Monster Profile: Lee O’Donnell

LO – Monster Mutt, because there is no sponsor and nobody to answer to other then the fans, as it was their truck. I tried so hard to get Mutt a TV win, and that is one thing I regret. I had Pablo (Huffaker, Grave Digger) beat in San Diego one time, but I just screwed up, the truck bounced bad, and there was nothing I could do. That was one thing I wanted for that truck was to get a TV win.

JR – Is there something you’d like to see changed in monster trucks?

LO – I would like to see some sort of points system where each individual move or hit is worth X amount of points and the amount of hits is worth something. Also, the freestyle order should be random,or maybe by the finishing order of racing.

While O’Donnell has a great deal of respect for the equipment, he’s not afraid to push the limits whenever necessary. (Left Photo By: Dustin Hart – Right Photo By: Ed Hoormann)

EH – When you first started in monster trucks, a lot of people called you a “super-sub” as you were in and out of many trucks. What happened to get you a full time ride?

(Photo By: Tim Groves)

LO – I’ve never not had a job; I’ve always had a job. It was, “you need to go here and there.” You know, Dennis got hurt, Adam took over for him, and I went over and drove Taz then. It was just the opportunity, sort of a, “You’re going here; okay next year, you’re going here.” There were trucks I should have been in, but opportunity didn’t happen going down that road. Iron Man came about and put me in there. This year, I was supposed to be somewhere else, but it just didn’t happen. This isn’t the end here for me; this is just another step. I am sure I’ll be in a sponsored truck sooner rather than later. As a racer, a sponsor truck is where I want to be; I’m not saying Marvel isn’t one, but its not a Lucas Oil, Ford, or Advance Auto Parts name in the sport. I’m not saying that I don’t want to be a second driver for a truck, like its only A for me; I don’t want to be B or C. The one thing I did do was lobby to be the second Maximum Destruction driver when Neil left, but talking to him, I knew he’d be back and they went with Kreg (Christensen), which is fine by me.

JR – When you first walk into am event, what is the first think you look at?

LO – Clean Bathroom! How good the food is? Do we get catering that night? I’m only kidding. I look at the dirt conditions, which always change since people walk on it for the pit party. Also, I check out the jumps to see if they’re going to hurt or not.

ER – You kind of talked about it already, but what is your career goal for monster trucks?

LO – In a meeting a few weeks ago, I was asked this very question, and it kinda goes with Scott Hartsock going on his 20th year. I’d like to do 20 years; I have eight more to do that. It’s not all considered years, but there was a little bit of time where I went back to off road at the beginning of my monster truck run, but eight more years and I hit 20 in monster trucks.

JR – Iron Man debuted in the in the Atlanta Georgia dome, a building which has been very good to you. Was there any added pressure when it was debuted on live tv?

LO – Yea it was a lot of pressure to debut the truck like that. When I get nervous I break out. My wife was trying to fix me up with makeup to cover all that up.

Atlanta’s Georgia Dome has been a great building for Lee O’Donnell. He picked up his first major stadium win in the building back in 2008, and eventually debuted the Iron Man there in 2010.

JR – If there was any other truck in the sport you could jump into what truck would that be?

LO – Jimmy Creten’s. He has some top of the line equipment and he sets his team up to win.

O’Donnell has learned a great deal about driving monster trucks from his good friend Charlie Pauken. (Photo By: Jeremy Puglisi)

EH – What driver would you say you learned from the most?

LO – Charlie Pauken. He is amazing. I just watched the footage of when he drove Dennis’ truck in Philly. I am getting chills, that’s how good he is. I ask him if he can do this in a truck and he just does it. He’s amazing.

JR – What’s your favorite style of racing coarse?

LO – So-Cal and Chicago style. Those types of track are all about lane choice. I like the long straight away tracks.

JR – Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

LO – Still driving monster trucks. We have another off road truck coming to do more local stuff at home. It takes a ton of money and personal commitment to run an off road truck in the Traxxas TORC Series  or Lucas Oil Off road Racing and we’re not ready to do that at this time, but we’re looking at some opportunities in 2013. As far as the monster truck side, just being in a truck and killing it every week winning racing.

EH – Is there anybody you would like to give a shout out to or a thank you to?

LO – My wife for putting up with all this stuff over the years. Mike and Peggey Wales. Charlie Pauken, he teaches me something every week. There usually isn’t a Monday that goes by that we don’t call each other to talk about what happened over the weekend. He’s always the first one to call and congratulate me on a win from the weekend. Also please check me out on Facebook here.