Monster Jam

Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour and television show operated by Feld Entertainment. The series is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) and takes place primarily in the United States. Although individual event formats can vary greatly based on the "intermission" entertainment, the main attraction is always the racing and freestyle competitions by monster trucks.

Live events

McGruff the crime dog, one of the many Monster Trucks that have been around since 1970's

Monster jam shows are held throughout the whole year with more shows during the winter than the summer, and travel around the county in U.S. and Canada. Now with international tour expansion, new fans of all ages are enjoying the shows in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and soon Asia. Monster jam fans are loyal and dedicated because they enjoy access to the performers and their amazing machines. Every fan attending a Monster Jam event is given the opportunity to meet the stars of the show during the unique "Pit Party" and autograph sessions. The stars of Monster Jam will stay until the last autograph is signed, and no fan leaves unsatisfied.

At Advance Auto Parts Monster jam shows, monster trucks face off in two different forms of competition - Racing and all the best of Freestyle. In the smaller shows they have a wheelie competition and / or a donut contest or sometimes even both. The goal in the wheelie competition is to hit a ramp and get big air while remaining perpendicular to the ground. In the donut competition a driver tries to spin his truck until he/she gets dizzy, the truck can't go anymore, or they think they have a good enough score to win. Side-by-side racing is traditional bracket racing, where the first truck to cross the finish line moves onto the next round until it is eliminated or wins the racing trophy by winning the Championship race. The freestyle competition allows drivers 90 seconds plus a 30 second bonus period on an open floor to show off their skills as they drive the huge trucks over cars, and doing stunts and tricks that make these high-horsepower beasts appear to dance gracefully across the track. There are two winners from both events, however if the same person that won racing that night also won freestyle that night then they get the biggest trophy, next to the world finals trophy, the Double Down trophy, named after the Double Down activities in Las Vegas at the Monster Jam World Finals.

The tour begins in the late winter each year and ends in March with the World finals in Las Vegas every year. The tour visits almost all major cites in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Some events are on TV. However only one show has been shown Live, Atlanta 2010, all the others are recorded. Taped events are shown usually 2-3 months after it has happened. Each particular tape is shown twice a month or more on Speed and are shown regularly for a year or two, after which, a tape may be shown occasionally, although most are never shown again. SPEED currently shows episodes of Monster Jam twice each day, in the early morning and in the late afternoon; on occasion, it will show episodes more frequently, during the early hours of the afternoon or late at night.

World Finals Champions

Year	Racing			Freestyle
	Champion	Driver	Runner-Up	Truck	Driver	Score
2000	Goldberg	Tom Meents	Gunslinger	[[Maximum Destruction	40
2001	Goldberg	Tom Meents	Blue Thunder	Goldberg	Tom Meents	38
2002	Team Meents	Tom Meents	Bounty Hunter	Team Meents	Tom Meents	37
2003	Wolverine	Brian Barthel	Bounty Hunter	Avenger	Jim Koehler	37
2004	Grave Digger	Dennis Anderson	Blacksmith	Maximum Destruction	Tom Meents	31
				El Toro Loco	Lupe Soza	31
				Madusa	Debra Micelli	31
2005	Madusa	Debra Micelli	Grave Digger	Bounty Hunter	Jimmy Creten	31
2006	Grave Digger	Dennis Anderson	Bounty Hunter	Maximum Destruction	Tom Meents	37
2007	Batman	John Seasock	Grave Digger	Captain's Curse	Pablo Huffaker	34
2008	Batman	John Seasock	Bounty Hunter	Taz	Adam Anderson	37
2009	Maximum Destruction	Tom Meents	Captain's Curse	Air Force Afterburner	Damon Bradshaw	36
2010	Grave Digger	Dennis Anderson	Maximum Destruction	Monster Mutt	Charlie Pauken	39
2011	Maximum Destruction	Tom Meents	Bounty Hunter	Avenger	Jim Koehler	32

Licensing

Mattel's Hot Wheels brand produces officially licensed toy versions of monster trucks under the Monster Jam name. They also sponsored a monster truck, which competed in the series in previous years. However in 2008, the Hot Wheels truck was not on the circuit, replaced in the line up by Donkey Kong.

Four officially licensed Monster Jam video games have been produced. The first two, Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction, a vehicular combat game, and Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal, an arcade racing game, were published by Ubisoft. The third, titled simply Monster Jam, was released by Activision on November 13, 2007, and a sequel to it called Monster Jam: Urban Assault was released on October 28, 2008. There is now a 5th Monster Jam game called: Monster Jam: Path of Destruction containing favorites such as: Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, Grinder, Madusa, and Bounty Hunter. It has realistic stadiums and intros with pyrotechnics and roaring fans. You will also be able to create and customize a truck with over 1000 parts. This game was released on November 9, 2010 and since than has had mixed reviews about the game.

See also

• Thunder Nationals

External links

• Monster Jam Online Website
• USHRA Website
• The Monster Blog
• Monster Truck Online