Monstrous fun
Drivers, fans have a great time as mountain-size trucks gather at arena
The driver of the monster truck called Bounty Hunter worked hard to make it to this weekend’s Monster Jam shows at the Spokane Arena after his truck was damaged in a show last weekend in San Diego.
Videos of the event show his truck flipping on its side, but he managed to get it upright and continue. After the truck did a back flip, however, smoke billowed from the vehicle.
“The body was mangled,” Jimmy Creten said. “It tore a lot of stuff up.”
Creten and his crews spent two hard days rebuilding the truck. “I just threw a bunch of guys at it,” he said.
Creten, an engineer by training, has been driving a monster truck for 21 years. “Having a desk job just wasn’t me,” he said. Driving and entertaining is “not like work to me.”
On Saturday, Creten joined the drivers of other monster trucks, including Dragon, Grave Digger and the Destroyer, for a pit party for fans before the afternoon show. Enthusiastic kids and parents lined up to meet their favorites, get an autograph and take a picture.
Eight-year-old Jorden Altringer was a boy on a mission, getting each driver to autograph his white shirt. He posed for pictures next to drivers and sat on quads used in the show.
“We’ve been bringing him since he was 2,” said Nina Adams, who used to attend monster truck shows when she was little. “All the drivers are really nice.”
Altringer loves Grave Digger but was excited to check out the new Dragon truck, Adams said. It is an impressive vehicle, studded with large teeth.
As a line of fans waiting to meet the Dragon driver formed, Kassy Kinch trailed behind two little boys as they eagerly rushed in. “That’s the new one,” she said. “That’s going to be another truck we have to buy.”
Kinch brought her son and her nephew to the event and said both have a collection of the Hot Wheels versions of all the monster trucks.
It wasn’t only the kids and kids at heart having fun. Creten said he enjoys meeting fans, some of whom tell him he’s the reason they’re so into the sport. “That makes you feel really good,” he said.