What a first quarter it has been so far!  The title for this blog entry seems more than fitting, as it has been hard to find the time to do much more than work (at home, on the road, and at the shop).  Even as I write this, I am short on time, as I’m trying to accomplish everyday things that most people take for granted, in addition to getting packed for my next trip, download music (very important), and hopefully find time to read my newest literary adventure: The Masked Rider by Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.  But first, I must back up a little bit.

East Lansing, MI would be the next stop on the Monster Nationals tour, the weekend after the Madison show.  We didn’t have as much work to do following Madison as we did after Cleveland, so the week leading up to E. Lansing wasn’t as hectic, but still very busy.  Friday night, on the way up to Michigan, I began feeling pretty lousy.  Maybe I’m a superb physicist, or maybe I’ve just been sick enough times, but I decided I was coming down with a bad head cold.  We stopped for the night at a decent-sized truck stop outside Lansing that had a “mom & pop” type restaurant inside, and despite the best efforts of the cheeseburger with onions and hot sauce that I had, my cold continued its tirade on my body.  Sleep came in small 20min. spurts throughout the night, as my illness, which was now in full-force, ensured that I would be miserable all through the night.

By the time the East Lansing show was finished, the only thing I was really happy about was to be going home.  The Breslin Center is the second smallest arena on the tour, and it is no walk in the park to run the trucks in.  Couple that with a couple bad calls and my bad cold, and it was enough to put me in a bad mood.  On top of that, we had to load up in the snow and sleet outside in the dark because the loading ramp was too crowded.  Travis, Tim, and I ended up waiting for the trucks to come outside from the arena for over 30 minutes because one of the other competitors decided to block the only open door with his hauler, so he could load up inside.  Adios Michigan is all I had to say as we pulled out of that snow-infested place.

I spent most of the next week recovering from the cold, as I kept indulging in outdoor activities that slowed the “getting-better process”.  The week was going pretty well, until one day at the shop, after looking at pictures from East Lansing on my laptop, the damn thing spit the rods out the side (figuratively speaking).  I ended up having to reformat my laptop’s hard drive and starting over from scratch, as I had not yet taken the time to backup my 2006 pictures and Photoshop files.  I can’t write here what I was saying at the time, but needless to say, I will backup my work a bit more often.

Our hometown show of Champaign would follow the Lansing show, so we spent the week going through the trucks with a fine-tooth comb.  I took a couple days in the middle of the week to go through both the front and the rear center sections, axles, and planetary hubs to make sure that something stupid in the driveline wasn’t going to give up in our hometown.  Add that to the regular maintenance we all do in addition to the special stuff, and the TV film crews we dealt with on the Thursday before the race, we had us another busy busy week.  While we prepared for Champaign, Geremie and his brother Mat were hanging out in Central Wyoming in between CFP shows in Loveland, CO and Casper, WY.  As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep us busy, Amanda and I stopped by Andy Hoffman’s Friday display in rural Sidney, IL to give him a hard time and help him tire down.
 

Rear center section out of Mark’s Raminator.

RTesting the Raminator show truck’s new Kokomo Transmission the night before the TV crew arrived.

Nitemare display in Sidney, IL.

Andy Hoffman himself!!

Show flyer posted at the store.

Rick and Sherry Dorritte, owner/operators of the “Transaurus” car-eating dinosaur parked their rig for the week at our shop.  They are two of the nicest people you’ll meet in this business, and really fun to talk with.  Its nice to be able to hook up to power and water while on the road, so we were more than happy to help ‘em out.  A local news anchor and camera man also visited the shop to interview Mark and Tim, and to film Mark driving the Raminator show truck around the shop yard and road some.  While we were trying to film and photograph Mark driving, car after car kept arriving at the shop.  It took a few takes, but we managed to get it pulled off…..eventually.
 

Transaurus sleepin’ at the HBR shop.

After this shot, they actually let me use that camera some! Suckers!

And the cars kept on a comin’…

I think Mark and the truck were both getting cold, because he seemed happy to bring ‘er on in.

The news anchor girl fit in the wheel pretty easily.

The University Of Illinois Assembly Hall is well-known for a variety of things.  Not only was it state-of-the-art when it was built back in the 1960’s (it was one of the very first free-span concrete roofed buildings), but it is also home to U of I athletics, like the Fighting Illini basketball teams.  That being said, the floor was not designed with monster trucks in mind, seeing as how the first monster wasn’t created until nearly ten years after the Hall was built.  Though pictures can do a decent job of impressing on people just how small the floor of the arena is, you really have to go to a show there to fully comprehend it.  The super-slick floor, ultra-tight confines, and hometown pressures make it a very stressful weekend for us.  Thankfully, after all was said and done, we left the Assembly Hall victorious, having put both trucks in the final round, with Raminator and Mark Hall winning over Dale Benear in Rammunition.  This show is so stressful that I’m pretty sure I grow a few gray hairs there every year, even though I’m only 21.
 

The University Of Illinois Assembly Hall.

Driving down into the Assembly Hall, Saturday morning.

Assembly Hall pit party, shot from about halfway up the seats.

Assembly Hall pit party, shot from the rafters above the scoreboard.

The Big Red One during Intros.

Mark Hall had the honors of presenting the colors for the National Anthem.

Mark and Tim Hall accepting both the 2005 Monster Nationals Freestyle Championship award and the 2005 Monster Nationals Racing Championship award.

Mark and Dale being interviewed in front of a loving hometown crowd after the final round.

Loading up in the chilly Illinois nighttime.

The Hall at night.

Capping the weekend off, Amanda and I went over to Tim Hall’s new house in Rantoul to enjoy the first weekend of NHRA PowerAde drag racing on his enormous projection screen, in High Definition, of course.  While no stereo can match the sights, sounds, and smells of being at the drags in person, it definitely was the next best thing.  I’m looking forward to catching more races over there, for sure.

Sioux City, IA is our next stop on the Monster Nationals trail, where we will partake in what should be the only indoor dirt event on the tour this year.  Rumor has it that the arena doesn’t want their ice removed, so dirt is being brought in to prevent damage to it.  I guess we’ll see.  Until next time, thanks for reading.

- KD
 

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