Vrooms and Booms

The Mega Motorsports Toughest Monster Truck Tour promises larger-than-life thrills as daring drivers test the limits of physics. With tour dates in both Lamar and West Plains, there’s ample opportunity to take in the action.

By Natalie-Elizabeth Tan

Did you know the monster truck was created right in St. Louis? In 1975, Bob Chandler, the owner of a Ford F-250 pickup truck, swapped out the original tires for bigger ones, named it Bigfoot, and attempted stunts with it. This sport quickly gained popularity and the stunts—like flattening cars by running over them—became bigger and bolder. Today, monster trucks are a beloved spectacle with a dedicated fan base.

Although these trucks started out as souped-up pickups, there are now options to customize and build them from scratch, much as one would with a race car or off-road race truck. They don’t come cheap either—one of these bad boys can cost up to half a million dollars. Manufacturers will build chassis and axle parts, but actually putting a monster truck together requires considerable technical know-how on the owner’s part.

This week and next, you can catch these mammoths in action as the renowned Mega Motorsports Toughest Monster Truck Tour comes to Lamar on July 26 – 27, and then to West Plains on Aug. 2 – 3. These trucks do flips, wheelies, donuts, and more—all guaranteed to enthrall.

“This year’s lineup features some of the nation’s top trucks, all vying for the title of Toughest Monster Truck on the Planet,” says Sonny Smith, Co-Owner and Promoter of the Mega Motorsports Toughest Monster Truck show in West Plains.

At both shows, keep an eye out for trucks shaped like a velociraptor, a triceratops, and an alligator. There’s also Dirt Crew, which resembles a dump truck, and Blockhead, which looks as if it’s made out of Legos.

“These 10,000-pound, 1,500-horsepower beasts perform incredible feats, from vertical wheelies and pulse-pounding races to crowd-favorite freestyle actions that keep everyone on the edge of their seats,” Smith says. “They’ll launch 30 feet into the air, smashing and jumping over cars, vans, and buses, creating an unpredictable spectacle as the competition heats up.”

But if you see a truck crash, don’t be alarmed.

“It’s become pretty normal nowadays, says Brian Manson, Director of Events at Dirt Shows. “They drive these trucks freestyle past the limits a lot of times, which ends up resulting in a lot of crashes. But the trucks are built to take it. The body parts may fly off or get smashed up, but that’s completely normal. The truck underneath is built to be tough.”

With that said, a crash or a near-crash is quite the highlight for the audience.

“I’ve seen quite a few and sometimes I think, ‘There’s no way that this guy is going to be able to pull this off,’” Manson says. “But by using throttle and brake when they need to or don’t need to, and steering, they’re able to take this truck that was almost ready to be completely upside down and bring it back and keep going. And the guys that can do that are the ones that can really, really get the crowd going wild.”

Despite the audacious antics of the drivers, the sport is very safe, both for the performer and spectator. Each truck is equipped with plenty of safety measures, like wheel tethers, onboard fire systems and full containment seats, which “cocoon” the driver. Each truck is also connected to a Remote Ignition Interrupter, a kill switch of sorts intended to protect the driver should the truck go out of control.

Alongside these colossal giants, attendees can witness aerial acrobatics with the freestyle motocross, where drivers on dirt bikes leap 60 to 70 feet in the air and do back flips and more. If you’re up for it, you can even take a ride in a monster truck yourself. While you won’t be doing any of the twisting and turning the pros do, the Wheels of Freedom ride truck will give you a taste of it.

All photos courtesy of Dirt Shows

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