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This year's MTRA Meeting & Banquet was held at the Airport Plaza Inn in St. Louis, MO. One of the first things that could be noticed upon walking into the conference room where the event was held was the very attractive, professional new decorations used, provided by the fine folks at Vinyl Images. Destiney Conley and the V.I. crew went above and beyond the call of duty in putting forth a fresh new look for this year's 20th Annual Meeting & Banquet.
THE 2006 MTRA MEETING
The meeting began with the reading of the minutes from the various meetings held by the Board of Directors in 2006 by MTRA Secretary and Treasurer Robyn Brow, and was followed by her Treasurer's report. Next Director Tim Hall went over some changes in the MTRA's By-Laws for 2007, including a change in the name of the Monster Truck Racing Association. The organization is now officially known as the International Monster Truck Racing Association, but will still be recognized as the MTRA. Additionally, it was decided that all rule changes must be voted on by the membership at each year's meeting, with the exception of very special cases in which the Board of Directors may make executive decisions.
Director Scott Bryant was next up to recognize some of the MTRA's 2006 Sponsor Members, including Vinyl Images and MSD Ignition, who were both represented at the meeting. Spike Clapper of MSD Ignition gave an excellent presentation on some of the parts that MSD offers that would be especially useful for the monster truck industry, and invited all MTRA members to contact him about MSD's MTRA discount. Having Spike on hand was a real great addition to this year's meeting and he certainly will be a continued asset to the organization, as you will read about shortly.
Nigel Morris, President of the European Monster Truck Racing Association, or MTRAE, gave an update on the progress being made with the European series, and there are very good things happening there this coming year. In 2007, the Monster Madness series will tour nine different countries in Europe, each show having a minimum of 6 trucks, and a total of 21 rounds in the 2007 European Monster Truck Racing Championship.
2006 MTRA President Jeff Bursey next recognized some V.I.P.'s in attendance who were allowed to speak briefly to the membership, including sponsor representatives, Jason Twite of the World Monster Truck Racing League who announced Mark Hall as the 2006 WMTRL Champion, MTRA Newsletter Editors Kyle Doyle and Amanda Weldy, and yours truly of TheMonsterBlog.com, and newly appointed webmaster for the MTRA.
Next up were nominations for the 2006 MTRA Awards, but we will look at the nominees in more detail later. The meeting would break for lunch at this point, during which the 2006 MTRA Highlight Video prepared by TheMonsterBlog.com was played. The video was nearly twenty-five minutes long and featured highlights from each of the MTRA's fifteen certified trucks. Only three copies of this DVD were made, and they were included in the evening's door prize drawings. Be watching for the new MTRA website launch at the beginning of 2007, which should host some of this video footage.
Lunch also allowed us the chance to speak with many of the attendees at the event, including Andy Hoffman who updated us on the progress of the new War Wagon body and Mitch Tulachka with Get-Er-Done who told us about his plans for the sharp new truck in 2007.
When the membership reconvened after lunch, it was time to discuss potential rule changes for 2007. Rules passing included a new requirement that the bolt size going through heim joints must be at least 1/2 inch and made of at least grade 8 material. Also making the cut was a rule requiring additional shielding for GM-style automatic transmissions. This product can be purchased from Dan Patrick.
Potential rule changes that were discussed and the decision made to do further research included wheel tethers, what options there should be for drivers in situations where windshields are hindering safe operation of the truck (i.e. extreme fog, or sunlight during sunsets), and a minimum size for brake pedals. It was also decided to retain the current MTRA Rule requiring a 3.2A/15 rated driver's suit.
Nominations were made for the 2007 MTRA Board of Directors. 2006 Board members Bobby Holman and Scott Bryant chose not to campaign for re-election, while the rest of the current board did accept re-nominations. New nominees included Doug Noelke, Spike Clapper (of MSD Ignition), Greg Adams, Tim Bush, Brandon Lagarde, Rich Blackburne, Dan Runte, Jeff Perrin and others. Once the nominations were made, each nominee was given the opportunity to speak to the membership, and then the ballots were cast. Below is your newly elected 2007 MTRA Board of Directors:
THE 2007 MTRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD - BOB CHANDLER
PRESIDENT - TIM HALL
VICE PRESIDENT - ANDY HOFFMAN
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR - GEORGE EISENHART
PROMOTIONS & SPONSORSHIP DIRECTOR - SPIKE CLAPPER
SAFETY DIRECTOR - DOUG NOELKE
SAFETY DIRECTOR - GREG ADAMS
Current President Jeff Bursey was the only member of the current board who sought re-election to not be carried over, while new Board of Directors include Doug Noelke, owner/driver of Big Dawg, Greg Adams, owner/driver of Annihilator, and Spike Clapper of MSD Ignitions. There was a general feeling of excitement over the election of Mr. Clapper to the Promotions and Sponsorship position due to his wealth of experience in working with other racing sanctioning bodies.
