In the past 14 years at the Monster Jam World Finals, we’ve seen the fastest monster truck racing course determine Monster Jam’s World Finals Racing Champion. Trucks have been clocked at 64+ miles per hour down the straightaways in Sam Boyd Stadium. Next year, however, we’re going to be seeing the first ever two-day format for the World Finals, with 32 trucks competing in Monster Jam’s grandest stage. Perhaps it’s time to look at changing the course up just a tiny bit. Why? Let’s take a look at three examples, and then some suggestions on how to make racing better:
Tom Meents has won six out of the 14 events held at the World Finals. Why? Because the course favors the type of truck he is currently driving. When the course was introduced in 2000, Meents and Goldberg had dominated the season leading up to the event. Looking at the year 2000, Monster Jam was running a J-type drag course at many of the venues that were broadcast on television. Meents’ truck doesn’t have a sway bar, which allows it to cut very tight corners with ease, in addition to being able to take a longer corner with more speed. His truck can hold down a great deal of speed going into and coming out of a corner because of this. Now by saying this, I’m not saying to every driver or crew, “Go out there and get rid of your sway bars,” because it takes a special kind of driver to be able to hold onto a truck running without them. Tom’s setup just has a great advantage at that course because of that setup, along with his shocks.
I love the side-by-side finishes we have at the World Finals, and in my opinion, EVERY course in Monster Truck racing should have side-by-side finishes. The crowds are more excited for a good side-by-side run to the finish line, and it keeps the show action-packed from start to finish. I’d never change this for the World Finals, however, making the finish line more like it was for the first and second World Finals would be great. The giant jump in the center of the floor has become the norm really since World Finals 3, and that has affected the track since. The first two World Finals tracks had much bigger and wider turns. The cars were a bit farther away from the exit of the turns at the first two Finals, however, the finish line could be moved up to where it currently is. With the two-day formant, it should be possible to move in and get the center jump built quite easily for freestyle the next day.
This next suggestion has been talked about for many years by some fans, including myself–I think we could add two more turns to the World Finals course. I’d keep the trucks driving down Thunder Alley going into a turn; that’s what makes the course unique. However, don’t let the first jump be the finish of the race. Make the trucks go down, and turn around a freestyle obstacle or berm, then come back down the long straightaway, then hit that turn one more time, and come to the finish line. If someone comes down thunder alley and maybe messes up a bit, this gives them a chance to get back in the race and make the racing a little more entertaining than it already is.
I love the Monster Jam World Finals racing course; I really do. These are just some simple suggestions to tweak what’s already there to make their longest and fastest event even better. Meents is just the example here that fits best, but his dominance in racing does contribute to my thought process.
With these suggestions in mind, what do you AllMonster people think? Get at me in the comments or at jrhodes@allmonster.com.
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I have also been saying this for the few years, keeping the original course intact but adding a “st Louis style” race effect to it if you will. I think it’d be a huge hit for the fans mainly cause it’ll be new to the world finals regulars both fans and drivers alike. And it’s also a form of racing Monster jam ..ie Feld Entertainment, has steered away from and sticking mostly to Chicago and so cal style racing at their events. I like this idea a lot. I mean even if the most suttle change is just simply moving the finish line back maybe another 50-100 feet I think the finishes will be just spectacular. I was watching world finals 9 last night on DVD and if you watch the race between Bounty Hunter (Jim Creten) and Iron Outlaw (Kreg Christiansen), Kreg wins that race had the finish line been another 50 feet or so. So all in all I’m excited to see if we get changes if any at all I’m sure most of us will be anxious to what takes place in the next 10 months down the road. Love the website guys been coming here since 2006, keep up the good work!
-Abraham
I’ve been to world finals 7,9,11,13, and I’m going back for 15. I’ve always loved the world finals track and so has my dad. We’ve always done the double down and have done the last two track walks and it’s always seemed very challenging. I would never change the racing course. With the three day format they don’t need to have the entire center hill built on Friday. They can build it on Friday night and modify the race plateaus for sat. I respect other opion’s on track design.
I think keeping the trucks coming down T.A and then going into the St.Louis style course would be awesome, and with the finish line moved back 75 ft or so would make it epic!