By Meg Hodson
I was compensated for this post in exchange for promoting Monster Jam. All opinions remain 100% my own.
You know the commercial line. The announcer's voice comes out of the TV - "THIS WEEKEND AT THE MODA CENTER...MONSTER JAM!!". Pictures flash across the screen of Big Foot and Gravedigger jumping, crushing cars, and crashing. Then the announcer finishes with "SEATS START AT $20...BUT YOU'LL ONLY NEED...THE EDGE!".
As a kid, my husband wanted to go to these Monster Truck Shows and never did. What boy wouldn't want to go see Monster Trucks? Now for the 2nd year in a row, we attended Monster Jam at the Moda Center in Portland. We had so much fun.
We started the afternoon with the Pit Party on the floor of the arena. They had the trucks on display and the drivers were out for pictures and autographs. I recommend that if you go to the Pit Party, get there early. An hour goes quickly and the lines can be long. The longest line was for Gravedigger. We were able to get pictures with MaxD, Blue Thunder, Monster Energy Truck, and Scooby Doo (my husband liked the driver Bailey Shea, the boys liked the truck). The drivers were great with all the fans - taking pictures, signing autographs.
The format changed this year. Each driver had a series of events in their trucks, then raced in UTVs, and raced in a series of ATVs. After those races, the Big Trucks came back out for doughnuts, wheelies, and free style.
These trucks are LOUD! These trucks SMELL! These trucks are FUN to watch. I think NEA won the Wheelie competition when he stood his truck on its back-end. They had to bring out the CAT to put it on all fours again. Blue Thunder had a tough day in the Big Truck with some balance issues and he even rolled the rig over. El Toro Loco was out when her back tire broke off. In the doughnut competition, Bailey Shea in the Scooby Doo truck was robbed! She had the best doughnut spin, but lost to Gravedigger.
To close out the show was the freestyle portion. Some high flying action. Blue Thunder was a little flat. Not to much action from him. NEA put on a solid show as did Monster Energy. In the end it came down to MaxD and GraveDigger. MaxD was all over the arena....jumps, wheelies and more. In the end Gravedigger, the crowd favorite, pulled out the win in the freestyle and was the overall winner.
This is a fun family event. If you appreciate the singing of the national anthem, the athletes taking pictures and signing autographs, mud flying and trucks rolling over - this is for you!