The last business of the 2006 Meeting was to open the floor to the membership and discuss any topics. George Eisenhart led a lengthy discussion giving great insight into the different types of monster truck insurance, and how to obtain/maintain coverage and protect oneself against liability claims. This was followed by ideas for a new location for next year's MTRA Banquet, but it was ultimately decided that St. Louis would remain the best choice.
Legendary Bigfoot driver Jim Kramer also brought forth a proposal to update the MTRA's logo through a contest which will allow members to submit proposed logos which will then by voted on by the membership. This proposal was accepted, so watch for more information in the Newsletter and on the new website.
Also proposed by Kramer was the idea to send the Newsletter out to more people than just current members, such as potential sponsors, non-member monster truck teams, etc. This led to a discussion of whether it might be a good idea to make the newsletter available to the public via the new MTRA website. The concern was that this might take away one of the exclusive benefits of being an MTRA Associate Member, but with no objections from the Associate Membership, this proposal was also passed. Watch for newsletter editions to be available to the general public online soon!!
Another discussion related to the new MTRA website, and some of the features that would be available. The new website will feature an attractive new, fresh look for the MTRA online and will feature great representation for all current certified trucks, promoter members, and especially, more exposure for the MTRA's great sponsors. The "National Monster" newsletter will also now be available online, in addition to other new features for the website.
This brought to an end the 2006 MTRA Meeting, and attendees scattered for a three hour break before the evening's banquet.
THE 2007 MTRA BANQUET
Traditional MTRA Banquet emcee Doc Riley was unable to attend this year due to sickness, so thrust into the roll at the last minute was MTRAE President Nigel Morris. Morris would end up being an excellent choice to run the evening's events, as he eloquently (with the exception of when he would bring out his mock-American accent) guided us through the presentation of the 2006 Awards, with a good balance of humor and anecdotes.
Morris was at his best when playing off the differences in American and European culture, lamenting what "us Americans have done to the English language", then bringing out his parody of how to "speak American". Morris also shined when presenting the evening's door prizes, complaining that none of the give-away shirts would fit him, as his size, "Super-Hunky", wasn't represented. He did however, look great sporting his brand new Firestone hat, courtesy of Image Promotions' George Eisenhart:
Thanks to Nigel Morris for doing such an excellent job on such notice. Also of note, our friend Elliott Miller with Michigan Monster Trucks produced a top notch video for George Eisenhart, recapping the 2006 Monster Nationals season, which was played during dinner to rave reviews. Great job Elliott!! Now, without further adieu, let's go ahead and take a look at some of awards presented to those members of the Monster Truck Racing Association who exhibited the highest of excellence in 2006.
THE 2006 MTRA AWARD WINNERS
SAFETY AWARD
The first award to be presented would honor the MTRA member who best represents a commitment to safety in the monster truck industry. Nominees included Hall Brothers Racing team member (and TheMonsterBlog.com Special Contributor, I might add) Kyle Doyle for being the only person to ace both MTRA Technical Inspector tests, 2006 Director Scott Bryant for his attention to detail in researching safety issues, and the Bad Habit team for their commitment to bringing their new truck to MTRA standards since their team's inception. I couldn't be happier to report that your 2006 MTRA Safety Award Winner is our good friend Kyle Doyle--the award couldn't have gone to a more deserving member, as Kyle knows the MTRA Rulebook inside and out.
SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Nominees for the Sportsmanship Award included Dale Benear, Andy Hoffman, Kyle Doyle, Hall Brothers Racing, George Eisenhart, and Rick Long. Always willing to jump in and lend a hand to a fellow competitor, your 2006 MTRA Sportsman of the Year is Bigfoot #11 driver Rick Long. Congrats Rick!
WEEKEND FROM HELL
The "Weekend From Hell" Award traditionally recognizes the MTRA members who had the toughest weekend of the year and persevered through it. This year's award went to the Monster Nationals team for their tough Friday night in Mansfield, OH earlier this year. Extreme weather hit just as the Friday night show time was approaching, dropping several inches of rain in a matter of minutes. Track conditions were too bad for the event to be held, and when the decision was made to cancel, near rioting occurred at the hands of some unruly fans, but the crew persevered, handling the situation well and managing to get the track in such good condition for Saturday that there was actually dust rising during the competition!
