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TheMonsterBlog.com honors some of the industry's top performers with our 2006 Awards!!
Article By: Ross Z. Bonar - TheMonsterBlog.com
Welcome to the first annual edition of the TheMonsterBlog.com Awards!! We have chosen ten categories in which we will honor some of the best moments and accomplishments in the year that was 2006. The goal of these awards is not to look at just one faction of the monster truck industry, but everything. Granted, there were probably great moments at monster truck shows around the country that we never heard about, but we have done out best to put together a fun, objective look at this past year in monster trucks.
Our "expert" panel in choosing these award consisted of our staff members: myself (Ross Z. Bonar), Lauren Z. Bonar, and Tommy Lee Byrd. For each of the ten cateogories, we attempted to narrow down the list of nominees to five, then choosing a winner, and giving the other four "Honorable Mentions". We did out best in choosing these awards, but do give us a break if we left something out--Its just for fun!!
So without further adieu, let's hand out some figurative internet "hardware"!!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Our first award recognizes the new truck that made the biggest impact in 2006, and was a toss up between two trucks. Dennis Anderson's new Grave Digger XX and Mike Hawkins' new Equalizer. Ultimately we chose to give the award to the World Finals Racing Championship truck, although there was no doubt that Hawkins' new piece also made an impact this year. Honorable mention also goes to Matt Heady's Big Gun truck, which made a splash due to some of its more unique features, despite a less than ideal debut. And honorable mentions to two trucks that weren't new chassis, but new identities, and those are Batman and Air Force Afterburner out of the Live Nation Motorsports fleet.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The "Move of the Year" award is given to the driver who performs the most unique move of the season, regardless of what type of contest it is done in, although obviously most would come during freestyle. This year's award goes to Dan Runte and Summit Bigfoot for his stoppie wheelie at the Thunder on the Beach event in Wildwood, NJ. This was no doubt one of the most talked about moves of the year, and definitely one of the most show-stopping.
One of the honorable mentions in this category goes to Tom Meents for the opening move of his freestyle at the World Finals in Las Vegas. Before starting his run, teammate Neil Elliott drove the team's second Maximum Destruction and parked atop the "volcano". Meents then roared out and jumped his own truck to start the run. Other honorable mentions go to: Linsey Weenk for his incredible repeat wheelie at the spring Firebird show. Bill Payne for his amazing reverse wheelie at the Del Mar, CA WGAS show, and Mike Hawkins for jumping one of his own giant dump trucks at the Manassas, VA event.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
2006 saw several new,
bright young stars enter the sport, but there was one driver that all eyes
were on from the very start. Adam Anderson started the season with some strong freestyle performances in some of
the year’s early stadium shows in his new Taz machine, but broke through with his first major
freestyle victory at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Anderson then followed
that with another win in Detroit at the first Ford Field show, before
nearly stealing the show at the World Finals stopped only by an untimely roll-over.
His performance in the first quarter was probably enough to put him over
the top, but he solidified his grasp on this award with a strong
performance on the Monster Jam Europe tour, winning racing in several
events.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
There is nothing quite as exciting as when a driver pulls a truck out of a near certain roll-over and brings it back to its wheels. This award honors the best "Save of the Year" in 2006. During freestyle at the St. Louis Monster Jam, Tom Meents attacked the huge thirty-car set, launching high into the air. But when landing on the bed of cars, Max D took a wild bounce sending the truck right over onto its roof. The truck bounced again, giving Meents just enough room to pull out of it for an amazing save!! Meents also pulled off another great save in the same run shortly after, but it was this one that will be dominating highlight reels for the next several years. Congratulations to Tom Meents for winning our "Save of the Year" award.
Honorable mentions in this category go to several drivers who pulled off absolutely jaw-dropping saves, all of which could of easily won this award as well. They are: Phil Foster & Tropical Thunder (San Jose, CA), Charlie Pauken & Monster Mutt (las Vegas, NV), Rick Long & Bigfoot (Pocatello, ID), and Jim Kohler & Avenger (Jacksonville, FL).
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Much like our winner of
the Rookie of the Year award, there was really only one choice for this
award. Starting the Monster Jam season off with two big stadium show wins
at the end of ’05, Linsey Weenk carried an unbelievable winning streak all
the way into the Phoenix event at the end of January. Weenk was no doubt
the top racing performer throughout the entire Monster Jam season, and his
success carried over into the rest of the year, which would see him set a
new world record for monster truck wheelie length, among other
accomplishments.
Topping the list of honorable mentions is the 2006 Dodge Monster Truck Thunder Drags Champion, Geremie Dishman. Driving for Hall Brothers Racing, Dishman nearly won the CFP Winter Nationals driving the team's #2 Raminator, but he solidifed his name in monster truck history by winning the title of the legendary Special Events series. Other nods go to the 2006 MOD Champion Rick Swanson, the Amsoil Rock'N Monster Truck Series Champion James Tigue II, and Kelvin Ramer of Natural High.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The "Worst Crash of the Year" award is not one that most drivers would particularly care to win, but there certainly were a number of them this year. In an early round of racing at the Lowe's Motor Speedway Back to School Monster Truck Bash, Isiah Morales took an incredible tumble after hitting the last set of cars at a bad angle. It was amazing that Morales was not hurt in the incident, and for that wild ride Morales gets the "Worst Crash of the Year" award.
