Come funziona Monster Jam

Monster Jam è emerso dalla tendenza degli anni '70 dei monster truck modificati e Bigfoot era la star. Nel 1981, un video di Bigfoot che schiaccia macchine attirò l'attenzione di un promotore, portando ai primi spettacoli ufficiali di monster truck in occasione di eventi di traino di trattori nelle arene. Questi eventi hanno ispirato altri camion a partecipare, il che ha contribuito a far crescere lo sport. Nel 1995, la Hot Rod Association degli Stati Uniti ha creato Monster Jam e il suo operatore, Feld Entertainment, ha aiutato Monster Jam a trasformarsi in un evento fiorente, internazionale e adatto alle famiglie [fonte: Moran ].

A differenza di altri sport motoristici, comprese le serie di corse tradizionali e il motocross, Monster Jam è unico in quanto offre ai fan un livello senza precedenti di accesso agli atleti di punta dell'organizzazione e, cosa più importante, ai camion, che sono probabilmente le stelle dello spettacolo. Questa cultura guidata dai fan è la chiave per la crescita significativa del campionato, che ora include 350 eventi all'anno in 30 paesi. Più tour si stanno verificando in tutto il mondo in un dato momento [fonte: Feld ].

Nel 2012, Feld Entertainment, la società che gestisce Monster Jam, ha preso una grande iniziativa verso l'espansione internazionale. Ha avuto un anno da record nel 2017, con eventi Monster Jam tenuti per la prima volta in Arabia Saudita, Argentina, Singapore e Cina.

Ma torniamo a Las Vegas, dove ho avuto uno sguardo dietro le quinte dell'evento delle finali mondiali e di tutto ciò che fa correre Monster Jam. Le finali mondiali sono un evento annuale di due giorni che è stato ripetutamente descritto nel corso del fine settimana da diversi rappresentanti di Monster Jam, come "caos controllato". Il Day 1 prevede in genere le finali della serie di corse, mentre il Day 2 include i piloti Monster Jam che tirano fuori i loro migliori trick per impressionare la folla durante la competizione di freestyle. (Maggiori informazioni su entrambe queste competizioni più avanti.)

Mentre i fan sono estasiati, centinaia di dipendenti di Monster Jam controllano la sicurezza dei conducenti, coreografano l'ingresso ai box caldi (dove vengono allestiti 47 camion tra i round con due camion che entrano ed escono in ogni momento), si occupano dei camion rotti su- e fuori pista, e assicurati che tutti i presenti si divertano.

Continua a leggere per saperne di più sulle piste, i box, i piloti, i camion e la cultura dei fan rabbiosi che fa andare avanti Monster Jam.

È totalmente adatto alle famiglie

Sebbene i camion Monster Jam non scendano ai box fino al tramonto, la natura adatta alle famiglie dell'evento delle finali mondiali lo rende una stravaganza di un'intera giornata per molti fan. I bambini possono mettersi in fila per chattare con il loro camionista preferito, dare un'occhiata più da vicino ai camion e imparare a guidare una moto da cross o un ATV. Gli adulti possono viaggiare sul retro di camion progettati specificamente per i passeggeri o gareggiare con auto telecomandate su un modello in scala di una pista ufficiale di Monster Jam.

Contenuti

1. Incontra alcuni piloti di Monster Jam
2. Monster Jam Trucks
3. Ai Pozzi
4. Eventi Monster Jam
5. Costruire le tracce
6. Fan e cultura di Monster Jam
7. L'eco-futuro di Monster Jam

Allora, vuoi essere la prossima star di Monster Jam? Non è così facile come pensi. Abbiamo avuto la possibilità di parlare con alcuni piloti – un relativamente nuovo arrivato e un veterano – che erano felici di parlare della vita al volante.

Brianna Mahon è stata nominata Rookie of the Year 2015 da Monster Jam. È venuta alla Monster Jam dopo che la sua carriera professionale nel motocross è stata interrotta a causa di un infortunio. Mahon guida Whiplash, un nuovo camion della gamma Monster Jam, ed è un ottimo esempio di come le personalità dei conducenti vengono giocate, ma non artificialmente. Da figlia unica, dice di aver interpretato il ruolo sia della "principessa che del maschiaccio" crescendo, ed entrambi questi aspetti della sua personalità sono evidenti nel suo brillante camioncino in stile western a tema verde acqua.

