In a way, Freestyle started in Pontiac. Bigfoot's first car crush was an exhibition and, today, freestyle is still considered an exhibition act even with series like Monster Jam using score cards. I don't believe the drivers go out there with their focus set on "scoring a 30." An exhibition is about giving a crowd pleasing performance. Giving the fans something to cheer about is much more important and worth noting than what three people with paper thought of a run. The Final Pontiac Freestyle was not about scores, it was about creating a lasting memory with the 70,000+ fans lucky enough to be in the Dome one last time. With that said, I will not be including my personal 1-10 score of each truck for this coverage.
The Freestyle obstacles were not very numerous and the two pyramids were nearly exactly the same in size and structure; car-van-box truck-van-car mounted on a hill. Both lanes of cars were double-stacked and the ramps were dug away. Down the middle of the course was a long jump hill with a very long landing pad. A car-van was arranged in the near left corner of the arena floor as well. Way on the far side of the floor was a small slap wheelie hill. More junk was scheduled to be drug out throughout the runs, but as you'll see, that did not turn out to be the case.
BOB & TOM -- Guy would had the dubious task of coming out first and setting a very high bar for at least 15 other trucks to beat. Wood has never backed down during a freestyle in his life and this one was no exception. Wood tore out of the pits and launched off the long jump hill grabbing some instance big air. He destroyed a couple a-frame sponsor banners en route to a huge leap off the far pyramid and took a heck of a beating on the landing. He hit a real nice wheel stand on the fresh van and then headed for the double-stacked cars. Wood hit them with a ton of speed, but did not clear the top car smoothly. Bob & Tom's left tires clipped the top car and the truck twisted severely to the right side. The landing was not pretty. Truck and driver took a tremendous hit on the right side tires only. The rebound flew the truck up onto the left side and in a blink of an eye the truck nosed into the ground and was over on the roof! Wood didn't stand a chance at saving that one as the truck flipped much more quickly and violently compared to his roll in racing. Wood did not emerge from the truck immediately and would need a lot of assistance in doing so. He was given a ride off the track by the E.M.Ts. A fast and exciting run, but a scary way to start Freestyle.
THRASHER-- Pat Summa in the awesome looking Thrasher rolled out next. This was my first time watching Summa run and had not seen much freestyle footage of him, but know from pictures he has performed moderately well at past Pontiac events. Summa went for a slap wheelie to open the run and got the right bounced but did not keep his foot in the gas long enough to carry the truck very far. Summa methodically approached the double cars and shot Thrasher completely straight up and down in a great looking sky wheelie. He almost got high-centered on the landing though and had trouble getting off the cars. Thrasher rocked on the left front tires and it looked like Summa was going over too but he managed to drive out of it. Summa kind of rolled Thrasher over the top of the far pyramid and with no speed the rear end was kicked up into the air and he took quite a nose-dive. Summa finished with a nice hit on the van and some good air off the long jump ramp. Not a lot of momentum or big moments, was hoping for more.
SUPERMAN-- Chad Fortune soared Superman onto the track next as he opened the run with some big air on the double cars and followed up with the biggest leap off the long jump hill thus far. Fortune kept decent momentum as he made good use of the floor and hit obstacles in succession. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures as my memory card began acting up for some reason and I missed the last minute of his run. After a jump off the car-van, the truck pogo'd hard on the front tires and Fortune tried to ride the wheelie out a bit but the truck was not stable on the rear tires. Fortune tried to regain control but the truck was too far out of reach. Superman bounced from one tire to the other than twisted over to one side, spun around 180 degrees and nosed into the ground and flopped onto its side. Not the way Fortune needed to end his run as it was pretty solid up to that point. One bad bounce and too much speed spelled disaster. Fortune emerged from the truck unharmed.
