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Vani and I went to watch Monster Jam this past Sunday. I had never been to a monster truck show and Vani hadn’t seen one in decades. The ones she had seen were while working security, so it was the first time for both of us as actual attendees. We’ve always passively considered going when it comes to town, but this year we actually made it happen.

I had no idea what to expect going in and purposely kept myself in the dark. Monster Jam shows are split into three events: Racing, Skills, and Freestyle. Racing is head-to-head and single elimination. Two trucks race on a mirrored course and the finish line is after a big jump. The finishes are often super close. The skills competition has the trucks go out one by one and they get two trick attempts or one donut attempt. These were fun to watch. Trucks would stand on two front or back wheels, backflip, bicycle around on the side wheels, moonwalk… all sorts of impressive stuff. The third event was freestyle where each truck gets two minutes to do whatever they want on the course. If they flip over the run ends. They have to complete 30 seconds to earn a score. This event was mostly the drivers going for huge air. It was impressive to watch. A few of them worked in the skills seen in the second event. The backflip ramp saw a lot of use in freestyle and it never got old. Overall, I think the racing was my favorite part. Each race was less than 30 seconds, but very exciting.

The show overall had a real Pro Wrestling feel. You can buy shirts of the different trucks. It’s loud and there’s a little mic work. People follow certain drivers. What was interesting to me is that it seems the drivers for various trucks change as time goes on. I’m not sure if it’s a yearly thing or what, but the announcing seemed to imply that it changes up.

It was a lot of fun. I’d go again. The tickets weren’t too bad and Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego doesn’t really have a bad seat for this kind of show. I think Vani and I are going to hit up more random stuff that lands in San Diego. I can have fun doing just about anything with her and the new experiences balance the daily grind. I think we’re going to a hockey game next.  

-Ian