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Monstrous trucks
By Kim Haverdink
Guest Writer
FILE PHOTO
Gravedigger, the winner of the competition in G R, devours little cars.
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Seeing the commercial for the monster truck rally at the Van Andel Arena on TV struck my interest, not that I have a clue about anything that goes on at one of these events. I decided it would be fun to check it out. I really just wanted to see the big trucks smash the cars.ـ
So I did some calling and got together a group of friends to go with me. This may not be the most typical Friday night activity for a group of Calvin girls, but I thought it would be something fun and exciting and a little out of the ordinary.
The ride down there with myself behind the wheel was probably the most exciting part of the night, seeing how I am very directionally impaired and had no clue how to get down to the venue. ـWe made a few wrong turns and turned around a number of times and eventually weaved through the busy downtown traffic to find a parking spot.
The audiences at these types of events are not the audience that one may picture at a typical sporting event. ـThe people are certainly not dressed in the everyday business casual attire; they are more comfortable in their old jeans and ratty T-shirts. ـI felt a little out of place as I was a little overdressed for the occasion. ـCertainly there were many more men in attendance, and many dragged their wife or girlfriend along. Some families attended with their younger children. ـ
The crowd got into cheering on the trucks and dirt bikes, although the announcer complained that this particular audience was a little more quiet than normal. The night began with shooting a woman out of a cannon onto a net set up on the other side of the arena. Next, the monster trucks were introduced and they all revved up their engines - damaging all of our ears. They tried to show off their stuff and began by doing the stock trick often seen on TV: riding over a line up of cars, smashing and denting them and sending debris flying. ـ
At first I was a little nervous. I thought the trucks were going to tip over, but to my surprise, they all remained upright the entire night. ـEach of the monster trucks was rated by the judges and given a score from 0-30. Each truck was given the chance to show off by doing doughnuts, and their performances were then judged by the audience.
The freestyle dirt bike racers were introduced after the doughnut binge and were each given the opportunity to demonstrate their different jumps and tricks off the huge ramp placed in the arena. ـThe louder the audience roared, the higher the level of the trick. A wide variety of tricks were performed including no-handed landings and shifting the rider’s entire body to one side of the bike in the air, and all without casualties.
The last event was the monster truck races. The large trucks competed to see which could make it over the lineup of cars the in the least amount of time. This was my favorite part of the event. The thrill, the laughter, the noise and the competition made this the most exciting part.
My two favorite trucks were “Grave Digger” and the bright pink, yellow, purple and green truck (with a woman driver). “Grave Digger” came in first place for the races, and the woman driver came in second place. I really enjoyed the monster truck rally, and will definitely be attending more rallies in the future- although next time I’ll remember my earplugs.
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