In the Dirt-1

In The Dirt

by
Aaron Cromer

In
The Dirt is Aaron Cromer’s take on all things in the monster truck
industry, a “monster editorial” if you will. He started as
a fan, created the web site MonsterWorldOnline.com, then eventually
began helping monster truck teams and worked his way up to being the
driver of Anger Management. Here, he will share his thoughts with
us.

So
with the first weekend of the 2009 monster truck season in the
books, let’s look back on a few things.  The first thing that
grabbed my attention was Joe Sylvester with Bad Habit. Joe had a new
chassis built for the 2009 season. As of three weeks ago, the
chassis had just arrived at Joe’s shop in Ohio, with nothing on it
except the powder coating. I would like to give a big nod to Joe and
the people at his shop, whoever they were, that did the hardcore
thrashing to get that truck from a bare nothing, to a working,
breathing monster truck in just three weeks’ time. As a former crew
chief and driver, I know what it is like to thrash like that, and
let me tell you, it’s minimal sleep and maximum effort! Awesome Job
Joe! (photo from this past weekend’s Winston-Salem, NC Checkered
Flag Productions show, courtesy Dustin Hart)

Now
let’s take a look around at some different shows from the weekend.
Checkered Flag Productions had a couple shows going on this weekend.
One was in Charlotte, where the new “Bad Boy” Bigfoot made
it’s debut with Larry Swim behind the wheel. This show also saw
the return of Isiah Morales in Hot Tamale. Isiah seemed to have not
missed a beat and was back getting big air in the red Chevrolet
owned by Mike Hawkins.  The other CFP show on tap was in
Winston-Salem, NC. This is where Joe Sylvester debuted the new Bad
Habit chassis. I talked to Joe after the weekend, and he said
despite a few minor steering problems, he was very happy with the
way the truck felt and handled. I expect to see big things from Joe
this season, as he and Paul Strong with Martial Law have teamed up
and are traveling in the same trailer this year. They have a few big
shows on deck with Monster Jam, including Minneapolis, Phoenix, and
Houston. I wish those two hard- running independent guys lots of
luck. (photo from Charlotte, courtesy Dustin Hart)

On
the Monster Jam side of things, I will just touch on a few topics
for the first week. This was a bit of a hard week for me, as it was
the first week one of a season I have not been to in five years. It
has been a while since I was not driving or wrenching on a truck.
First thing, Rochester, NY. Mike Vaters and Randy Brown seemed to
have good weekends, sharing a few wins. Trey Myers with Iron Warrior
was sporting a new Ford F-150 body with an awesome new paint scheme.
I talked to Myers after the first show on Friday night. He made me
laugh as he said, “the first night went pretty much like you
expect a first night to go…nothing went right, nothing went
smooth, but we got through it.”  Sometimes that’s how those
first shows are. There always seem to be those little things that
become a problem. Trey had to change a rear steer pump after Friday
night’s show. Des Moines, Iowa saw the first show for Kreg
Christensen driving Maximum Destruction. Kreg is a long time veteran
of the sport and starting really getting into the Monster Jam world
last year, driving Iron Outlaw. Kreg had a few little mishaps this
weekend, rolling the truck over, but he is still getting used to the
Meents-style monster. The state of Ohio had some awesome action this
weekend. Columbus, OH saw some high-flying action on the freestyle
motocross hill. Marc MacDonald in Safe Auto had some of the most
insane air I have seen in a small arena in a long time, and he was
pulling out some power wheelies from a stopped position. Ricky
Ownley made his return to the seat of Mopar Magic with Carl
VanHorn’s departure. Ricky and Steve Sims started 2009 right where
they left off last year, running the trucks hard for the fans. Ricky
went for the FMX hill, he got a little crossed up coming off, and
drove the left front of the truck into the ground hard.  The
damage looked pretty substantial, as I know there was a tire blown
off the rim, kinked 4-link bar, and I am sure more. The Monster
Trucks Unlimited guys have some work to do to get Mopar Magic ready
for next week. But I know those guys will get it done and come out
and turn the fans on more and more. (photo from Des Moines, Iowa
courtesy Robert Haught)

Well that’s it for me this week. Keep checking AllMonster.com
every week for coverage, updates, photos, and columns by me and
Robert Haught. Until next time this is Aaron Cromer, and you’ve
been “In The Dirt.”