Mark42
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- Oct 8, 2003
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Anyone who recognizes that phrase, knows what Monster Jam is!!!!
This past Saturday the Monster Truck circuit made a stop at the Philadelphia Eagles stadium in Philly. This is the closest its ever been to me in North New Jersey in a large outdoor stadium. So I got tickets for the whole family and made reservation at a hotel about 20 minutes away in the Cherry Hill area of NJ so we didn't have to do a 2 plus hour drive home after a full day at the Monster Truck show.
My youngest is Eric, and at 6 years old I figure he was old enough to remember this kind of a trip. He is a huge monster truck fan, and the sole reason we went. We record all the monster truck events on Speed Vision on the dvr and he watches his favorites over and over again. He likes to sit with me on the sofa, and when the truck break, asks what part is the "lower control arm" or "what part is the spindle". These trucks break parts left and right, and after a year of watching the series, he knows (for the most part) what the show hosts are talking about ("Oh, what a bad landing, Papi, he broke the rod end!!! LOL!!!! ).
After parking, we went to the pre-show pit area where many of the trucks were on display and you could get signatures of the owners/drivers. Denis Anderson had a line about 80 yards long, about 6 people wide. I doubt most of those people got a signature. We did get his photo, because they had it set up so signature people come in one side of his cabana, and "walk by" photos taken from another. We did a walk by photo.
Have to admit, those 8000 lbs trucks are pretty impressive, especially when they clear 30 feet of air, running wide open throttle on a blown motor with just headers and no exhaust and you are in row 16 of the stadium. There were two times I was afraid the trucks were going to crash into the barriers (dumpsters with tarps) placed in front of the end-zones.
Two trucks crashed bad enough to lose tires, and body parts. Even my wife, who has no interest in motor sports was standing up cheering on the truck of her choice (Maximum Destruction). My son likes Grave Digger, and I do too, because Denis Anderson has done so much for the sport, and keeps it all oriented to the kids. Kids, kids, kids. He spends so much time doing signings and photos its ridiculous. He lives in Kill Devil Hills in NC (a place I have been to dozens of times) and never chases away fans from his own house.
Anyway, we had a good time, took lots of video and photos, and tickets were affordable and tickets were affordable, so we were able to take a nice hotel with indoor pool for the night/following day. Kids love the pool, breakfast buffet, etc. For some reason, they just love being in a hotel. So it really turned the day trip into a whole mini weekend vacation.
Sorry for making such a long post. Guess I'm still a big excited about the weekend myself.
BTW, ticket prices came to a total of about $35 per seat in row 16 in a "corner" seat in line with the end zone. A good seat, we could see 90% of the field well. High up enough to see over most of the obstacles, and have a good view. Cheap compared to a football event, those same seats would have been over $100 a piece!!!
Regards,
Mark.
This past Saturday the Monster Truck circuit made a stop at the Philadelphia Eagles stadium in Philly. This is the closest its ever been to me in North New Jersey in a large outdoor stadium. So I got tickets for the whole family and made reservation at a hotel about 20 minutes away in the Cherry Hill area of NJ so we didn't have to do a 2 plus hour drive home after a full day at the Monster Truck show.
My youngest is Eric, and at 6 years old I figure he was old enough to remember this kind of a trip. He is a huge monster truck fan, and the sole reason we went. We record all the monster truck events on Speed Vision on the dvr and he watches his favorites over and over again. He likes to sit with me on the sofa, and when the truck break, asks what part is the "lower control arm" or "what part is the spindle". These trucks break parts left and right, and after a year of watching the series, he knows (for the most part) what the show hosts are talking about ("Oh, what a bad landing, Papi, he broke the rod end!!! LOL!!!! ).
After parking, we went to the pre-show pit area where many of the trucks were on display and you could get signatures of the owners/drivers. Denis Anderson had a line about 80 yards long, about 6 people wide. I doubt most of those people got a signature. We did get his photo, because they had it set up so signature people come in one side of his cabana, and "walk by" photos taken from another. We did a walk by photo.
Have to admit, those 8000 lbs trucks are pretty impressive, especially when they clear 30 feet of air, running wide open throttle on a blown motor with just headers and no exhaust and you are in row 16 of the stadium. There were two times I was afraid the trucks were going to crash into the barriers (dumpsters with tarps) placed in front of the end-zones.
Two trucks crashed bad enough to lose tires, and body parts. Even my wife, who has no interest in motor sports was standing up cheering on the truck of her choice (Maximum Destruction). My son likes Grave Digger, and I do too, because Denis Anderson has done so much for the sport, and keeps it all oriented to the kids. Kids, kids, kids. He spends so much time doing signings and photos its ridiculous. He lives in Kill Devil Hills in NC (a place I have been to dozens of times) and never chases away fans from his own house.
Anyway, we had a good time, took lots of video and photos, and tickets were affordable and tickets were affordable, so we were able to take a nice hotel with indoor pool for the night/following day. Kids love the pool, breakfast buffet, etc. For some reason, they just love being in a hotel. So it really turned the day trip into a whole mini weekend vacation.
Sorry for making such a long post. Guess I'm still a big excited about the weekend myself.
BTW, ticket prices came to a total of about $35 per seat in row 16 in a "corner" seat in line with the end zone. A good seat, we could see 90% of the field well. High up enough to see over most of the obstacles, and have a good view. Cheap compared to a football event, those same seats would have been over $100 a piece!!!
Regards,
Mark.