THE FREESTYLE COMPETITION (continued)

GRAVE DIGGER

Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger got off to a slow start in the small Tuscon Civic Center, but once he got going, there was no stopping him!!  After a few decent hits on the cars, he came flying off the FMX hill with more air than I have ever seen in such a small arena.  So much in fact that slowing down before the wall was a problem.  Charlie had to make a very hard left before the wall, scraping it with the back tire and leaving rubber against the wall right below where I was standing.  Charlie kept going with some awesome donuts to finish up.  Very exciting finish, however all the excitement started well after initial sixty seconds . . .

The Freestyle portion of the event was really the story of two trucks:  Rod Wood in McGruff and Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger.  It was explained before the show that the trucks would only be scored on the first 60 seconds of their runs.  This is where it gets interesting in deciding the winner of the show, as the best parts of Grave Digger's run happened after the 60-second time limit had expired.  Based on that rule, there was only one clear winner and that was Rod Wood in McGruff.  Doing my best to be fair and honest, Grave Digger did put on the best show, however, it was not in the sixty second time limit.

Nonetheless, the debate about the 60-second rule was a moot point, because when the judges threw up their scores, it was a 29 for Charlie Pauken and he was declared the winner.  While we believed that the win should have gone to Rod Wood, we congratulate Charlie Pauken on his victory!!

THE FINAL WORDS

After the race Lynette and I stood in the autograph line to have a very quick word with the drivers.  Out of the six drivers we were able to speak with, five were familiar with The Monster Blog.  We felt very proud of that, as the site has really taken off.  After a hard night of racing, all the drivers were very friendly and joking with each other.  It was a great evening for the fans, The Monster Blog, and the drivers.  A very successful show for Jason Huggler, Chuck Russell and the LiveNation crew.  We would like to thank all of them for their hospitality and for all their hard work in putting on a great event.

During our short weekend in Tucson, we were able to visit the Air & Space museum, view some Air Force jets flying overhead, visit an outdoor swap meet, and eat at a very nice Italian Restaurant downtown.  The drive home was beautiful, and very scenic.  We even stopped to take a few pictures of a picturesque sunset . . .

. . . from Tucson, we went to east Phoenix, through Fort McDowell, north to Payson, on to Cottonwood, north to Flagstaff, and then, finally, home to Tuba City, AZ.  When we stopped in
Payson, I got to see an Army buddy that I was stationed with in Landstuehl, Germany over 20 years ago.  I had not seen him since 1983 and he happened to be on duty.  It was just another weekend highlight to get to visit with Billy Hoffman again.  We made promises to see each other soon, I hope we do.

Our Monster Truck schedule is very full over the next few weeks, as we will be in Albuquerque, NM for a Bigfoot display & car crush at Rich Ford next week, and possibly in Parker, AZ for a WGAS Motorsports event the next week.  Should be a blast, and we look forward to bringing you more Monster Truck Coverage from out West in the coming weeks!!  Thanks for reading as always, and please stop by the Fan Forum and leave us some feedback!!

- LAUREN & LYNETTE BONAR

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