Springfield Jamboree
Part 2

"The road to the night show..."

Now what? That pretty much summed up my feelings. Where to go, what to do, anything to kill a huge amount of time, about 4 hours to be exact. First stop was back to the monster truck pit area to yack up some more small talk with anybody that wanted to. My second to last stop was Jason Witte and in the midst of conversation I said I was going to get out of here and go to Wal-Mart to browse a while. He says, "Can you get me a hair dryer?" I was like "What?" Jason needed a hair dryer to dry out a bunch of clothes and his fire suit that were drenched only 1/2 way through the day. So I added to the shopping list and 10 minutes later I was out of the rain for a bit and headed to Wal-Mart in town.

No, no exciting pictures from Wal-Mart, sorry, I know, I know you're heart broken. The place was probably more packed than the damn grandstands at the track. Why? Because everyone was in Wal-Mart buying stuff to warm up with! I said screw the warmth, I'm going to the toy aisle. Lots of kids getting monster truck toys and I joined right in and snatched up the Van Helsing Bigfoot 1/43 Muscle Machines. After looking over every item in the aisle, I decided it was time to move on as Jason did need his precious hair dryer. I picked him out a lovely $8.99 hair dryer that came without a styling attachment. I know you wanted it Jason but I just couldn't see spending $2 more for it :-) I hit the checkout lanes and the lady asked me, "Are you over at the monster truck show?" I said "Yup and it's nasty."  She says, "I've realized that, lots of people in here buying socks, coats and blankets.....and here you are buying toys."  I just laughed; you can see where my priorities are.

With the exciting trip to Wal-Mart over, I headed back to the fairgrounds and trudged through the rain some more and gave Jason his hair dryer. With the rain still falling, the wind still blowing and no way to shoot pictures of the Show N Shine, I gave up and went to sit in the truck for a while. Seems I have impeccable timing as when I got back to where I was parked, in the small grass field next to me, two trucks were sitting there in a T-Bone position. Took me a minute to realize that this little Ford Ranger had smashed into a giant Dodge Ram dually truck. For an hour I entertained myself by yacking on the phone and laughing at this wimpy little tow truck try and pull the Ranger up the hill off the Ram. Nasty damage done to both trucks and probably more metal to metal contact than where there was in the first round of monster trucks! HA!

Time was approaching 5:00 and somehow the rain was showing signs of actually letting up. I decided to push my luck and went back inside the fairgrounds area. But of course the rain picked right back up. I stuck it out went to talk more with June hall at the merch hauler. She was bundled up in a chair with a sweatshirt, big coat, gloves and a sleeping bag and was still cold. We were discussing what the temperature was for some reason and I said about 40 probably. "Oh about 2 is my guess," June said. Either way, it sucked! I went and chilled at the Big Dawg pits and stood next to the grill to try and gain some sense of warmth ness. After about a half hour I realized, hey, did it finally stop raining? Indeed the rain had finally stopped, we couldn't believe it. I took 15 minutes or so to go snap off some Show N Shine pictures of what trucks were actually left but I screwed up those pictures so I have none to show! ARG!!! I finally decided it was time to go pick out a spot for the show as it was drawing near to 6:00. Of course had to make a stop in the nice warm tunnel first. This time I got a much better seat down by the track, as I didn't have to worry about the rain hitting the camera. Still was not a pleasant situation on the track and the nasty, slick conditions would still be in play for racing.

Racing Round 1

RAMinator vs. Predator-- Pezo came out better than expected in the first show and looked to keep some luck rolling. Meanwhile, RAMinator was looking like the underdog in this race after falters in the first show. No surprise, both trucks spin on the line and stay even as they hit the ramp but RAMinator out muscles Predator by less than 1/2 a truck to get the win. The near lane has so far been the place to be. Winner: RAMinator.

Big Dawg vs. Wild Hair-- Doug Noelke seemed to be getting a handle for the slick track in winning the first go-a-round while Witte was struggling to catch up to everybody. This time it was more of the same as Noelke looked strong in the near lane and actually managed to clear the set of cars leaving Wild Hair way behind. Winner: Big Dawg.

Bigfoot vs. Avenger-- Runte in Bigfoot has been pretty even in both lanes while the near one ate Koehler up the first time. He would get another shot in that lane here against Bigfoot and it did pay dividends with a pretty good run and jump over the cars but Avenger was not quick enough off the line and Bigfoot was able to hook up and got out ahead for the win. Winner: Bigfoot.

Racing Round 2

RAMinator vs. Big Dawg-- Hall's quick time in Round One booted Noelke from his favored near lane and his undefeated streak would be tested in the far lane. When the flag dropped Hall bolted off the line like no one has been able to yet and blasted over the cars with a great jump and easily took home the win. Big Dawg got hung up in the far lane and fell short by a truck length. Winner: RAMinator.

Wild Hair vs. Bigfoot-- Runte has been the most consistent all day and looked to get back in the Winners Circle while Jason Witte was looking to get a win period. Runte took the near lane as Wild Hair was back in as the Fast Loser from the previous round. Runte thumped Witte off the line and built speed up the ramp and flew over the cars to another win with Wild Hair left behind again. Winner: Bigfoot.

