Monster Truck Kills and Injures 12+

[bkelly]

the problem is that many people don't have common sense. Yea lets put a 4 foot railing up, that way the crowd doesn't get hurt from a 5 ton monster truck. These little shows piss me off.

I have to agree with you. The MTRA should have a set of representatives from different countries that inspect these shows. They need stricter guidelines and they need to find a way to control FELD. Alright, back on track. If the MTRA could inspect these shows they could prevent death and injury. How many people have died because of a foreign, independently ran show in the past year? Let's see, 50+ in Mexico and 20+ in the Netherlands. The problem is that this is preventable and no one will step up and fix it. Who's the president of the MTRA? Bob Chandler? We should write a letter about this problem.

Marty Garza was the creator, and Marty certainly wasn't associated with the incident. Once the truck was sold off in around 2004 (ran Thunder Nationals in 2002) it was the new owner's responsibility.

Same with Fly-N-Hi, once it was sold the original creator had zero involvement whatsoever.

I never said Marty was responsible for the accident. I meant to say that the owner could of changed between when Marty sold it and when the accident occurred,

[steiale]

 I have to agree with you. The MTRA should have a set of representatives from different countries that inspect these shows. They need stricter guidelines and they need to find a way to control FELD. Alright, back on track. If the MTRA could inspect these shows they could prevent death and injury. How many people have died because of a foreign, independently ran show in the past year? Let's see, 50+ in Mexico and 20+ in the Netherlands. The problem is that this is preventable and no one will step up and fix it. Who's the president of the MTRA? Bob Chandler? We should write a letter about this problem.

Few Things About This:

1. I had no idea that there is a MTRA (Monster Truck Racing Association Right?)
2. This most likely isn't an official show
3. MTRA sounds like its American, and doesn't do anything outside our boarders (I'm Most Likely Wrong About This)
4. Bob Chandler being president? I don't think so

Yep, I'm a Total Noob with this post

[Sergeant Politeness]

Tim Hall is the current president, and certain trucks overseas are MTRA certified (the Aussie and UK independent trucks come to mind) but they can't do much with small shows like this, especially when it's across waters

[bkelly]

Few Things About This:

1. I had no idea that there is a MTRA (Monster Truck Racing Association Right?)
2. This most likely isn't an official show
3. MTRA sounds like its American, and doesn't do anything outside our boarders (I'm Most Likely Wrong About This)
4. Bob Chandler being president? I don't think so

Yep, I'm a Total Noob with this post

 Yes, MTRA does stand for Monster Truck racing Association. They began in 1987, and, sadly, in my opinion, aren't a huge force in monster truck racing. They are still around, and they run the Hall of Fame banquet and all that good stuff. I agree with it not being an official show, however, I read that it is an annual event in the city it took place in. Uhh MTRA probably does operate a little bit outside of the US, most likely only in Europe, if anything. Bob Chandler might or might not be the president, if not, he seems like he would be. Here's a link to their site: http://mtra.us/

[Mark Iron]

I figured I would note here that the story has now been reported on TMZ.

[rockgod88]

dumb people don't know how to use rii

even if the throttle stuck or whatever the rii would still stop the truck or at least slow it don't from the vid it looked like it was going full throttle

[NavySonicShell]

If you listen you can hear that the truck is no where near full throttle...

Edit for clarification: he revved up high, but he revved down afterward and the engine kept running at lower rpms. I guess he could have gotten it stuck and unstick, but I really think the brakes failed at some point.

[bkelly]

dumb people don't know how to use rii

even if the throttle stuck or whatever the rii would still stop the truck or at least slow it don't from the vid it looked like it was going full throttle

 

They might not have been able to afford RIIs. But the truck itself probably had one considering it was the old Extreme Overkill truck. But then again they might not have known how to use them.

[Tom P.]

This is a shame

[mdemko]

I like how thattruckguy just restates the obvious and what other people have already commented. Also, formerly Extreme Overkill. Irony much?