THE BROKER-- Jim Leahy brought The Broker out next and really needed to turn the heat up in the Dome as so far the best run and biggest moments belonged to Guy Wood. Leahy had some decent air off the car-van and the center jump, but like the trucks prior to him, did not carry much speed or momentum around the floor. The slow, boring pace from one truck after another was really hard to watch. Leahy had a couple hits on the cars and then lined up the far pyramid. He hit the pyramid with very little speed and impact and the results were dismal. The Broker's front tires popped up into the air and Leahy struggled to get the truck up onto the box van in the middle. He didn't make it. The Broker started drifting off to the left side of the stack and slowly fell off and flipped over onto the roof. It appeared as though the truck was in 4-wheel-drive, but if it wasn't, that could've been a factor for the weak hit. A bad ending to a let-down of a freestyle.
DESTROYER-- Freestyle needed a jump-start and fast. "Air Man" Dan Evans would hopefully get the job done. Evans went right after the far pyramid and sped over the top, but the middle vehicle caught the underside of Destroyer and not only pushed the truck into a big nose dive but ripped up the rear drive shaft! Destroyer was now half crippled in 2-wheel drive only. Evans pushed on and attacked the double-stacked cars a couple times and got some decent air considering the problems. He lined up the pyramid again except from the other side. He would need a ton of speed to be able to climb in only 2WD. Evans built momentum towards the stack and it looked like he'd make it up. The front tires got to the top of the stack, but then all movement came to a dead stop as the rear wheels were useless. Destroyer slide off to the left side and was now trapped on the stack. Evans spun and spun, but it was all in vein. Tough break for Destroyer and the fans.
T-MAXX-- John Seasock needed to lay down a solid run to rebound this abysmal freestyle portion of the show. T-Maxx is an awesome truck and has the tools to get the job done. Seasock started with some good air off the cars and the car-van combo and looked in good shape. He hit a good leap over the double cars and then headed towards the near side pyramid, which no one has attempted thus far! The crowd showed some life and roared approval as Seasock hit the ramp and launched the truck up into the air! T-Maxx nearly cleared the top of the pyramid but the rear wheels clipped the middle vehicle and shot the Seasock's truck into a sick nose dive. T-maxx nosed completely over into a 90 degree angle and the truck splintered the axle housing and grinded the grille of the body into the hard Silverdome floor! T-Maxx bounced extremely hard from the sick thud, but landed back down on all 4s. The front end of T-Maxx was was toast and unfortunately so was the run. Another short run with some bad luck and bad breakage, but glad to see it was done while trying something no one else had.
PROWLER-- The man who shocked a lot of people in racing, Larry Jaruzel, brought Prowler onto the track next to see if he could once again stick it to the rest of the field and put his truck on top of the Freestyle food chain. Jaruzel started his run on the near set of cars, which also had yet to be touched. The dirt was really dug deep in front of the set and Jaruzel got a nice wheel stand with virtually no speed. He had some trouble getting over the double-stack but moved on and made his way to the slap wheelie hill and grabbed good air and nailed about as well of a slap wheelie you'll see for how it was setup. Jaruzel kept up decent momentum and more importantly was keeping the truck in one piece and not getting stuck! He launched Prowler off the center jump and grabbed more air over the car-van and the far side cars. The clock continued to tick away and that was the best we could hope for as he was going to fill the whole time. Jaruzel made several hits and moved swiftly from jump to jump. He finished with another hit on the near side of cars and had successfully put down the best run so far. He filled the clock, had good speed and made it worth watching. Excellent and deserving night for Jaruzel.
STONE CRUSHER-- Guys like Gary Wiggins, Mike Wine (who was crewing for Blue Thunder on this night), Dennis Anderson were the backbone of Pontiac and built their careers in the building. I wish there could have been more old school drivers at this final event, but getting a chance to watch Wiggins was really a great feeling for me personally. I saw Wiggins drive Mopar Magic at the 1989 Chicago TNT Motorsports event and have not seen him perform since. Wiggins struggled at times with his big, lumbering Mopar Magic trucks over the years, but his skill has really shown through behind the wheel of a new generation monster; the former Backdraft truck. Having grown up watching Mopar Magic time and time again on TV, to finally see Wiggins and a great truck at their best was a cool feeling. Unfortunately, sitting back and enjoying watching the man work did not last long...
