My family and I had the pleasure of attending the Party In The Pit prior to the Monster Jam truck show at the Colonial Life Arena on Saturday, February 8. Excitement was building as my daughters and I made our way to the arena with the biggest kid ever, my husband! He has been in “the pit” at several Nascar races, but this was his first time in the pit seeing monster trucks. He could not wait to learn more about these amazing crushers, and neither could we! Not only were they massive in size, but they were all so beautifully painted! Immediately we were drawn to the Spider-Man truck because, let’s face it, Spider-Man is a super hero and ALL children love the thrill of anything to do with Spider-Man!
Next, we made our way over to Crushstation! This massive truck was a favorite among children also. I joked with my nine year old daughter about Mr. Crabs off of SpongeBob Square Pants. She quickly pointed out, “It’s a lobster, mom, not a crab!” It was too funny!
Next up was Samson! We had the pleasure of speaking with Allison Patrick, who has been driving Samson for the past two years (and has been in approximately ten shows). Her father was the previous owner, and when he retired after 25 years, she took over! It was so neat to learn how she grew up around this truck and continues to keep its legacy alive today. Another interesting tidbit of information we learned is outside of crushing cars, Allison Patrick is an ICU Nurse.
My oldest daughter, very much a teenager, was drawn to the truck in the corner appropriately labeled “Monster” with the Monster Energy Drink logo. We had the opportunity to speak with the driver, Coty Saucier, and learned he has only been involved with Monster Jam for six weeks! A self proclaimed “rookie,” he has “always been a gear head and liked trucks.” We were impressed to find out he built his truck himself! You can follow him on Facebook or Instagram (@coty_saucier) to get an idea of what it’s like to live Monster Jam day in and day out.
There were several more monster trucks to feast your eyes upon; however, when we saw the Raminator in the corner, our attention immediately focused on this massive truck and we made a bee-line to get a closer look! We were greeted by Mike Miller, who has been with the Hall Brothers Racing Team for three years and a driver for two years. He shared with us that this truck is ten feet tall, weighs approximately 10,000 pounds, and has a 2,000 horse power engine!
The Raminator is actually the 2013 General Tire Monster Truck Thunder Drags National Champion! In addition, the Raminator is the first ever back to back champion for 2013-2014 Motor Trend Truck of The Year Ram 1500.
When asked what goes through his mind as he’s crushing the cars and hearing the metal giveaway beneath him, Mike Miller responded by saying, “To be honest, we are so focused on what we are doing, but we can hear the crowd over the engine and the crushing. It fuels us that much more! It makes you want to run that much harder to put on an awesome show!”
Mr. Miller went on to tell us that the Raminator is just a big toy in his opinion, and surprisingly, monster truck shows are not just a sport males enjoy. Their fan base is equally divided between males and females.
When looking at the size of the tires, Mike Miller advised us one tire costs approximately $2,700.00! Yikes! “They could last around ten years, but you can also ruin one or two as the cars are just not friendly sometimes,” he said.
When Mr. Miller is on the road, it is just him and another guy responsible for inspecting the vehicle prior to the show. (However, when they are back home at the shop, their crew consists of eight guys, including the driver.) We also had the opportunity to meet Jay Shaver, who has been with their team for 10 years and conducts the safety inspection on the entire truck prior to the show.
My family and I had a great time, as you can tell. We appreciate the kindness shown to us by Chanell Thomas from the Colonial Life Arena as she escorted us around and gave us the royal treatment at Monster Jam!
Disclaimer: Columbia SC Moms Blog was provided complimentary tickets to this event. However, the views and opinions expressed in this blog post are entirely those of the author.