MECHANIC OF THE YEAR
The Mechanic of the Year Award has been dominated by Roy Hoosier of Bigfoot for several years now, but he had quite a few competitors nominated this year including Brian Bertoletti, Tim Hall, John Petersen, Jeff Perrin, and Dale Gerding. The exceptional performance of the Hall Brothers Racing team garnered a new winner this year in lead HBR mechanic Tim Hall. Congrats Tim!
SPONSOR OF THE YEAR
The Sponsor of the Year award would be tough to wrangle from the hands of the beloved folks at Vinyl Images, but after such an impressive presentation earlier in the day, it was Spike Clapper accepting this year's award on behalf of MSD Ignition. Other nominees included Mac Tools, Pure Power Lubricants, and Firestone.
JR. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP'S DRIVER OF THE YEAR
As emcee Nigel Morris pointed out, there seems to be a trend forming with the perrenial winner of the Junior Associate Membership's Driver of the Year award, which was once again given to Bigfoot #15 driver Dan Runte, who posed for pictures with the Jr. Associate Members present, seen below.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
There were two new drivers to competition this year in the MTRA membership, Keith Sturgeon with Bigfoot #10, and Joe Sylvestor with Bad Habit. Sturgeon would receive the majority of the votes, and TheMonsterBlog.com congratulations Keith on his award--we were on hand for his first stand alone car crush, and his first actual competition runs, and Keith has a very bright future in the sport.
MOST IMPROVED TEAM
Nominees for the Most Improved Team Award went to Rammunition, Lil' Miss Dangerous, and Big Dawg. After taking home one of the sport's most prestigious championships, the Dodge Monster Truck Thunder Drags title, Rammunition was voted the winner, and accepting was champion driver Geremie Dishman. We had a great time watching Geremie take Rammunition to its first championship this year, and we whole-heartedly congratulate him and the HBR team for this award.
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
The nominees for this award included the MTRA's three Promoter Members: Image Promotions, Special Events, and Apex Motorsport Promotions (AMP Live Events). The award went to the only promoter to exclusively use MTRA Certified trucks at the majority of his events, George Eisenhart's Image Promotions, promoter of the Monster Nationals. Congratulations to George on this award, it truly is deserved by one of the organization's best supporters.
TRUCK OF THE YEAR
One of the MTRA's most prestigious awards is the Truck of the Year award, and this year's nominees included Raminator, Bigfoot #15, Rammunition, Bigfoot #11, and others. The award this year goes to this year's Monster Nationals Champion truck, and for the 5th year in a row, the MTRA Truck of the Year is Raminator.
DRIVER OF THE YEAR
The MTRA's most prestigious award is the last one typically awarded--and that is the Driver of the Year award. Nominated this year for the organization's top honors were Dan Runte, Mark Hall, Geremie Dishman (who removed himself from the ballot, noting that he believed Mark Hall should win), Doug Noelke, and Rick Long. The Truck of the Year and Driver of the Year awards, for the most part, tend to be fairly closely correlated, and this year would follow that trend, as for the fifth time in his storied career, Mark Hall is the 2006 MTRA Driver of the Year. Congratulations Mark!
And with that, it was time for the door prize drawings, which featured some great merchandise donated by various members. Vinyl Images donated some awesome poker chip sets once again this year as well as gift certificates toward vinyl work. Mac Tools gave their highly coveted new tool box which is always one of the top prizes of the night. George Eisenhart worked with his travel agency to donate 10 vacation get-aways for 2 people, which were 3 day vacations to Orlando or Vegas, and the top prize also gave you the option of a cruise or a resort stay--Hooray for George! There were also t-shirts from the Bad Habit team and from The Monster Blog, in addition to many other great items. The door prize drawings did turn into a bit of a George Eisenhart & Jocelyn Perrin benefit though as the those two spent tons of tickets and cleaned up on the prizes. Nice haul guys, but next time leave some stuff for the rest of us!! ;)
And with that, the yearly banquet drew to a close, and the many attendees congregated downstairs at the lounge for what seems to have become the yearly "after-party". Everyone had a good time, some folks had a little too good of a time, but that's all we'll say about that! ;)
Thanks to everyone at the MTRA for putting off another fun event this year, there is nothing quite like having so many industry people in one place at one time. A big thanks to Robyn Brow and Destiney Conley for all their hard work in putting the event together, they did a great job. We'll see you next year!!
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