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Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:37 am

Bought tickets to a Feb event in MA. Never been, always said I wanted to go, will go with my almost-16 yr old son and a baggie of earplugs.

We have watched the competitions on TV, but are not sure what to expect. Its at the DCU center in Worcester MA, and I don't think the "arena" is much bigger than a basketball court. I'm sure there is no real oval type "racing"?

Anyway, anyone been to one of these? Tickets weren't much, we got good seats. Wife and Daughter and girl scouts are going to see "High School Musical on Ice" that night, so I thought my son and I might go do something manly.....

Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:49 am

I've taken my son to Monster Jam the last two years. He was 3, 4 and if we make it this year he'll be 5. We go to the Philly Spectrum which is where the Sixers and Flyers use to play.

First year we sat up top and last year I thought it would be better to buck up and get better seats.... but truth be told, the stadium is just to small. The trucks have the ability to get on it for 2 seconds then they need to grab some serious brakes.

It's loud, dusty and your eyes will burn from the nitro. (I was expecting that and it didn't bother me, I just wish that the stadium was bigger.

Anyway, the commercials are going to start airing in Philly pretty soon and I have been trying to figure out how to get around going for the third year in a row.

It's cool to see once. If I have to go this year, and I probably will, it will be under protest.

Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:42 am

heres the deal with these things. i have been going to these such events since the early 80's and the advent of bigfoot. this was when they would advertise them as "tractor pulls" with the highlight being bigfoot.... a lifted F-250 that would come out and roll over maybe 4 cars. he would stop on top and a friggin ZILLION flashbulbs would go off. i was prolly 6 or 7 y.o. when my dad took me to my first at madison square garden. we actually "bumped into" mr bob chandler and his bigfoot team outside on the street where bob autographed my bigfoot poster. god i wish i still had that shit!!!!
and since then i have gone pretty much every year with my dad, then my then girlfriend and now my wife. fortunately for me she likes big loud ear shredding horsepower like me!! earplugs are for sissys!
unfortunately, these days. i go to nassau colliseum to see the monster jam, which is where the islanders play and it basically is only slightly larger than a hockey rink. its sorta lame actually. the best part is when they do their freestyle and flip themselves over. i shouldnt really say its lame..... if your gonna go with your son, thats awesome as i will do the same one day!! you will just wish you were down south somewhere at a county fair when you see how briefly they get to stomp on the throttle. i doubt i will be attending this year but you can see how my childhood has reared its awesome head again!!!!!
enjoy!

Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:44 am

OG-FOOT

Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:49 am

look what im gonna bid on now.
when i was in elementary skool, there were at least a dozen of us that had this toy!! awesome!

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-BIGFOOT-MONSTER-TRUCK-...dZViewItem

Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:09 pm

I just went Jan 19th here in Tampa. Thy use the Buccaneers stadium here but they still race the same way as indoors (hard on the gas for a short burst and then twice as hard on the breaks). It poured for our show and the trucks could barely steer but I would go again in a heartbeat.

Personally, I'd like to see them go old school and take it back to the county fairs, etc.....but I don't see that happening. Take your kid, buy him a shirt and have a good time but leave the earplugs, hearing is half the fun!!!

Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:11 pm

Stevie Fierce wrote: heres the deal with these things. i have been going to these such events since the early 80's and the advent of bigfoot. this was when they would advertise them as "tractor pulls" with the highlight being bigfoot.... a lifted F-250 that would come out and roll over maybe 4 cars. he would stop on top and a friggin ZILLION flashbulbs would go off.

ahhh the good ole' days. back when ya could see art arfons green monster tractor yank a sled down the first base line and then watch jim kramer crush cars in bigfoot. i miss those days.

Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:43 pm

The local shows are OK, but if you want the Real deal then you need to go to Vegas for the Monster Jam World Finals.The trucks get Crazy.I have been many times and my son loves it.Last year there was something like 30 trucks at the pit party and 24 competing.Wherever you go, have a good time.

Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:56 pm

They are in Spokane Feb 15-17. I'm taking the kids for the 4th or 5th time, and the wife is coming for the 2nd time in the Areana (she actually bought me tickets for an outdoor show at Joe Albi Stadium way back when we started dating). Our areana is too small for the trucks to do too much, the freestyle is usually pretty good. Might go to the Vegas show with my brother, looks pretty crazy on TV.

Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:53 am

Stevie Fierce wrote: look what im gonna bid on now.
when i was in elementary skool, there were at least a dozen of us that had this toy!! awesome!

