Phoenix monster jam

[dgeko87]

Phew what a night. just making it back home.
Lineup changed a little at the event, no Obsession or Airborn ranger. Replaced by Bulldozer & McGruff

Semi Finals
Blue Thunder (Krmel) falls to Curse (Blackwell) who was a fast loser
Max D (Meents) defeats Digger (Anderson)

Finals
Max D takes the win over Curse which i believe is the first time they have raced since the world finals.



Digger won freestyle. Best run of the night by far but every driver laid down a great fs including an awesome roll save by Balhan

It was also noted that it would be aired on speed at a later date

[MasterofTame]

Phew what a night. just making it back home.
Lineup changed a little at the event, no Obsession or Airborn ranger. Replaced by Bulldozer & McGruff

Semi Finals
Blue Thunder (Krmel) falls to Curse (Blackwell) who was a fast loser
Max D (Meents) defeats Digger (Anderson)

Finals
Max D takes the win over Curse which i believe is the first time they have raced since the world finals.



Digger won freestyle. Best run of the night by far but every driver laid down a great fs including an awesome roll save by Balhan

It was also noted that it would be aired on speed at a later date


Yeah it was an amazing show. It seemed like the experiment of summer stadium shows worked out. Here's some of the things that I noticed.

Besides a Bulldozer and McGruff, this was one of the best line-ups I've seen for an event besides Monster Wars. The line up was: Frank Krmel in (Built Ford Tough) Blue Thunder (was his first night in the truck according to the track announcer and if not, don't blame it on me saying it was), Kevin Lewis in Bulldozer, Alex Blackwell in Captain's Curse, George Balhan in (An) Escalade, Daron Basl in El Matador, Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger, David Smith in King Krunch, Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction, Rod Wood in McGruff, Dan Rodoni in The Patriot, Chad Fortune in Superman and Andrew Peckham in Tropical Thunder. For most of the trucks, it was a first time seeing a lot of the trucks and I'm quickly changing my favorite trucks.

It was surprisingly good racing for a bad style of track in stadiums. They ran a Chicago style course. The main thing was the course was making quite a few trucks loose to the far lane for TV. Strangely, King Krunch was the only victim of the racing breaking his rear axel but was able to run in freestyle. For freestyle it was a little different, there was no big air jumps just two delivery trucks stacks, a van stack, a bus stack, two moguls that were alright for slap wheelies and the crush cars for the Chicago course. It may not sound like a lot but it ended up working out pretty darn good.

The freestyles were all typical television quality, minus breaks which is expected. Noticeably El Matador busted his sway-bar and Bulldozer broke another front-tire. On a side-note I swear, Bulldozer breaks his tires the most out of any truck. I will not be surprised at all to see Balhan or Krmel win a freestyle championship in the next five years, provided they stay in the sport. They really showed why they are contracted by Feld to drive their trucks.

I think it may be shown for Speed not as a full race but perhaps a clip on another Monster Jam show. It didn't seem like a full production crew was at the University of Phoenix Stadium like there would be for say a Reliant Stadium show or a Metrodome show. Then again, this was my first Monster Jam "tapping" so I have nothing to compare it to on the monster truck broadcast side.

While waiting in the autograph line at the end (which was long to say the least), I did hear that Captains Curse is an entirely new chassis after the brutal wreck in Vegas this past March. I am not surprised as it was a pretty violent wreck and from the account of my brother, he was surprised the truck didn't fall apart.

Overall, I do hope they slowly add on to the summer stadium shows but I do think USHRA should continue the Summer Heat series of races as well. I would go to the outdoor shows if USHRA found a suitable place in Arizona to run them.but until then I will settle for January shows in Chase Field and Summer shows (hopefully) in University of Phoenix Stadium.

[chad4208]

im not trying to be an *** here...im just trying to gather information on what they are doing so i know what to expect from there shows at this point. im not going to throw a public complaint. i just want a couple straight answers.

1.balhan roll save....you mean you roll completely over and came back on all 4's? did he continue?

2. bulldozer broke a wheel off or blew a tire? did he keep going?

3. el matador broke a sway bar? please dont tell me they shut him off for that. well if they did tell me but ya know... refer to first 3 sentences. thank you

[Jason Twite]

I saw a clip on YouTube of the intros and I swear the place was only 40% full. Very odd for a stadium show, but maybe date/weather/location played a factor in that.

[MichiganMonstersElliott]

first off, matatdor broke a steering cylinder off at the knuckle .bulldozer broke a wheel off and did not continue.