Wiggins blasted Stone Crusher down the front stretch and lined up the car-van set to start the run and got some nice air. He weaved around a couple jumps and headed for the long jump hill and flew Stone Crusher over the gap and down the landing ramp very smoothly. Wiggins turned around and headed back around to where he had just came from and rolled Stone Crusher towards the still very fresh near set of double-stacked cars. Wiggins LAUNCHED Stone Crusher completely straight up and down with a MASSIVE wheel stand that cleared the entire pile of cars and landed the rear end of the frame right into the ground like a dagger! The force of the hit was absolutely sick as it sent shockwave's from one end of the truck to another and also ripped the body panels right off. All power was lost on impact but the truck continued to roll forward on the rear wheels before finally dropped a couple seconds later back onto all four wheels. But as the truck came slamming back down, I saw a haunting image of Gary Wiggins' total upper body come crashing down with it. His head, shoulders and arms all were flying about and having seen hundreds of drivers take hard hits and none of them ever doing that, I knew something was not right.
The truck rolled to a stop, but Wiggins did not move. USHRA officials sprinted to the truck to check on him and then had to call for more help. Anytime a driver is unable to get out of the truck by themselves is very scary and something no one wants to witness. This was beyond scary, it was downright terrifying to be sitting there that close and watching exactly everything unfold before my eyes.
It felt like an eternity and Wiggins was still inside the truck as more people poured onto the track including paramedics, whom were having a very busy night. I don't know how long it was exactly until Wiggins was finally removed from the truck, but it was agonizing. A thousand thoughts were running through my head as to why this happened and how could this happen and would Gary be alright? This is not what I wanted the lasting memory to be from the final Silverdome event.
After Wiggins was removed from the truck and placed on a stretcher and driven out of the building, the truck was moved from the track and the show went on. The show went on without one word from Scott Douglass or Ken Stout regarding what was happening or had just happened. I think that disturbed me just about as much as seeing the hit. I know USHRA has the whole "distract the audience's attention" policy and they don't want to draw attention to accidents. Well, fine. I don't really have a problem with that. But, what I do have a problem with is pretending it didn't happen. During the midst of their ramblings they could've simply said "We all hope Gary is ok after that scary hit and let's give Stone Crusher and round of applause." Anything like that! Just show a little bit of respect. If I was the one out there in Gary's spot, I know some crowd applause would make me feel a little bit better than hearing what Dennis Anderson had planned for freestyle or why March 3rd at Ford Field was going to be better than Pontiac ever was. Now, I understand maybe Gary would feel differently, but traditionally I believe it would of been the proper thing to do.
A big cause of Gary's injuries and being whipped around the cab was the fact he did not have his neck collar on. Something like that should be so routine but sometimes its those little items that just slip our minds. Perhaps that is what happen in this case. Regardless and thankfully, Wiggins did make a recovery from his injuries and eventually returned to the seat of Stone Crusher in the summer months. Very sorry to see this happen and it is a chain of events I personally never want to have to sit through again.
EL TORO LOCO-- Lupe Soza was finally able to bring El Toro Loco out after a substantial delay to get everyone ready to go back freestyling. Soza opened with a much smaller hit than Wiggins had on the near set of cars followed by a great looking sky wheelie over the remains of the car-van set, which became the item of choice on the track for some reason. Soza hit a good jump on the far pyramid, probably the smoothest of the night and got some nice air off the center hill. He was not attacking the track in a style that we normally see from him and thoughts of what had already happen to other drivers was probably in the back of his mind with every jump. Soza used nearly all the time, but, in the end did not have a strong run.
MADUSA-- Madusa knocked off her fellow World Finals Freestyle Co-Champ, Lupe Soza, in racing and also got to follow him in freestyle to try and one-up him again. Madusa put some life back into the crowd with a high-speed launch off the center hill to start her run. She worked over the two sets of double-stacked cars and built some momentum. Her jump went flat over the leveled-out car-van set, but went to try and make up for it on the far pyramid. Madusa did not get a real good run at it and the rear tires clipped the top of the stack sending the nose into the ground much like what happened with T-Maxx. The impact snapped the front tie-rod and Madusa was finished. Had a decent run, but the breakage bug bites yet again.