I'm not even sure that "Honorable Mentions" is an appropriate title for the runner-ups in this category, but nonetheless, both Chad Fortune and Jim Kohler receive them for vicious wrecks in Jacksonville and Vegas, both of which saw the trucks land directly on the cages. Dennis Anderson makes the list for his spectacular wreck in racing at the final Pontiac Silverdome show in which he cart-wheeled over Iron Outlaw and into one of the protective dumpsters placed at the edge of the stadium. The final nod goes to Jeff King in Bearfoot, who appeared to suffer a brake failure during racing at the AMP Tour event at the new Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, AZ. That failure led and some driver miscalculation led to King crashing directly into the wall of the new brand new stadium.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
There is really only one choice for the "Promoter of the Year" award. One promoter puts on several times the amount of shows as all other promoters combined, and their shows are always of the highest quality. That promoter is the United States Hot Rod Association, owned by Live Nation Motorsports. Monster Jam has become the most recognizable form of monster truck entertainment anywhere in the world, and they are no doubt worthy of this award for their accomplishments in 2006.
While it is extraordinarily difficult for other promoters to compete with Live Nation, honorable mentions do go to some other fantastic promoters out there whose shows are always must-sees. Here's to Image Promotions (Monster Nationals), Milestone Motorsports (Monsters of Destruction), Special Events (Dodge Monster Truck Thunder Drags), and Chris Arel Motorsports (Monster Spectacular. Great job in 2006, can't wait to see what you have in store for '07!!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
There are only a handful of drivers out there who you know will put on a freestyle performance that will knock your socks off every single time they take to the track. But one of those drivers stands above the rest in a way that is legendary in the history of monster truck freestyle competitions. That man is Tom Meents, driver of Maximum Destruction. No matter what show he is doing, no matter how big or small, Tom Meents never fails to bring the crowd to their feet when behind the wheel of Max D. Meents put an exclamation point on his 2006 season by winning yet another World Finals Freestyle event and becoming a champion for the eighth time in his storied career.
As I mentioned above, there are several drivers who headline shows week in and week out, never disapointing in freestyle. Our honorable mentions for this award go to the following: Charlie Pauken (Grave Digger), Jim Kohler (Avenger), Jimmy Creten (Bounty Hunter), and Mike Hawkins (Equalizer).
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Choosing a driver for one of our most prestigious awards, the Driver of the Year in Racing, was very difficult this year. Two drivers were neck and neck for this award, and ultimately it came down to the fact that one driver was just slightly better in 2006 than the other. We congratulate Raminator driver Mark Hall on taking this award, just barely edging out Linsey Weenk of Iron Outlaw. Weenk's accomplishments are well documented above, but Mark Hall had another outstanding season in 2006. From taking the Monster Nationals Racing Championship to finishing runner-up in the Special Events Performance Series, and finally the topper, winning the World Monster Truck Racing League championship, Mark Hall is without a doubt TheMonsterBlog.com's Driver of the Year in Racing for 2006.
Honorable mentions in this category mirror the WMTRL's top 5 finishers in the 2006 standings, although not by design suprisingly enough. Our tips of the hat go to the aforementioned Linsey Weenk, Dan Runte of Summit Bigfoot, Randy Brown of Grave Digger, and Rick Long of Bigfoot. These drivers will all certainly be contenders for next year's award!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
You've seen the individual award winners above, but we also wanted to recognize the Team that we believe had the best overall performance in 2006, whether it be in Racing or Freestyle. This year, TheMonsterBlog.com 2006 Team of the Year is Jimmy & Dawn Creten's 2Xtreme Racing. Bounty Hunter and Iron Outlaw are some of the most consistent performers in the sport in both racing and freestyle, and together in 2006, they reached a level of excellence that few other teams could compete with. The competition should be very afraid, because in 2007, Dawn Creten returns as the team expands to three trucks!!
Honorable mentions go
to Hall Brothers Racing (Raminator & Rammunition), Sudden Impact Racing
(T-Maxx, Sudden Impact, Excaliber), Rebel Pride Racing (Equalizer & Hot
Tamale), and Bigfoot4x4 (Various Bigfoot). Well that's all for the first edition of TheMonsterBlog.com Awards!! Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to everyone in the monster truck industry who made 2006 such a great year!! Stop by the Fan Forum and let us know what you thought of our selections, and thanks for reading our awards article. Best of luck to all in 2007!!
Photos above courtesy of Bryan Wagner, William McFarland II, and Ross Z. Bonar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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