Niente di Monster Jam è sceneggiato, dice Mahon. Le competizioni sono reali e le donne sono trattate allo stesso livello degli uomini. Dice che è un nuovo cambio di ritmo rispetto al motocross, che era meno amichevole con le donne, sia dentro che fuori dal campo.

"Ci vogliono qui. Vogliono che competiamo l'uno con l'altro", dice Mahon. "Ogni anno battiamo più record con le donne".

Attualmente sono 14 le donne sul circuito Monster Jam (sono 83 in totale) e il trend non mostra segni di rallentamento. "È davvero eccitante vedere come [la folla] si eccita all'idea che ci sia una ragazza alla guida", dice Mahon.

Tom Meents è un altro pilota popolare che è stato con Monster Jam per 25 anni. È meglio conosciuto come il pilota di Maximum Destruction e il vincitore di 11 finali mondiali di Monster Jam. Meents ha recentemente assunto il ruolo di capo della Monster Jam University, che ha sede nell'Illinois centrale, e funge da luogo in cui Monster Jam può valutare e testare nuovi talenti.

Secondo Meents, gli "studenti" che vogliono frequentare la Monster Jam University dovrebbero aspettarsi almeno:

Durante l'allenamento, i conducenti guardano video per mostrare cosa hanno fatto bene e cosa sbagliata. Meents spiega che una settimana di allenamento equivale a tre anni di guida negli eventi. Finora, la Monster Jam University ha testato 130 candidati: 77 hanno completato la formazione fino ad oggi. Di questi, circa 32 hanno ottenuto un lavoro con Monster Jam.

Before Feld Motor Sports acquired Monster Jam, there was no formal training program. The Monster Jam University basic course emphasizes safety and lets drivers get familiar with both stadium-style tracks and arena-style tracks. Drivers train in the exact conditions of an event, in trucks with the same specifications.

Monster Jam does not have an official license, but since the program has been implemented, new drivers cannot join Monster Jam without completing it. Even Meents' own two sons have completed the program.

"It's really exciting for me to help train the youth and help them develop into the stars they are," Meents says.

Independent Drivers

Circa il 30 percento dei camion Monster Jam sono considerati "indipendenti" e quei team non sono dipendenti Monster Jam. Poiché Monster Jam si è espanso così rapidamente, vengono assunti team indipendenti per aiutare a compilare l'elenco del tour in diversi mercati. Sebbene i camion Monster Jam ufficiali siano progettati, costruiti e mantenuti da Feld Motor Sports, questi conducenti "freelance" sono responsabili dei propri camion, che non devono essere conformi agli standard ufficiali di Monster Jam ma di solito lo fanno. Costruire un camion indipendente secondo le specifiche ufficiali offre al conducente e all'equipaggio l'accesso alle risorse ufficiali di Monster Jam se hanno bisogno di una parte di emergenza o di qualche altra forma di assistenza durante un evento [fonte: Dalsing ].

Fans of Monster Truck Jam might know trucks based on their designs and personalities, but there's a lot more to these 12,000-pound (5,443 kilogram) behemoths. Take a look at these specs and facts:

Trucks

Engines

Tires

For all the money, labor and trivia surrounding a Monster Jam truck, the inside is relatively simple. Most trucks require the drivers to climb under the body panels and up the frame to access the cockpits. It's a tight fit, so the steering wheel has a quick release feature to give the drivers a little more room [source: Dalsing ].

The seats are center-mounted in the cockpits, custom fitted for each driver, and use five-point racing harnesses to keep the drivers firmly in place during stunts and crashes. From the seats, drivers can see the track looking straight ahead or down at the ground (the bottom of the cockpit is open but fitted with plexiglass for protection). The trucks' gas and brake pedals are normal, if a little oversized. The gearshifts for the two-speed automatic transmissions are floor mounted and hard to see, so drivers need to learn to shift by feel.

The instrument panels include oil pressure, temperature and voltage gauges, and power and fuel kill switches. Track safety personnel also can kill the power and fuel remotely. Three fire extinguishers are onboard each truck, one in the cab and two aimed at the engine, which can be activated by switch. And finally, trucks can be steered from the front and the back to enable different stunts.

Like many other types of car races , Monster Jam includes a series of pits. The hot pit is where trucks wait during events. The cold pit is where trucks are repaired and maintained, and both are sights to behold. Only drivers and crew are allowed in the hot pit for safety reasons, but got a peek at the cold pit in Las Vegas, which housed trailers, crew and supplies for 83 trucks.

