) I was able to see all 8 drivers in time for the pit party, as well as win a few Metro PCS prizes, (Awesome Tshirt!). All were super nice, and super engaging with their fans, but nobody is as good with fan interactions as Bari. Love him! I was able to meet up with friends of mine, got some great pics, and had a great time. 

Positives-  I loved both shows a ton, however felt the 7 o'clock had a little more zest to it. I would reccomend doing that show If you can only afford one. Seems like preserving the trucks was not an issue, and all were going hard. I also felt that this year was a MAJOR improvement over last year. Announcers improved, judging was better, and more action than ever. It was also amazing to see Tyler in possibly his last arena show here at Amalie (I have a feeling that on Sept. 18 we will be seeing him on a stadium tour, fingers crossed). All drivers were going for points, especially Tony Ochs, a pleasant surprise to me today. He was flying down the track faster than anyone else. Tyler still was the shining star of the event though. While he didnt win either event championship, he won more competitions than any other, a true dedicated dude who is super nice to his fans. Moral of the story, the shows rocked, and I cant wait til Janruary and February for the RayJay shows. I am very pleased with the lengths of the shows too, as they were around 2 and a half hours, leaving me satisfied, and giving an all day ordeal for me to enjoy.

Negatives- I only had a few negatives really. I really dont like the beach sand/clay mix they use, it slings clumps of heavy dirt everywhere, and I was hit multiple times in the front row (nasty swollen purple bruise in my breast area was the worst). People had to shield themselves with their arms to not get hit. Also, they need to push back the foldable sideine bleachers to give the trucks more room. They're choking with space at some times, (saw this when scooby rolled into like the first 4 rows of seats) as Amalie is a smaller arena. Also, when cotton candy costs more than parking, we've got a problem... Really wasnt a fan of the time managment, but it was a minor issue and I'm sure there was a reason for it I didnt know about. After every run, a truck would be shut off for about a minute, restarted, parked, then the next repeated this. Just seemed to waste a major amount of time. Officials are too trigger happy in donuts. Let the trucks do their thing for gods sake. Most could only get in 3 or so donuts before being shut off. Those were really the only "negatives" I could think of out of millions upon millions of positives. 

Final Thoughts - I wish better luck next show to Myranda Cozad and Jack Brown. Solod drivers, solid competition, solid show. Easiest I can sum it up. I'll post pics and videos tomorrow, (I'm exhausted from driving through crazy Tampa traffic like eight times, being at Amalie from 7:30 AM- 10:00 PM, running for autographs, etc.) I'm going to sleep Y'all.

[Jon Cannon]

Not sure how long it has had this setup but Putte is on a new chassis with a full set of King coils and bypasses, as well as what look like custom swaybars.

[NtheDiggerfan]

Just a few Pictures from yesterday's show:

 

Disclaimer: The videos below do not belong to me.

 

 

[Nick Migues]

Any Idea who owns Hardwired and Race Monkey? Also, wouldn’t the current Crusher be a few years old? Cuz I mean they ran 3 trucks for a while so I assume that meant that Race Monkey was the 2nd Stone Crusher? 

[InfernoRampage99]

14 hours ago, Outlawed said:

@InfernoRampage99 anymore info or photos?

Race Monkey is a monster truck owned by Hollywood Motor Show in Spain. It was formerly the original Stone Crusher. That's All The Info Iv'e Got. The Rest Of The Pictures Are Just A Blank Chevy Body On The Old Stone Crusher Chassis

[InfernoRampage99]

2 hours ago, NitroMenace said:

Any Idea who owns Hardwired 

Hardwired is a Dodge Ram monster truck owned by Wilmore racing.

[MohawkMarkus]

59 minutes ago, InfernoRampage99 said:

Race Monkey is a monster truck owned by Hollywood Motor Show in Spain. It was formerly the original Stone Crusher. That's All The Info Iv'e Got. The Rest Of The Pictures Are Just A Blank Chevy Body On The Old Stone Crusher Chassis

They own more monster trucks but don't know what they were in the past. The Stey family have been doing shows here in Spain for a long time.

[InfernoRampage99]

Where's Jester (Or Sweet Tooth) When You Need Him.

[Outlawed]

@NitroMenace Hardwired is the original Randy Barton built Stinger that Zane ran, Benji Wilmore owns it now. Monkey after looking at some photos is the original gen 1 PEI that Simms owned (Steven ran it as a mud truck a couple of times like the old Mopar Magic)

[Nick Migues]

Ah so Monkey is no longer in the US then

[Dustin Hart AM]

2 hours ago, Outlawed said:

@NitroMenace Hardwired is the original Randy Barton built Stinger that Zane ran, Benji Wilmore owns it now. Monkey after looking at some photos is the original gen 1 PEI that Simms owned (Steven ran it as a mud truck a couple of times like the old Mopar Magic)

You're correct on Race Monkey being the original Stone Crusher PEI chassis. That truck started its life as Backdraft originally before becoming Stone Crusher in late 2004. Sims had that as his main chassis until the fall of 2010. Darren Migues ran the original truck as a second Stone Crusher for part of 2011 before it eventually changed over to the Mopar/Monster Magic name and eventually out of full time service in 2012. It made a couple one off appearances in 2013 before not running again until it was sold over to the new owner in Spain. Steve has run his current chassis since its debut in 2011, although it's been modified a bit over the years after some damage. I think most of the work done to it was in the rear with updated bracing around the shock towers and to straighten some things out. The team's other chassis was debuted as a second Stone Crusher campaigned by Morgan Kane in 2012 up until May of that year. Since then that chassis has mostly run as Hooked except for this past first quarter and a few other one off name appearances.

[Eric]

On 8/25/2018 at 8:37 PM, NtheDiggerfan said:

Official Tampa Triple Threat results and thoughts:

 

Negatives- I only had a few negatives really. I really dont like the beach sand/clay mix they use, it slings clumps of heavy dirt everywhere, and I was hit multiple times in the front row (nasty swollen purple bruise in my breast area was the worst). People had to shield themselves with their arms to not get hit. .. Really wasnt a fan of the time management, but it was a minor issue and I'm sure there was a reason for it I didnt know about. After every run, a truck would be shut off for about a minute, restarted, parked, then the next repeated this. Just seemed to waste a major amount of time. Officials are too trigger happy in donuts. Let the trucks do their thing for gods sake. Most could only get in 3 or so donuts before being shut off. Those were really the only "negatives" I could think of out of millions upon millions of positives. 

 

I'm confused, you got hit with dirt clods but you don't understand why the officials were trigger happy in donuts?

Also the "wasting time" between runs is actually a really smart move by those producing the shows, I think it was cool as hell to watch Bari and other drivers stare at the screen while waiting to see what the score was.. It builds drama and suspense with the crowd. 

Also another thing to note.. the seats are pushed back as far as they can go, there isn't anything else that can be done to make the space bigger. 

 

On that note, Amalie arena is a really nice venue.. hope to get back to it at some point.