[dd908]

A few things here:

 

-Yes, Extreme Overkill had a fully functional RII system in place before being shipped off to Europe. And from a few pictures I've seen, it still had the RII system in place on the truck itself, but the RII system on the truck is useless without someone that knows how to operate a RII remote fully standing by watching every move that truck made.

-Safety was next to nothing. I've seen quite a few events where there was only a 3 to 4 foot tall portable fence as the only protection, but that was in an area with space. If an event promoter is going to use a fence like that, there should be a lot more space around the performance area. Regardless, a crowd should never be that close to a monster truck running over cars. It's okay if they're that close to a monster truck when it starts up and moves on idle, but when it's running over cars, that's a BIG no-no.

-Seems like it's only mentioned that Feld uses RIIs at their events. Every monster truck promoter I've worked with or been around has had at least one operating RII remote, and I've been around quite a few promoters in my time.

-The MTRA has done a lot for the industry in terms of setting strict safety guidelines, and I commend everyone who had a hand in developing this organization as well as everyone who continues to run and support this organization to this day.

-The only person to ever own any Overkill monster truck is Marty Garza. Yes, Kirk Dabney ran it for quite a few years and continues to tour with it on-and-off, but Kirk never contributed to Overkill Racing as an owner. He was an operator. Marty Garza has been the founder, owner, president, and ultimately head-honcho of Overkill Racing since 1989 and continues to be to this day.

 

Despite everyone getting their panties in a bunch over this incident and the keyboard warriors sparking an argument on Facebook over this (apparently), we just all need to remember that three people passed away because of something that could have easily been prevented. My thoughts, prayers, and deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families.

[MonsterJam2008]

the problem is that many people don't have common sense. Yea lets put a 4 foot railing up, that way the crowd doesn't get hurt from a 5 ton monster truck. These little shows piss me off

 

I agree, and I would even goes as far as the arena shows in the states are to small. Look at WF 15 and Titan, I don't think an arena could contain such a thing. 

[NavySonicShell]

In what arena do trucks reach 60+ MPH?

[bkelly]

I like how thattruckguy just restates the obvious and what other people have already commented. Also, formerly Extreme Overkill. Irony much?

I restate things already said in case someone didn't feel like reading through the whole thread. If it bothers you then just ignore it or don't look at this thread and please don't bother me when I do restate things. Again, I restate things because some people might not catch on to previous things said.

A few things here:

-Yes, Extreme Overkill had a fully functional RII system in place before being shipped off to Europe. And from a few pictures I've seen, it still had the RII system in place on the truck itself, but the RII system on the truck is useless without someone that knows how to operate a RII remote fully standing by watching every move that truck made.

-Safety was next to nothing. I've seen quite a few events where there was only a 3 to 4 foot tall portable fence as the only protection, but that was in an area with space. If an event promoter is going to use a fence like that, there should be a lot more space around the performance area. Regardless, a crowd should never be that close to a monster truck running over cars. It's okay if they're that close to a monster truck when it starts up and moves on idle, but when it's running over cars, that's a BIG no-no.

-The MTRA has done a lot for the industry in terms of setting strict safety guidelines, and I commend everyone who had a hand in developing this organization as well as everyone who continues to run and support this organization to this day.

Despite everyone getting their panties in a bunch over this incident and the keyboard warriors sparking an argument on Facebook over this (apparently), we just all need to remember that three people passed away because of something that could have easily been prevented. My thoughts, prayers, and deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families.

Same here. Just look at Mexico- not only the accident last year but even at some of their rodeos which only contain those portable fences. Lots of people get hurt from bulls. I know that lots of companies use RII's, but these small foreign shows where they're not required is started to scare me a bit. The last thing we need is a large group being killed instead of 3 or 7. Then again, you have to consider that monster trucks are only 32 years old, and how long was it before cars had seat belts? More than 32 years. So safety is still a HUGE concern and the largest place of improvement with monster truck racing as a whole (not just FELD, but every promoter who runs shows). Thanks for your helpful insight with these trucks.

[Jon Cannon]