[sotajjj]

I saw a clip on YouTube of the intros and I swear the place was only 40% full. Very odd for a stadium show, but maybe date/weather/location played a factor in that.

For sure the Weather "110 degree's outside " Didn't help.

I think the 2 previous (Disappionting) shows held at "UPSIG":D
was also a Major Factor , I heard they didn't even sell out the
lower section.:(

But then again It's Phoenix
A town well known for it's lack of Fan/Crowd support !

Until you Start winning , Then They come out of
the Woodwork as lifetime fans.:eek: ie CARDS FAns

Off the Rant

IT Was One Great Show

[AlHouseProductions]

well i'm glad mj is holding two big events in phoenix a year now (assuming they continue in the University of Phoenix Stadium) ..cuz i'll be moving to Phoenix in less than 6 weeks from today! :D

[MasterofTame]

To clarify and respond to some points and questions stated after my notes.

The Escalde roll was a typical you roll on your side, roll through and wait for a check by a track offical.

If Matador did break the knuckle, he also broke the sway-bar. The entire passenger-side was lower than what would be the driver-side. Bulldozer looked like Equalizer back he busted his front-end at Roanoke in 1990.

The weather wasn't a true factor to me. Once I was home from a failed attempt to be a part of the Alumni Summer Program in Walt Disney World, and knew it was Meents and Dennis coming. However you are talking about someone who has seen monster trucks since he was in diapers and was going to his 16th show.

The main thing with the Phoenix fan-base is the fact that most people who move here are either retired or transplants like myself. I truly think this is not a point. I think the bigger thing is you try going to a big 70,000 seated venue for a stadium show during summer. Personally, the arena filled was not anywhere new, the previous Thunder Drag from 2007 was worse and that was in September. This was because you had only the sideline seats available and not into the goal-side that is not the Red Zone (the side with the windows for those of you not entirely familar with the stadium.)

Welcome to the Phoenix area AlHouse. We got SuperCross coming on January 18th, Monster Jam at Chase Field in January, The Monster Nationals at Firebird Raceway in late April and HOPEFULLY Monster Jam at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Off-topic: Since I moved to Phoenix I've rooted for the Cards and will only cheer for the Colts when I see that game because I love the Colts. Yes, I was disgusted with all the front-runners of the Cards from being the NFC Champions this past year.

[The Mad Scientist]

[QUOTE=MasterofTame;159679]To clarify and respond to some points and questions stated after my notes.



The main thing with the Phoenix fan-base is the fact that most people who move here are either retired or transplants like myself. I truly think this is not a point. I think the bigger thing is you try going to a big 70,000 seated venue for a stadium show during summer. Personally, the arena filled was not anywhere new, the previous Thunder Drag from 2007 was worse and that was in September. This was because you had only the sideline seats available and not into the goal-side that is not the Red Zone (the side with the windows for those of you not entirely familar with the stadium.)

Welcome to the Phoenix area AlHouse. We got SuperCross coming on January 18th, Monster Jam at Chase Field in January, The Monster Nationals at Firebird Raceway in late April and HOPEFULLY Monster Jam at University of Phoenix Stadium.

To clarify what you just said above, Monster Jam at Chase Field this past January Sold Out and Chase Field holds at least 56,000 people!! so phoenix has potential Monster Jam sell out hands down. I think it has to with location, as where Chase Field is the center of Phoenix and University of Phoenix Stadium is way out west in Glendale.

[carcrusher]

they used to pack over 50,000 people in 3-rivers stadium for the steel city monster jam in '96 and '97, so i doubt any other place should have a problem if it's promoted well . . . . . of course being the city of champions, pittsburgh is way better than anywhere else anyway :-P

[Jason Twite]

yeah definitely wasn't singling Feld out for not selling the place out. Every other event there has been less than capacity attendance by a wide margin. Feld's track record of selling out 60k seat venues is a heck of a bar they've set. Maybe they were happy with the attendance for a first-time venue. Its just a stark contrast from their usual.

[Cale Putnam]

Where Glendale is in relation to the rest of the metro Phoenix area apparently plays a large role in attendance at events, at least if you listen to people who claim that's why they don't go to Coyotes games. I don't get that, but that's what's being said with the team's bankrupcy, and it might apply here.

[bountyhunterfan]

As a person that lives in Phoenix and attended last nights show I was very disappointed with the attendance. It was hot and Glendale is far. I live in East Mesa and it took about an hour or so to get to the stadium. The show itself was the best in Phoenix by FAR!!!! In Feld ever gets a chance to move the winter show to U of P stadium it will sell out!

