Monday, February 27, 2012

Monster Truck Madness!

Have you ever been to a monster truck rally?

Well, let me tell you. They're essentially 3 parts ridiculous, 1 part dirt, and a a healthy dose of awesome too. I got free tickets at work to go to one. I have no idea why I was chosen as the recipient of these lovely tickets, but now I am a more well rounded individual AND we got a sweet date for the low, low cost of parking and gas.

First things first: I never would have survived this thing without the earplugs they gave out to everyone. Definitely imperative. Second: did you know Nu Skin has its own suite at Energy Solutions Arena? The box seats were absolutely fantastic.

There were five events, plus two tricks by stunt people, lasting about two hours in total. (I thought it would get boring, but I was actually pretty entertained the whole time.)

Look, you can see an earplug peeking out of my ear.

The goal of the first event is to run the monster truck up on ramps made out of dirt and old cars, and get the truck as vertical as possible. Bonus points for landing on less than 4 wheels and for bouncing, careening, etc. Basically it was like watching a car trying to pop a wheelie, except they were doing it in trucks about... 12 feet tall at least. This was my second favorite event.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B. We took a lot more pictures than this, but I think this gives you a pretty good idea of how it went.

The second event was real SUVs and trucks driving on a dirt track in a figure 8; fastest time wins. I don't think we have pics of this one, since it didn't involve massive trucks bouncing around.

The first stunt person did his trick next: getting in a box filled with TNT and then having it go off. No pics of this either, but just imagine a big bang and flashing light and you get the idea.

The third event was monster truck drag racing.

Oh look, a husband! And two monster trucks finishing their very short drag race behind him.

You can see one of the trucks getting lined up at the starting line. The other one is in the lower left corner by that guy's head.

The second stunt person (it was actually a husband and wife team) was a human cannonball, which was pretty cool too. No pics of this either, given the brevity of the stunt.

The fourth event was the final round of the second event. (No pics again. Are you shocked? It just wasn't as photogenic.)

The fifth event was one minute stunt demos for each of the monster trucks. This was definitely the funnest one to watch.

By this point there was a LOT of dirt kicked up. Some of those trucks caught some serious air though.

Nobody flipped completely over, but they did get a little close once or twice.

Overall, it was pretty fun and I'm glad we went. Not my typical kind of event, but you know, it's good to get out of the box now and then.

2 comments:

  1. This looks like almost as much fun as the Kamas Demolition Derby we go to every summer . . . which yes, now that I think about it, I will sorely miss when we move.

    ReplyDelete