Centennial Garden was transformed from a multifunctional event arena to a pulpit for the ministers of power, horsepower that is. For two days the United States Hot Rod Association hosted the U.S. Hot Rod Monster Jam in the converted dirt track.
In the cramped dirt track, five of the fastest monster trucks in the country competed in drag racing events and a freestyle competition. The gasoline fumes and deafening sound of their monstrous engines echoed through the uppermost reaches of the steel arena. To these titans of horsepower it was a constant battle of bigger and higher.
With names like Blacksmith, Shocker and the legendary Grave Digger among those present, the crowd needed little to stir them into a unified roar of approval to start the event. The announcer led the crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines” and the monster truck mayhem began.
During the freestyle competition the behemoths subjugated the helpless junk cars under the 10,000 pounds of pure masculine expression. It was a no-holds bar of wanton destruction and mayhem as the revs of Scarlet Bandit and Bounty Hunter drowned out the cheers of the crowd.
Monster truck frequenter Rick Hansen, 40, has simple reasons for coming here “the noise, the power.”
The crowd consisted of many children who were enthralled at the spectacle of destruction. “Kids love the show the trucks put on,” Hansen added.
My only question was how could they fit this hotbed of testosterone, ignited at every touch of the acceleration, every rev of the engine, into the Garden? The only rest the audience got was from the neck-to-neck quad racing and aerial acrobatics of the LBZ dirt bike team.
Simply put, they were just cars, on steroids, lots of steroids. But surprisingly there was a female driver, Dawn Creten, behind the wheel of Scarlet Bandit pioneering her way alongside husband, Jim, driver of Bounty Hunter.
The competition or more like a rally was the perfect medium to express the fascination man and woman alike have with unbridled power. These monster trucks play off of the belief of what is bigger is most definitely better. Grave Digger driver Pablo Huffaker alluded to the attractions of domination and destruction.
“It’s a sport we play with more than one ball,” he said.