It feels strange to report to you readers that not much has gone on since my last blog update.  Sure, we’ve been to [survived] events in Erie, PA and Springfield, MO, but to be completely honest it has been a fairly uneventful couple of weeks, at least compared to how things have been going thus far in 2006.
 

The morning of the races in Erie, 6:45 a.m.

Erie, PA was an all-in-one day for the Monster Nationals crew and the fab five that are currently fighting it out for the freestyle and racing championships.  Two-a-days are probably my least favorite way to do a weekend of racing (except for maybe three-a-days); they are guaranteed to wear you out, even if everything goes perfect; and we know how often that happens.

The haulers in Erie.

Really the only notable from the Erie weekend was a rapid tire-change incident that happened towards the end of the first show.  Mark blew a right-rear tire on a seemingly normal run against Little Miss Dangerous in the semi-finals.  The Monster Nationals show format requires the winner of the second heat of the semi-finals to return immediately to the starting line so that they can run the finals right away.  We sprang into action to ensure that another truck would not be put in our spot against Big Dawg, what with the points chase being so tight these days.
 

Jocelyn Perrin during the Saturday afternoon pit party in Erie.

Andy Hoffman taking time for autographs in Erie.

I had been shooting pictures of the racing from high up in the stands.  Most of the time I have to shoot from the pits due to my responsibilities as a crew guy, but the trucks had decided to be cooperative at this particular show, so I had the chance to head up to the high seats to get some cool shots.  Anyways, as soon as Mark landed, I heard the tell-tale “thud/boom” that accompanies a blown tire.  I hauled my hind down through the seats and aisles as fast as I could without blowing it in front of a packed stands, to help get Mark staged in time for the finals.
 

Mark Hall made this young lad’s day in Erie.

Perrin Motorsports’ Little Miss Dangerous during intros.

The elusive Michael and Paul Harry, regular ‘Photo of the Week’ contestants on the Monster Blog.

I arrived down on the floor just as Dale and Travis had a rear tire ready to come off of Rammunition, which had been knocked out in an earlier semi-final.  As I rolled the tire over to Mark’s truck in a very rapid fashion, the rest of the crew had placed a jack stand under Rammunition and moved on to Mark’s truck.  We removed the mangled rear tire from Raminator with a bit of good ole elbow grease, slapped the new one on, and had Mark ready to go before the 3:00 clock had expired.  Oh, and we were able to beat Big Dawg too; not too shabby.
 

Mark Hall clowning around prior to the evening race.

Andy Hoffman’s pit cart makes a great arm-rest – Jeff Perrin

Jocelyn’s great personality and big smiles always warm up the pit parties.

After a three-week ‘hiatus’, Dale Benear finished out his indoor season in Rammunition in Erie.

The week in between was spent packing in anticipation of moving to my new house later this month, hanging out with Darrell at his place (and watching him carve out his awesome new Raminator project), and preparing for the Springfield Jamboree.
 

DW hard at work on his latest artistic project; full updates to come in the near future.

One of the true measures of a great photographer is the skill of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. I’m not there yet, but I’m sure trying. I snapped a series of photos of this ant-ridden plant in DW’s driveway.

The Dodge pits in Springfield.

Dale Benear and Geremie Dishman discussing the questionable call regarding Grave Digger’s red-light in the first round of Sunday’s race.

It seems we just can’t escape the rain in Springfield, every year we go.  The terrible dirt-on-asphalt race track plays hell with our driveline, as we run the [rare] Clutch-Lenco combination, which offers less slippage than a truck with an automatic with a torque converter.  That combined with about 1,000 more HP than we really needed made for a long day in the rain on Saturday, as we fought traction problems and breakage all day long.  Geremie in Rammunition was able to prevail on Sunday, however, as the track had dried out some, giving him just enough bite to build up some good speed on the track.  Geremie came up against Randy Brown in Grave Digger in the Sunday finals, a re-match of an early-round race in the rain on Saturday.  G used every bit of throttle he had, and was able to smoke past one of Team Digger’s best drivers (at least in this reporter’s opinion).  I should note that all five of the final rounds on the Special Events tour this season have been won by Hemi-powered trucks (Predator, Raminator, Rammunition).

We also welcomed the increased involvement of Eaton/Detroit Locker in the Raminator / Rammunition program while in Springfield.  Throughout the Jamboree season, in addition to signage, banners, and decals on the trucks, the Hall Brothers pits will feature hands-on displays of Eaton and Detroit Locker products.  Detroit Locker has been a sponsor of HBR since the late 1990’s when the team was still Executioner, and with the recent acquisition of Detroit by the Eaton corporation, they have decided to step up their involvement in the Dodge monster truck program.  Moore Performance’s Nitro Products has also climbed aboard as an associate sponsor on Mark Hall’s 007 Raminator, which raced in Bloomington, IL the same weekend as the Springfield race.  Nitro is working closely with Tim Hall to develop stronger and longer-lasting driveline components.
 

Tim Hall, Geremie and Mat Dishman, and Allen Pezo discuss pre-race strategy prior to Sunday’s race in Springfield.  No doubt they are plotting on how they can continue the unbroken winning streak of Hemi-powered trucks on the Special Events tour this year.  Yep, 5 out of 5 races this year have been won by Hemi-powered trucks.

A wide variety of Hemi-, Cummins-, and Wedge-powered Mopars flocked to the 9th Annual O’Riley Auto Parts 4-Wheel Jamboree in Springfield.







Obviously this gentleman prefers Cummins’ over Hemis and Wedges.

I would definitely like to own this fine piece of Mopar history. A great looking truck, and very well taken care of.

All this combined with an early-morning departure for home Monday morning made for a very tired Kyle come Monday night.  Tuesday brought a welcomed day off, which was filled primarily with packing, packing, and more packing.  And that brings us to Wednesday night, where more packing is occurring, thought this time it is for this weekend’s trip to Connecticut with the Raminator R/T.  Until next time….

Rock Hard.

- KD
 

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