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-BIGFOOT-MONSTER-TRUCK-...dZViewItem

holy shit! I remember that! I had one of those!

Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:33 am

baja5 wrote: The local shows are OK, but if you want the Real deal then you need to go to Vegas for the Monster Jam World Finals.The trucks get Crazy.I have been many times and my son loves it.Last year there was something like 30 trucks at the pit party and 24 competing.Wherever you go, have a good time.

We watched that one Speed a couple times. Pretty neat. After one freestyle/race sequence, there was not one driveable truck....

Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:59 am

67inthesouth wrote:

Personally, I'd like to see them go old school and take it back to the county fairs, etc.....but I don't see that happening. Take your kid, buy him a shirt and have a good time but leave the earplugs, hearing is half the fun!!!

ahh, but they do! in monster jam, most of the trucks are owned by the same company, clear channel. a couple are independent like digger, max destruction and prowler, but not many, and these independents do run at events other than 'Monster Jam".

bigfoot, monster patrol and others are in another league. open to any of them incuding the monster jam trucks. but monster jams are closed to those other trucks. something to do with a falling out between the igfoor guys and the people putting the monster jams (not sure if it was always clear channel).

there is an annual show here in pa that blows monster jam away. a state fair type like you mention. HUGE outdoor area where they can run like they should. they also have monster truck rdes , where 20 people fit nto a modified truck and run the course , slowly. still cool though. they have mud bog races, run what you brought in the dirt and mud- on the same course the big boys use! it's up in north central pa. 4x4 jamboree or something. i'll have to get the name of it and add it here later because it escapes me at the moment.

but if you are going to monster jam, be sure to get your tickets to the first show on sunday. they have a free 'pit pass' an hour before the show. go down and see the trucks and talk to the drivers, take pics,etc.

i have to say, as a sport , those guys/girls are great. will stand for hours talking to fans and taking pictures. and you have to respect any promoter that starts EVERY show thanking our military members past and present for "making this possible".

Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:37 am

VOODOOKING wrote: Stevie Fierce wrote: look what im gonna bid on now.
when i was in elementary skool, there were at least a dozen of us that had this toy!! awesome!

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-BIGFOOT-MONSTER-TRUCK-...dZViewItem

holy shit! I remember that! I had one of those!

thats what im talking about!!!!

Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:22 pm

82 bucks!

DAMN!

Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:19 pm

Went to the "Jam" tonight. Great show, I'd recommend it to anyone with testicles. My son loved it.

What made it all worthwhile was early on, in the "wheelie" competition, El Toro Loco almost flipped backward then came to rest upright. Every one held their breath, the driver stayed in the truck, and they brought out a front end loaded to nudge him back over.

Apparently the show operator shut the truck down (they can do that wirelessly). The driver later said he thought he could have reversed out of it.... but they shut it down on him...

Good show, freestyle motocross jumping, quad races, truck freestyle (Toro loco was the only one who rolled his truck in the freestyle too, pic below). Good entertainment for $30 ticket...

Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:04 am

We went last night as well, only the Spokane show. It was ok, last year was better. Then again Friday isn't the best night to go.

Our show had the big trucks, Pro Truck racing and a couple Free Style Moto X guys. The El Toro Loco truck at your show looks just like the Bulldozer truck we had at our show.

Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:37 am

Teeroy wrote: We went last night as well, only the Spokane show. It was ok, last year was better. Then again Friday isn't the best night to go.

Our show had the big trucks, Pro Truck racing and a couple Free Style Moto X guys. The El Toro Loco truck at your show looks just like the Bulldozer truck we had at our show.

I figured Fri night probably wasn't the best night, but schedule-wise it worked out for us. I noticed the guys who came out first were a little "gentle" on the trucks, so it was really cool that El Toro Loco did that tailstand right off.

BTW, we brought foam earplugs and put them in when the trucks first came out and used them for most of the show. But it was just kind of weird that you really couldn't hear the roar of the engines and crowd that well. So with 2 trucks left in the freestyle comp, I took mine out. I felt like I was missing something...

That noise is definitely part of the experience.

Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:10 pm

We usually go on SAT, but we needed to finish some errands and pack today, and we have an early flight tomorrow!

Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:47 pm

I went to see the tnt series monster trucks in 1990 when I was 8 years old. Back in third grade, monster trucks were our life! They raced at Stafford Springs Connecticut and it was two sets of cars about 300 feet long. Still have the home movie!