AVENGER-- Jim Koehler to the rescue! Or so we all hoped. Freestyle was on life-support and Avenger could be the cure for this plagued field. Koehler started very strong with a crazy, sideways leap over the far set of cars and immediately the run looked good. Koehler shot over the car-van set, which was now officially pathetic looking in stature. No air off that set but plenty off the near side as he attacked it from the opposite direction. Koehler went full speed into the far set of cars and unloaded a massive leap that sailed Avenger crooked to the right in the air and the truck landed with a ton of force on the right rear wheel and snapped it right off! They just cannot find bolts strong enough to keep Koehler and Bergeron's wheels on the axle and the shortcoming just killed a great looking run. Heck of a jump, bad landing for everyone.
BOUNTY HUNTER-- The reigning Monster Jam World Freestyle Champion, Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter, had a prime opportunity to show why he earned that title in Vegas. No one has been above-average and it was time for Creten to line 'em up and shoot 'em down. He made a slow parade lap all the way around the floor waiving to the fans which I thought was quite odd and USHRA officials were waiving and pointing him towards the track but he made sure to do a complete circle first. With the 360 degrees complete, Creten exploded over the center jump and his run was underway. Creten cut some quick donuts to wake us all back up and it was a smart move to include them in the run. Creten hit an excellent leap over the near set of cars and flew off the far side as well and was really starting to heat up. Another high speed hit over the center hill then back to the near side for a huge vertical hit that carried the rear tires all the way across the stack and were spiked into the edge of the last car. The impact smacked the nose of Bounty Hunter to the ground and Creten stabbed the throttle and brought the truck up into an excellent slap wheelie. Creten was going to take the lead in Freestyle, no question, and had his run in high gear as he shot back over the near cars and headed to the far pyramid. Creten never slowed down and launched off the ramp, never touching anything past the first van, landed at least 20 feet past the pyramid and rebounded the landing into another wheelie! The left rear wheel became locked up on the landing, but Creten innovated and spun Bounty Hunter into another set of donuts to cap the run. No weak spots, excellent use of the floor and smooth momentum all-around.
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BLUE THUNDER-- Farrell faltered in racing and needed to redeem himself, Blue Thunder, and make sure he did not let Jimmy Creten slip past him again. Creten beat Farrell for the Freestyle Championship by one tie-breaking point back in Vegas. Farrell could blow the roof off the Silverdome and forget Vegas even happened. However, Farrell ended up on his roof and wishing Pontiac never happened. Farrell rolled Blue Thunder out of the pits and went right for the far set of cars and blasted the truck straight up down, tilted to the left in the air, pogo'd the rear tires off the floor, which shot the nose into the ground and the back end now up into the air! Blue Thunder went up on the right front tire and the momentum carried the truck over onto its side. Sweet looking wheelie with a flop of a landing. A one hit wonder/blunder for Blue Thunder.
MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION-- Two trucks to go, Max D and Digger. The same two trucks that battled for the Freestyle title in this building last year and finished dead locked at the top with a 29. They both needed to have stellar runs to top Bounty Hunter, but also top each other. Meents started strong with a massive launch over the center jump, clearing the landing pad. He whipped the truck around to the right, but got a little too anxious and nearly rolled the truck over but rode Max D out on two wheels and made the save. Meents cleared the remains of the double-stacked cars on the far side and then blasted over the center hill again. He snapped off a small jump on the car-van set and then headed for the ominous near side pyramid. Meents smashed the gas and cleared the top of the pyramid, sailed down the back side with the finger out the window. Meents tackled the other pyramid with an even bigger jump rivaling that of Creten's. Max D took a wild bounce and was up on two wheels again but Meents brought it back down and kept motoring. He lined up the back side of the near pyramid! No one had even thought about attacking it from that way. Max D clipped the top vehicle, nose-dived into the ground and Meents hit the gas, bringing the truck up into a slap wheelie! He rode it out for several feet before nailing the brakes and skidding into the other trucks parked against the wall! I hate how Meents has made a habit of nailing trucks in the pits, no matter if its staged or accidental. Shouldn't even come close to them, period. Meents capped his run with another insane leap over the far pyramid then got out and "walked the truck" across the floor before throwing his helmet at it to "make it stop." The usual Meents-style run. Big air, good speed, and on the edge with everything.
