AMP TOUR WINTER THUNDERLAND

JANUARY 6TH, 2007 - KNOXVILLE COLISEUM - KNOXVILLE, TN

By Tommy Lee Byrd - (continued)

It was starting to get close to show time and the drivers were pulling their trucks out on the arena floor for the pit party. Venom was still sitting in the corner with no wheel or tire, so Bobby Holman took the wheel off Beast and put it on Venom and Bobby didn't participate in the pit party.

Also, while pulling Raminator out on the floor, Dale said he heard some bad sounds coming from the rear end of the truck. They pulled the jack out there and jacked the rear end up so see what was up. Turns out that they broke the axle shaft u-joint on the right side of the truck. Dale pulled the truck back into the pits and the thrash began. As you can see from the pictures, it was a mess and they didn't have a lot of time to fix it. In order to change the axle, the whole planetary assembly has to come off, which is no walk in the park. Bobby Holman jumped in there and helped them get things put back together and ready for the 8pm show. Most were left wondering what was going to happen with 5 trucks and only 19 wheels but they had a plan.

WHEELIE COMPETITION

Now that everyone is all fixed up, it was time to start off with the Wheelie Competition. Again, it was not being judged. Venom would be first and stood it staight up and down. Shane walked the truck all the way across the cars without the front end ever touching. He came back around and performed another nice wheelie but he didn't walk it as far.

Roger would come out next in Quadzilla to see if he could top those wheelies. Roger did a great job with the wheelies but didn't carry them as long as Shane did.

Devil's Dodge blasted out of the pits and attacked the cars getting a nice wheelstand. He came around to the other set of cars where he launched the truck, nearly clearing the cars.

In all reality, there was just as much action in the pits as there was on the track. Team Beast looked like a Nascar crew during a pit stop. They had the wheel off Venom and onto Beast in a matter of minutes. Bobby Holman would be coming out next to see if he could one-up the previous drivers. His first jump was a nice one but it sent him off to the side and he had to hammer on the Beast to power out. He hit the other set of cars from the back-side and did an excellent wheelie.

Now was the time to see if all that work in the pits was going to pay off for Dale and Raminator. Well, as you can tell from the pictures....I think they got it all figured out. Dale put on a great show and on his second wheelie, he jumped the cars and landed hard on the right rear causing the rear steer to turn and send him a little off course. There was no mechanical problems with the truck though. 

RACING COMPETITION

For racing, it would be staight line drags and Venom would be sitting out because of the tire issue. The first pair out would be Quadzilla and Holman's Beast. Quadzilla made a good run but it just wasn't enough to beat the Beast.

Next out would be Raminator and Devil's Dodge. My picture does not do this run justice. The truck twisted in mid-air and again landed hard on the right rear causing the rear steer to kick. If Dale would have blinked he would have been on his lid but he did a great job pulling it out. Nothing broke on the truck to make this happen. From what we can tell it was just caused by the first car in that stack being crushed more on one side than the other. That spare wheel on the front was bent pretty badly though.

The thrid place race put Quadzilla against the Devil's Dodge machine. Quadzilla took that one by staying low, keeping the tires planted.

That means that it would again be Holman's Beast facing off against Raminator in the finals. Both trucks came off the line very hard but Raminator got the better landing and was hard on the gas to get his second win of the day!  Meanwhile in the pits, Team Beast was switching tires again. Venom would go out first for freestyle and needed Beast's wheel and tire to do so.

FREESTYLE COMPETITION

Freestyle would again be the two groups with the best truck from each coming back for the finals. Shane brought out the Venom truck to kick off freestyle and put on a great show. He made some great jumps and carried alot of momentum. He also pulled off some impressive wheelstands. In the middle of the run, his rear steer stayed turned and it took him a second to get it to straighten back up but that was the only slow moment in his otherwise, fast-paced freestyle.
 

Roger Gauger came out in the Quadzilla truck and had a very good run and the crowd was behind him all the way. It looked like he had some rear steer problems too but it didn't really hinder him.
 

Devil's Dodge would be the last truck to perform in the first group for freestyle. Larry hit the cars from both sides and got some good air. As the run came to a close, Larry started to back into his pit stall but the track crew stopped him because of a small fire. I didn't see exactly where it was but it was pretty minor and they got it under control pretty easily.
 

Announcer Bobby Paul called those three drivers out to have a cheer off to see who would advance to the Freestyle Finals. It was pretty close but Devil's Dodge won the cheer off.

The next truck out was Raminator and Dale came out of the pits with a high speed run at the cars, nearly clearing them on the first jump. He circled back around to the cars and launched the truck again getting some more great air. He came back to the cars and got what looked to be the biggest air of the night right before spinning into a very fast donut. He hit the cars from the backside to end his high speed run. It was going to be hard to beat that one.
 

In the pits, there was still some work going on with Team Beast putting the wheel back on the Beast so Bobby could make his freestyle run.

Holman's Beast came out of the pits with a deafening roar and made a lap around the arena before assaulting the cars. Bobby had the truck in the air more than it was on the ground. He also did a super fast donut to end his run with a bang. It looked like a dead heat to me but it was up to the fans to decide who advanced. They had to do two cheer offs because it was so close but it was Dale in Raminator advancing.
 

While the track crew was cleaning up from Transaurus, they brought out two vans and put them in the left lane. Raminator would be the first to try them out.

Dale came out on the track with major speed and made some good jumps. He was sliding around the arena with amazing control and eventually performed another set of donuts that really got the crowd cheering.
 

Devil's Dodge was all ready to go but the truck just would not fire up so, Roger Gauger in Quadzilla went back out on the floor. He started the run off with a donut and it looked like he was again having trouble with the rear steer. He kept going and hit the cars with the rear steer turned which put him off to the side and got the truck up on two wheels. He throttled out and saved it though.

As Roger was making a lap around the arena waving to his fans, Dale fired up the Raminator and came back out on the track for an encore and got some awesome air and pulled off another great donut to end the show. Raminator would take the win in the Freestyle finals after the cheer off took place.

FINAL WORDS

Well, that just about wraps it up from Knoxville, TN. It was a wild weekend full of mishaps and breakages. I know I had fun, but I just wish I would have gone to the Friday night show to witness Shane Smith's wild backward roll as well as the other action. All in all, my cousin and I really enjoyed ourselves and really liked the format of the shows. There were no dead spots or slow parts of the show, which was great. I want to thank Bobby Paul and the rest of the AMP crew as well as all of the drivers who put on a great show all day despite some mechanical problems. I hope they come back to Knoxville next year. Thanks for reading, be sure to stop by the Fan Forum and let me know what you thought!!!

- Tommy Lee Byrd

Saturday 2PM  /  Saturday 8PM

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