FANLESS

I went to the Monster Jam on Saturday night. I guess Sharon got a flat tire or something, so I got picked up a little later than planned. All was well because we had the GPS in full effect and it said we would be arriving one minute before the show was slated to start.

I don’t think the GPS accounted for all of the traffic we encountered!

While we were waiting on the Turnpike the clock struck 7:30 and the show started without us. I could see fireworks shooting out from within the stadium.

I took this picture just after the fireworks were over. We were so close, yet so far away!


I couldn’t believe how many people were going to this thing… It had been rainy and (relatively) cold all weekend and I was thinking about staying home. Not only were there this many people, but they were all late just like us!
We parked near gate D, and we walked towards gate C, looking for the will-call window. We asked a security guard where it was, and they said gate G and pointed to the left. I figured that meant that it was quicker to go past gates B and A to get to G, instead of going in sequential order. When we got go gate A I was told that no backpacks could go in, so that had to go back to the truck. Also, we could not get to gate G that way because everything past A was fenced off. We had to walk all the way back around the stadium! I found will-call and got the tickets, but when I tried to enter the stadium, one of the security people stopped me and told me that my camera couldn’t go in because it was a “pro” camera and they’re not allowed. I just walked around the corner to a different gate and walked right in. I would have been severely pissed if I had actually taken my camera back to the truck because the guy sitting right behind me also had a Digital Rebel!
By the time we got to our seats most of the first set of races were over. I had initially thought that was going to be it and I was kind of pissed because I only got to see 3 head to head races, and the races were lame because they had changed the format because the track was so muddy. Instead of doing a lap or whatever they usually do, they were just doing drag races, except instead of being side by side, they were facing each other, which seemed to make it pretty hard to tell who won. And the races were all of about 4 seconds long. I mean, the drivers would go from a dead stop, stand on the gas long enough to launch OVER the 5 cars in front of them, and then get on the binders and skid to a stop at the other end of the stadium. The are also displayed metal carports for sale inside the arena that night and we managed to buy some.
I was pretty relieved to find out that there was more than the head to head racing that night. After the preliminary races and before the final head to head race they had “Quad Wars”. I guess the muddy conditions messed that up too because they had a pretty lame relay race between “Team Georgia” and “Team Florida”. Naturally, Team Florida won, but it was a pretty close race.


After the Quad Wars they had the head to head final, which was won by Gun Slinger. (I should have made this sequence go in clockwise direction instead of left to right.)


After a brief intermission, 4 guys came out and had a freestyle motocross competition.

This guy’s sweet backflip skills gave him the win!
…and then it was time for freestyle monster truck action!

Reptile busts big and some kid makes a huge mess with his cotton candy!

Blue Thunder destroyed the boat they parked in front of us!

Grave Digger busts big!


This is how far we were from the action. I think my zoom lens does a pretty good job. I just wish I had a 300 or 400mm lens too!

…and the the crown favorite, El Toro Loco came out and dod a huge wheelstand on the far side! (I probably shouldn’t have tried to combine these 2 pics.)



El Toro Loco pretty much did a back flip, but it wasn’t enough to take the win away from Blue Thunder! (at least I think Blue Thunder won.)
the end.
Oh, P.S.: Here are 312 pictures from the event!