FINALS

Bigfoot vs. RAMinator-- A rivalry that has gone back and forth between team trucks and drivers over the past few years would cap off racing this day in Springfield. Bigfoot in the far lane with the quicker RAMinator in the near lane. The start is the key as we all know and so far Bigfoot has been stronger of the start but RAMinator has the top end charge to come back if needed. The flag dropped and both drivers mashed the throttles hard, tires were throwing water and smoke like crazy off the line. Neither truck seemed to have an advantage but then Bigfoot broke free at the ramp while RAMinator hydroplaned on the water and skidded off the ramp letting Bigfoot cruise to the win. Winner: Bigfoot.

Freestyle

With all the performances in the first show looking bland and nearly identical, what could be done and who would step up to change the routine? Nothing new on the track but the rock crawling/obstacle course hills had not been touched...would someone dare? Mark Hall in RAMinator would not freestyle due to damages incurred during the racing finals which caused the truck to veer off course.

Predator-- Pezo took it easy the first time out and did so again here. 3 quick jumps and that would rap it up. Two nice sky wheelies off the cars though. An all around good first day for Predator on the tour. Score: 3.

Big Dawg-- Noelke would quicken and lengthen the pace of the freestyle runs with his next showing. A good speed pass down the back set opened his run followed by a good jump on the near set. Then it was into some awesome donuts right in front of me. Water and mud still flying everywhere off the track and truck. Several more nicer jumps on the back of the near set plus some good air off the ramps. Noelke finished off with one more sky wheelie and parked it. Good run that got the crowd awake and into the action. Score: 6.

Bigfoot-- Runte's name had barely been announced when he roared Bigfoot onto the track and uncorked a huge jump off the near lane ramp that quickly got everyone's attention. Runte continued to beat up the near set with hits from both directions then found a good spot to rip off a great set of donuts. Two sweet sky wheelies followed it up to finish the run. Not very long but good. Score: 5.

Wild Hair-- Jason's hit on the pyramid in the first show I didn't think was much. But that was until all the other trucks but Avenger passed it up. That pyramid was going to score the trucks high if the driver was crazy enough to attempt it. Witte brought Wild Hair out to the playground and went right for one of the big rock piles! That put a charge into the crowd and into Jason as after getting some good air off that and making a save on the landing, he went right into some crazy donuts, spinning the truck down the track and almost into the ride truck and fence. Jason came back with a bunch of speed to the near set and hit a real nice sky wheelie, his best of the day. He went down to the end of the track built some more speed up and flew off the near set with a huge long jump where he had to skid around the barriers again. Witte wanted to go even bigger and went back to the pyramid! He still didn't hit it with too much speed but got the truck up good then hit the gas hard as the truck started slipping off the side. Witte smashed down the middle vehicle but then slipped badly off the top of the stack and threw Wild Hair up onto two wheels but Witte made an incredible save as he put the throttle to the floor and had the other wheels spinning the crazy to bring Wild Hair back down! Awesome moment and the crowd went nuts. Witte got back in the gas to keep going but did not know the sway back was broke on the rear end, he had no control of the rear wheels and the truck went right towards the other big obstacle course hill! Witte hit it hard and the truck went tumbling over on its side! Very hard hit on the concrete for Wild Hair to end the wild run and the crowd loved it. Perfect score from the judges and Jason was pumped. Score: 8.

Avenger-- If anyone could top the run by Wild Hair, this would be the truck to do it. Koehler blasted onto the track and went for the same path Witte did by launching over the rock pile to get the run started. He came back with a sweet launch on the near cars, the truck just hung in mid air before slamming back down. Koehler rocketed back down the track and was going to go big right away and went for the pyramid. He got momentum to it and flew up the side before getting tripped up by the big truck in the middle but Koehler drove the truck down and kept on going. Crowd was getting crazy already as Avenger flew over the near set once again and then turned around and went off the ramps with a good jump. Back to the pyramid for Avenger! Koehler did not let up and floored Avenger over the stack never touching the delivery truck! INSANE JUMP! Avenger slammed to the ground with incredible forced and snapped off the right rear wheel! Sparks go flying as Avenger rolls to a stop, as does the tire, and the crowd explodes. A banzai launch from Koehler and easily the biggest jump of the day gave him a tie with the freestyle judges and it's hard for me to pick a winner but that jump from Avenger sold it for me. Score 8 1/2.

WOW! What started off as a dud ended with a bang. The last two runs by Wild Hair and Avenger made it worth the trip and it was almost, not totally, but almost worth sticking it out in what was easily the WORST weather I've ever encountered for a monster truck event, WORST! Pure cold hell. Mid-way through Avenger's run, the sun managed to peek out from behind the clouds for the first time all day. Lovely timing, really.
After the show let out, I didn't want to stick around long as I was cold, wet and tired with a 3-hour drive ahead of me. I made quick rounds to pit areas saying Bye and then got out of Springfield an hour later. Yuck. What a day, what a trip and what a way to kick off the 2004 ProMT Series. Too bad this wasn't a good day for any of those. To stay up to date on the ProMT points chase, please visit Truckworld.com's Monster Truck Monthly.

Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking out the weather, oh wait, I guess that would be thanks to me :-)  C-ya next time!

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