[MasterofTame]

Where Glendale is in relation to the rest of the metro Phoenix area apparently plays a large role in attendance at events, at least if you listen to people who claim that's why they don't go to Coyotes games. I don't get that, but that's what's being said with the team's bankrupcy, and it might apply here.

Glendale is about 10/20 minutes away from Phoenix and the West Gate Complex, University of Phoenix Stadium and Jobbing.com Arena are about 25 miles from downtown. Yes the executive boxes are a big draw BUT the bigger problem for the Coyotes is the fact there is no loyalty as was mentioned in previous posts. Too many of the valley are transplants whom have loyalty to the away teams.


As a person that lives in Phoenix and attended last nights show I was very disappointed with the attendance. It was hot and Glendale is far. I live in East Mesa and it took about an hour or so to get to the stadium. The show itself was the best in Phoenix by FAR!!!! In Feld ever gets a chance to move the winter show to U of P stadium it will sell out!

I think that perhaps it could sell better in the winter BUT you need to deal with possible playoff games so it's a catch-22. In January you have no baseball games which is why it is in Chase and not University of Phoenix. As for the distance, I have the like-wise. It is 30/40 minutes to UoP Stadium and an hour to Chase Field.

[chad4208]

To clarify and respond to some points and questions stated after my notes.

The Escalde roll was a typical you roll on your side, roll through and wait for a check by a track offical.

If Matador did break the knuckle, he also broke the sway-bar. The entire passenger-side was lower than what would be the driver-side. Bulldozer looked like Equalizer back he busted his front-end at Roanoke in 1990.




steering cylinder....okay...just to clarify that...was he shut down...if he was, i dont see why he would be shut down for a steering issue though so am i not getting the right picture? if anybody can clarify about wether he was shut down, stopped himself...etc etc, id appreciate it
several comments i want to make... as promised...i wont...
this is cool YouTube - monster jam phoenix stadium aug 2009 helps with some stuff but not the el matador question.

anyway i apologize if anybody finds this annoying. i thank you for the help

after this i have the information i need

[MasterofTame]

steering cylinder....okay...just to clarify that...was he shut down...if he was, i dont see why he would be shut down for a steering issue though so am i not getting the right picture? if anybody can clarify about wether he was shut down, stopped himself...etc etc, id appreciate it
several comments i want to make... as promised...i wont...
this is cool YouTube - monster jam phoenix stadium aug 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aegQ0ImsUb4) helps with some stuff but not the el matador question.

anyway i apologize if anybody finds this annoying. i thank you for the help

after this i have the information i need

It could have been him shutting it off as easy as it can be an RII issue. They did not clarify at all during the show so my guess is as good as your's. Wish I can help but I can't. The show re-cap is yet to be posted on the Monster Jam website as well.

[719]

So, I got you all beat on travel distance, 6 ½ hour each way from Albuquerque. This is the closest I have been to a stadium show. Yes, I have been to the finals many times but never a regular stadium show. I figured this was close and the line up was great, so why not go.

Yes, attendance was poor. I got center stadium, 15th row seats at midnight on Friday.

I really enjoyed the show and am glad I went.

I must say every FELD event I go to I get more and more impressed with the track crew. Those guys are on top of things and don’t stop the progression of the show.

[regevig]

yea what a great show. We went 20 deep with the kids and had a great time. All the WF drivers did awesome and I was even impressed with Chad fortune. In my opinion, it was the best run i have ever seen from him. I have seen him twice at WF and once at Chase. i always judge the shows on my kids expressions and they couldn't stop smiling. We were the only people there holding up the G-R-A-V-E-D-I-G-GER SIGN. gOOD COMMENTS AND GREAT WEBSITE

Matt Regevig

[ls1monster]

steering cylinder....okay...just to clarify that...was he shut down...if he was, i dont see why he would be shut down for a steering issue though so am i not getting the right picture? if anybody can clarify about wether he was shut down, stopped himself...etc etc, id appreciate it
several comments i want to make... as promised...i wont...
this is cool YouTube - monster jam phoenix stadium aug 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aegQ0ImsUb4) helps with some stuff but not the el matador question.

anyway i apologize if anybody finds this annoying. i thank you for the help

after this i have the information i need

Cool video....I love how you're able to see how the chassis/suspension/tires work in each frame. Diggers chassis almost looks as if it bottoms out at times. Thanks for posting it.