The meticulously organized parts tent in the cold pit is estimated to store a million dollars' worth of custom-made parts, including wheels, tires, motors, frames and plexiglass to be custom-cut into new windshields [source: Dalsing]. It's not unusual to turn a corner and find a pile of stray body parts, like Zombie's arms, Megalodon's fins or Maximum Destruction's spikes.

Also in the cold pit, truck maintenance is always underway. 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. Even though the trucks all look different, they are based on the same parts, which helps simplify maintenance.

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. That is why everything in the fleet is uniform and interchangeable, enabling the maintenance teams to get it down to a science Dalsing]. 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. Team members say that small parts are the most commonly replaced. Unusable or unrepairable parts are recycled, given to charity, given to sponsors or sold.

The basic truck design does evolve from time to time. As stunts get more daring, truck components sometimes get redesigned to help drivers better perform while staying safe. The United States National Hot Rod Association is the sanctioning body for Monster Jam safety, and when regulations change, Monster Jam can make adjustments quickly [source: Easterly ].

Monster Jam events typically take two forms, racing and freestyle. The World Finals event incorporates both. During the 2018 World Finals, the racing finals took place on Friday and the freestyle event took place on Saturday.

Racing is bracket-style and takes place on a symmetrical dirt track . The two drivers are positioned in the "Thunder Alley" staging area and take off on a light. The first truck to complete the course wins and proceeds to the next bracket. Trucks that false-start (by taking off before the light) or that break down on the course automatically lose.

Stunts are counterproductive during racing, but the tracks generally require drivers to complete at least one jump, so fans still get to see plenty of crashes and destruction. Photo finishes are common in the racing events, and the track is equipped with the same cameras used for photo finishes in the Olympics.

Freestyle events provide a different kind of excitement on a track with more obstacles. As long as drivers adhere to safety guidelines, they're encouraged to excite the crowd in any way they can. The winner of the freestyle event is actually determined by the fans. After each two-minute run, the audience has 20 seconds to log onto a website via smartphone and score the run on a scale of one to 10.

"Freestyle is two minutes of do whatever you want. There are no rules," says Tyler Menninga, one of the drivers of Grave Digger and the winner of the 2018 Freestyle of the Year Competition. "Anyone can win here."

Stunts have come a long way, especially in the last few years. Drivers say they are always watching each other and are in awe seeing their colleagues do things that they didn't think were possible. Like the nose wheelie, which involves balancing the truck's 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms) perfectly on the front end while shifting from forward to reverse. Drivers say that, during a nose wheelie , they can't see anything except the dirt, and they have to shift by feel since they can't see the shifter. "When I started in '93, I never thought we'd be doing stunts like this," Meents says.

Whiplash driver Mahon says another popular trick, the back flip, is "a whole lot of luck and hitting [the ramp] just right. I kind of shut my brain off. I just kind of do; I don't really think about it."

Drivers say that they generally plan a few stunts before their run, but usually have to improvise because they don't always go as planned. Staying calm is the key.

"You may plan a couple things, but if you get off track it's hard," Grave Digger's Menninga says. "If you think, it's already too late."

"Every show is different and you can do the same jump six times in a row and every time you land differently," says Todd Leduc, who drives Monster Energy. "It's a lot of just waiting on the truck to settle."

Long after the fans have gone home, Monster Jam crews are wide awake and at work. For a two-day event, the tracks are constructed, torn down and rebuilt into totally new tracks overnight. The first day's track is set up to make it easier to switch out to second day's track. Different types of dirt and track designs are tested and evolved at Monster Jam University, which helps give the track team a fresh track design in every city the tour visits.

Here are some quick track facts from senior director of track construction, Dan Allen:

Senior director of track construction Allen says he prefers to hire former motorsports racers for his crew, particularly those who have designed and built their own practice tracks. He says that people who are experienced in the industry "can literally feel" how a track should be built and can do it fairly quickly.

It takes a lot of experience to get the dirt just right. It can't be too sandy or the trucks will send dirt flying everywhere. Too hard, and the track will be too slippery. Too soft, and the trucks will dig through it too quickly. To get the track just right, the crew travels every inch of the track with the industrial-size equivalent of a stand mixer, and add a silica flake mix that helps bond the dirt together [source: Allen ].

