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| "We’ve come a long way. We’ve got away to go, we get a ton of respect now. A lot of people know Tom Meents first and foremost." |
Recently Josh Rhodes spoke with Tom Meents about the progression of monster truck racing, his early years in the sport, and the incident from Jacksonville in 2005 with Jim Jack and Reptoid. |
Josh Rhodes- What is your opinion on the direction of the sport? |
Tom Meents - I like the direction it’s headed. I think the tracks are getting bigger; there are more obstacles out there, more things to hit. They have been letting us go 50/50 on some of the freestyle obstacles again. We have done a lot with safety. Several of the trucks, including mine, now have wheel tethers. I’m looking forward to make sure we can keep the shows safe. |
 (Photo By: Robby Haught) |
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JR- When the right front wheel came off in Atlanta, in 2005, do you think that could have been what prompted you to add the wheel tethers? |
TM- I wouldn’t say it was that particular case, no. Several wheels have come off of several trucks. People wanting to take the lead in making sure stuff like that doesn’t happen. |
JR- Besides Dennis Anderson, who do you think is your biggest rival? |
TM- Man, there is a lot of them. So many people anymore have a lot of solid teams, a lot of solid drivers. It would be hard for me to pick one. Adam (Anderson) has proved to be a real big force. Obviously he’s got a really good truck and a really good teacher. Also Pablo Huffaker is a real good driver. |
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-Tom Meents takes to the air in a race at the Metrodome back in 2005 (Photo By: Robby Haught) |
JR- In the past, a lot of people have thought that you have came off a little cocky, and arrogant in some of your interviews. Also, some people don’t like the fact that you tap into other trucks during your freestyle runs. Do you have anything you would like to say to those people? |
TM- I’ve never intentionally hit somebody’s truck. If anybody watches my runs, or sees them on T.V., or watches them live. I like to hit the floor with a lot of speed. Go back and forth with a lot of speed, get a lot of air and fly further than anybody. When I land, it’ll rebound, a lot of times it’s a matter of the floor not being long enough for me to get the truck slowed down. I like to have more floor speed than anybody if possible. I’ve never hit anybodies truck on purpose. I have tapped a few trucks. I’ve apologized to every one of the drivers. Perfect case would be this year in Atlanta. I hit the big jump, my foot actually slipped off the brake pedal. I missed a lot of valuable space, because I was going higher than anybody, and further than anybody, I bumped (Allen) Pezo and (Scott) Hartsock. I apologized to both of them. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t cause any damage to them. I can’t recall ever doing any damage to them, ever. |
Click Here for Page 2 of our Monster Profile on Tom Meents
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