IN THE DIRT
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In In Ok all you monster maniacs, week two of the
2009 season is in the books. I hope you all enjoyed the debut column of “In The Dirt” last week. This week, I will be touching on a few more shows that went on, once again with some insider input on things. Let’s start out with a few little news stories. Kelly Carrington, the widow of the late Calvin Carrington, is the newest female driver to hit the track, as she has joined Rob French on Wildfire Motorsports. Rob will still be piloting Twisted Dragon, as Kelly will be driving a second truck called “Dragonfly” for 2009. Checkered Flag Productions seemed to have another good weekend of shows, as they started off the season last week with two strong shows in North Carolina. I talked with Zane Rettew, who is in charge of booking trucks and running events for CFP, and he is very excited about how the 2009 season has gone so far. I would like to commend Zane, Ed Beckley and the whole Checkered Flag crew, as they seem to have a strong schedule and trucks this year. Speaking of Checkered Flag, there is one
driver who is rejoining the full CFP tour this winter, a former CFP Winter Nationals Champion, Brad Campbell. Brad won the 2006 title driving Monster Moose, as he won racing as the CFP finals in Pocatello, Idaho, and placed third in freestyle giving him enough points on that night to take home the big trophy. The following year he ran a part-time schedule, but still returned to Pocatello to defend the racing victory, and once again, he came out victorious. This means the CFP drivers have something to be worried about. Brad Campbell had never lost a racing event in Pocatello. Campbell is driving Public Disturbance this year, with his wife Jen driving the former Monster Moose truck by the name of “Bombshell.” Brad had a pretty good first week, so I think he is one to watch out for this season for the Checkered Flag Productions Winter Nationals Championship. Moving onto some Monster Jam business now,
Bill Payne in “Rockstar” notched a racing victory this weekend in Alabama. This is the first season Bill has had the opportunity to run with Feld Entertainment, and I am sure he is going to make the most of it. Bill is a hard worker, as he has put in a lot of hours recently into the Rockstar machine improving it so he can keep taking it to the next level. Anaheim, California saw some intense action this weekend, as they had one awesome course set up for freestyle. The stadium is as wide as it is long, so the drivers were able to hit obstacles in any direction. Kelvin Ramer debuted the new “Time Flys” machine out of the “Living the Dream” racing stable. It is a brand new RaceSource chassis with all the trimmings. Kelvin put on one heck of a freestyle, hitting everything on the track, catching big air and grabbing some awesome slap wheelies. Good to see the new truck work well for him, and Kelvin is really stepping up his game. Another guy who had a sick freestyle in Anaheim is California driver Dan Radoni in “The Patriot.” The home state driver hit the track with huge air, slap wheelied the truck right into the next obstacle. Dan went into a donut, then the truck got up on two wheels. Dan drove the truck on its sidewalls for 6-10 seconds; it was by far one of the most amazing two wheel driving acts I have ever seen. It did eventually go over after an awesome effort. I give Dan the “almost save of the year award.”
^Radoni’s freestyle run Atlanta,
Georgia always sees great action year after year, and 2009 was no exception. Dennis Anderson came in and took both racing and freestyle, but let’s look at some other points of the show. Andy Slifko in Eradicator had a decent freestyle that turned into a real good freestyle when after getting a nice cyclone donut going, the truck hooked, got up on two wheels and balanced itself on the left two tires for about ten seconds in one place. It was what I call the Kodak moment of the event. The fans seemed to really like it. Former Batman crew chief Coty Saucier (Two-time championship crew chief) made his crewing debut with his new team, Randy Moore’s War Wizard in Atlanta. I spoke with Coty and he seems very happy with his new team. They had some first-show bruises, but if anyone can get a truck back to 100 percent, it’s Saucier. Coty said Randy had a good freestyle that ended with some blown hydraulic lines in the rear, and a broken housing. I would like to extend an extra good luck to Cody with his new team as I have know Cody for years, and he is a great guy, and a hard worker. We have been internet reporters together, and we have worked in the pits together…good luck Coty. Cam McQueen is starting to make his mark as a serious driver on the Monster Jam tour this year. After a short rookie season in ‘08 that took him to the NGK Spark Plugs World finals, he is back in his sophomore season in full throttle. He had some huge air in the Georgia Dome, which ended with a hard rollover. This guy is coming on fast, definitely going to be one to look out for in the Pastrana 199 machine. Well that’ll do it for this week. Toronto is coming up next week, always a good show, so stay tuned. You’ve been “In The Dirt.”
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