Logistics are an ongoing challenge in track construction, especially when Monster Jam adds a new city to the tour. Some cities have made it a little easier. For example, the city of Las Vegas gave Monster Jam a couple acres to retrieve dirt. In Anaheim, California, Monster Jam bought a place to store dirt on the stadium's property between events, which took up 200 parking spots. They fenced in this area, and stadium employees had to park on top of it. If you visit the stadium in Tampa, you might be parking on Monster Jam's dirt, which is stored in a giant hole and covered in sod [source: Allen ].

Let's take a look at the Monster Jam fanbase that keeps the machine running. Monster Jam takes pride in the fact that it has fans of all ages and it continues to attract a pretty diverse crowd. A fair number of adults show up to Monster Jam events without a kid in tow, but children do make up a significant part of the audience. The family-friendly atmosphere is key to Monster Jam's growth and success, and Monster Jam is pretty shrewd about its strategy.

Monster Jam told us that the fanbase is split about 50/50 between men and women, which they say is because of how they embrace female drivers. It's pretty rare to see female drivers and athletes competing in motorsports at the same level as the men. Usually, female race car drivers or motocross riders are in a separate series, but in Monster Jam, women go head to head with men in the same trucks [source: Mahon ].

Women are included on every single Monster Jam tour, too. Since Monster Jam is more of a mental sport than a physical one, there is no reason to separate the drivers by sex. Endurance and strength play a role in a driver's abilities, but unlike most sports or competitive events, men do not have a significant advantage over women. In short, it's the same contest taking place on the exact same playing field.

International expansion also gets some of the credit for Monster Jam's diversity on the track. Monster Jam says that in the past few years, it's concentrated its efforts in expanding abroad, and as it better represents the diversity of its fans, that will, in turn, reach new and more diverse audiences. There are separate Monster Jam tours that cover Latin America, Europe and Africa, and Asia Pacific [source: Feld ]. An audience member may not be able to understand the language spoken by the commentator, but he or she will still feel the thrill of the starts, finishes, jumps and tricks.

Mega Merchandising

Monster Jam also supports fans' appetite for monster truck culture, and rakes in big profits in the process. Many companies like Mattel, Walmart and SpinMaster have teamed up with Monster Jam to brand everything from 24-volt ride-on trucks to wind chimes (yes, wind chimes!) [source: Bialosky ].

Monster Jam is eager to continue growing by reaching new audiences and embracing changes to truck technology that will help make the sport become more sustainable.

It should be no surprise that Monster Jam is experimenting with diesel engines , even though the process is taking longer than planned. Diesel fuel has the advantage of burning more efficiently than methanol (even though it has fallen largely out of favor in consumer vehicles) and it provides an experience similar to what the drivers are already used to [source: Easterly ].

Monster Jam says that it can manage diesel's telltale smokiness, which is a concern during indoor performances, and even though diesel engines tend to lag a little on takeoff, that won't really affect the fans' experience. Todd LeDuc, driver of Mutant, says he's open to the switch to diesel if it improves the sport. Other drivers are more enthusiastic.

"I'm excited for it," says Mahon, driver of Whiplash. "I drive a diesel back home so that's my thing."

Electric technology will take a little longer, but is still very much in the cards. Bill Easterly, vice president of operations at Feld Motor Sports, says that Monster Jam has already talked to electric vehicle experts about the next generation of monster trucks.

"We know we have to make the adjustments so any of that is possible," he says. "It's not hard at all. We know it can be done."

Though the timeframe for EV rollout is uncertain, this initiative is largely underway due to Monster Jam's recent international expansion. The company wants to improve its green footprint and run its substantial fleet of vehicles more efficiently, but the plan is now gaining more traction in part because Monster Jam's international markets (the fans as well as the infrastructure that supports Monster Jam) want to know about green initiatives. In other words, if and when Monster Jam goes green, it'll be in response to fan demand [source: Easterly ].

Author's Note: How Monster Jam Works

I've attended a few press junkets for car previews and reviews over the course of my career, but nothing quite like this, until now. When the invitation came in, I was initially skeptical that it would take a full weekend to become immersed in Monster Jam culture, but I was game. As it turns out, every moment, from the exclusive track access to the Q&A sessions to my few precious minutes sitting in the Scooby-Doo truck, I learned something new that I couldn't wait to share with readers. As a standard disclaimer for this type of thing, my behind-the-scenes access to Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas, including flight and accommodations, was arranged and provided by Monster Jam's public relations team (which happens to consist of some of the funniest women I have ever met).

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