GRAVE DIGGER-- One run to go. Grave Digger certainly was not the first monster truck to crush cars in the Silverdome, heck, Digger probably was not even within the first 30 trucks to do so. But, Dennis Anderson did create many wild moments behind the wheel of Digger in this building and was given the final chance to do it again. Anderson took his parade lap around the track to salute all the fans, at least, those whom were still in the building. The show had run over an hour long and unfortunately a lot had headed home early. Whether its for 70 or 70,000 people, Anderson was bound to put on the same type of performance. Anderson started the final 90 seconds of Pontiac history with a torrid set of donuts then took off for bigger prey. He flew Digger over the center jump but did not get the height like several other trucks had. Anderson cut a quick left and went for the car-van jump and was hard on the gas to the other end of the track. The thing that was already setting his run apart was the intense momentum he carried. He was never on the brakes and worked the throttle incredibly well. Anderson flew over the near pyramid and nosed Digger into the ground which brought the truck up into a wild wheelie. Anderson headed to the far corner where a fresh RV laid waiting for destruction! In one swift motion, Anderson lined it up and gored Grave Digger into the side of the RV, ripped the roof completely off and came blasting over the top! Awesome hit. The fiberglass body began to tear away from Digger and it all came unglued after Anderson sailed over the far set of cars. The impact of the landing jarred the entire shell loose and tore it off the truck. Only bright green tubing was left and the crowd went nuts. Anderson sped towards the end of the track and cut to the right very hard and quick in an obvious attempt to roll the truck and did so. Digger barrel rolled off the left side tires, landing hard on the top of the chassis and came to a rest facing 180 degrees the other way. The remaining crowd went nuts for the storybook Grave Digger ending. Regardless of the intentional roll, the run was the most intense of the night and was 100% momentum and control. Not the biggest jumps of the night, but definitely the run that kept everyone on the edge of their seat and wondering what was coming next. Unfortunately, after that run, there was no more "next" in the Silverdome.
...and with the last blast of fireworks, the final night in Pontiac fizzled out. So many emotions, so many thoughts and only a handful of answers. Was this a great night? In some regards, yes! Racing was excellent with high drama and some amazing moments. Well, what about Freestyle? Problematic for many reasons. The show ran long which eliminated a few trucks from even getting the opportunity to freestyle. There was not enough on the track for the driver's to go after and the structures that were out there left many trucks in pieces. Having several scary moments is not something enjoyable to watch and really took the energy out of the entire Freestyle portion.
Was this a proper send off to the Silverdome? Ehhhhh....depends who you ask. The lineup was excellent, the hype was huge, racing delivered, but everything else kind of fell flat. Too much advertising for Ford Field in March really annoyed me. Yeah, its nice to look ahead but from this fan's standpoint, the night should've been more about looking back and focusing on this night rather than brushing it off as a hurdle to get downtown.
This was only my third trip to the Silverdome and I know I'm far from those whom have seen it all and been to it all over the years in the building. Yet, myself and thousands of other fans grew up watching monster trucks and lived the history right along with everyone lucky enough to be sitting in the stands. With all those memories racing through my head, it was kind of hard to turn my back and walk out the exit.
I said some people left early, but unfortunately, not enough of them. Upon arriving in the parking lot, we were boxed in by dozens of lines of traffic all trying to squeeze out one exit. After sitting in the car to keep warm, switching exit lines at least 5 times, witnessing two fights and a guy nearly getting run over, we were finally out of the lot after an hour.
The Pontiac Silverdome came, saw and conquered the monster truck world. It became synonymous with the birthplace of the car crush. It elevated unknowns to superstars and superstars to legends. It will always reign supreme as thee place to watch monster trucks. No other facility even comes close to the nostalgia of the Silverdome, nor will one ever.
Adding to the list of history for the Silverdome, the Final Monster Jam ranks in as the 6th largest attended event only behind Wrestlemania III, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Pope, and, what else, but the 1982 USHRA Tractor Pull event that sparked a phenomenon.
Thank you for reading this final coverage ever from the Pontiac Silverdome and witnessing the final chapter of history. To the Silverdome, Thanks for the memories.