#Monster truck jam how to
#Monster truck jam drivers
#Monster truck jam driver
#Monster truck jam full
#Monster truck jam series

The basic truck design does evolve from time to time. Unusable or unrepairable parts are recycled, given to charity, given to sponsors or sold. Team members say that small parts are the most commonly replaced. For example, a blown motor can be swapped out in about two hours, and one person can swap out one of those giant tires in just a few minutes.

That is why everything in the fleet is uniform and interchangeable, enabling the maintenance teams to get it down to a science Dalsing]. The parts inventory is a common pool that teams can use as needed, since it's understood that the trucks usually get trashed on a nightly basis and need extensive repair during the day. Even though the trucks all look different, they are based on the same parts, which helps simplify maintenance.

#Monster truck jam drivers

During the events, drivers can tell when something breaks or is breaking, and during a freestyle event, very few trucks drive out under their own power. 'It's really exciting for me to help train the youth and help them develop into the stars they are,' Meents says.Īlso in the cold pit, truck maintenance is always underway. Even Meents' own two sons have completed the program. Monster Jam does not have an official license, but since the program has been implemented, new drivers cannot join Monster Jam without completing it. Drivers train in the exact conditions of an event, in trucks with the same specifications. The Monster Jam University basic course emphasizes safety and lets drivers get familiar with both stadium-style tracks and arena-style tracks. Of those, about 32 have gotten jobs with Monster Jam.īefore Feld Motor Sports acquired Monster Jam, there was no formal training program. So far, Monster Jam University has tested 130 applicants - 77 have completed the training to date. Meents explains that a week's worth of training is equal to three years' worth of driving in events.

Training for a minimum of nine days, eight hours a day, assuming they pass the auditionĭuring training, drivers watch videos to show what they did right and wrong.

#Monster truck jam full

A full day of lessons on safety procedures.

#Monster truck jam how to

Half a day of training on how to fit into and operate a Monster Truck.

Meents recently took on the role of head of Monster Jam University, which is based in central Illinois, and serves as the place for Monster Jam to evaluate and test new talent.Īccording to Meents, 'students' who want to go through Monster Jam University should expect, at the very least:

#Monster truck jam driver

He is best known as the driver of Maximum Destruction and the winner of 11 Monster Jam World Finals. Tom Meents is another popular driver who has been with Monster Jam for 25 years. 'It's really exciting to see how pumped gets that there's a girl driver,' Mahon says. There are currently 14 women drivers on the Monster Jam circuit (there are 83 drivers total), and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. 'Every year we're breaking more records with women.' They want us to compete with each other,' Mahon says. She says it's a fresh change of pace from motocross, which was less friendly to women - both on and off the course. The competitions are real, and women are treated on the same level as the men. Nothing about Monster Jam is scripted, Mahon says. Keep reading to learn more about the tracks, the pits, the drivers, the trucks and the rabid fan culture that keeps Monster Jam going. While the fans are enraptured, hundreds of Monster Jam employees monitor the drivers' safety, choreograph the entry to the hot pits (where 47 trucks are staged between rounds with two trucks going in and out at all times), attend to broken trucks on- and off-track, and make sure everyone in attendance is having a blast.

(More on both of these competitions later.)

#Monster truck jam series

The World Finals is an annual two-day event that was described repeatedly over the course of the weekend by several Monster Jam representatives, as 'controlled chaos.' Day 1 typically features the racing series finals, while Day 2 includes Monster Jam drivers busting out their best tricks to impress the crowds during the freestyle competition. It had a record-breaking year in 2017, with Monster Jam events held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Singapore and China.īut back to Las Vegas, where HowStuffWorks got a behind-the-scenes look at the World Finals event and everything that makes Monster Jam run. In 2012, Feld Entertainment, the company that manages Monster Jam, took a big initiative toward international expansion. Multiple tours are occurring across the world at any given time. This fan-driven culture is key to the league's significant growth, which now includes 350 events a year in 30 countries. Unlike other motorsports, including traditional racing series and motocross, Monster Jam is unique in that it gives fans an unprecedented level of access to the organization's star athletes, and, more importantly, the trucks, which are arguably the stars of the show.