So my six-year-old saw the commercials from Monster Jam and somehow determined in his little mind that he wanted to go see it. If you are not familiar with Monster Jam it is the best and biggest of monster truck shows that tours the nation and they “jammed” in the Tacoma Dome this last weekend. Giant 10,000 pound trucks with oversized 66-inch-tall tires crunch poor defenseless car bodies and propel themselves high into the air. I was amazed at how fast these giants can travel.
Last year the event made headlines after a fatal injury to a child during its Tacoma show but since that incident they have made many safety changes to the event including inspecting the driveshaft before each performance and tethering the side engine blocks to the frame. I carefully checked into the event to assure that my family would be safe.
On Sunday, we arrived in Tacoma an hour before the show and easily found parking right next to the entrance for an acceptable $15 (The parking spot also gave us a direct route to the freeway following the event). After a bit of confusion over where I needed to pick up my tickets we took our seats that provided center seating and a great view of the action. The very lowest front rows were blocked off for the safety of the crowd.
After a tribute to every single branch of the armed forces, including a separate ovation for their families, and unnecessarily loud hollering for the marines, the Boy Scouts take the field holding a giant American flag and waving it back and forth, as a heavyset female duo sing the National Anthem. We thought the show would never start but this whole intro seemed very important to most the people in attendance.
And the show begins. The trucks with names such as the fan (and my son’s) favorite Batman, along with Grave Digger, Donkey Kong and several others. Batman had flames shooting out its ass and Donkey Kong had a big red tongue dangling out of the front. Two monster trucks at a time would race against each other climbing over a pile of cars and flying an uncomfortably high 35 feet into the air and a distance of up to 125 feet (14 cars side by side). The noise was beyond deafening but exhilarating so earplugs are a must for kids. El Toro Loco, sporting a pair of big steer horns on the top, appeared to be the fastest in the bunch but had some electrical problems during a qualifying round. Maybe it was the new safety kill switch feature that can shut down the trucks in their tracks. Another fan favorite was Captain USA whose driver was a Tacoma native.
In between the monster truck rounds a couple of jeep looking vehicles would barrel race with each other and occasionally tip over. Honestly, almost everyone wanted to see those jeeps crack up and tip over. No one wants to see anyone hurt but there is something fascinating about seeing the vehicles going too fast and rolling over. Someone once told me that “real” hockey fans don’t care for the fights and only the players that can’t play the game take out their frustration by fighting. Along the same lines, I suppose my fascination for seeing the cars roll over may be evidence of not being a true monster truck fan.
At intermission we were treated to some spectacular motocross freestyle jumping in which the rider would launch what seemed like hundreds of feet into the air and completely let go of the bike before remounting and safely landing on the opposite ramp.
Well, we walked around at intermission to do the American thing and buy a t-shirt from the event. They had sold out of shirts for the Batman monster truck in youth sizes x-small and small. Oh the travesty, so we ended up with a much too big youth sized medium.
After intermission was the monster truck freestyle where the trucks have one and half minutes to destroy and launch themselves as much as possible in order score the most points and win the event. I am starting to see the attraction by military families for this event. I don’t remember who won but I don’t really think that winning was all that important to the audience since in the end most of the cars had seen better days and the crew must promptly prepare the trucks for the next show.
Overall it was fun and entertaining but I can’t help but feel that some are channeling their violent frustrations by watching the event. But the crowd is well behaved and everyone is respectful. Overall it is a pretty wholesome family event, unlike professional wresting, though some families constantly got up in the middle and made way too many bathroom breaks and that got pretty annoying but having a kid I can sympathize.
Watch for Monster Jam to return to Tacoma next year.
