The Allen Report: Monsters at the Museum Spring Show

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

This time “The Allen Report,” highlights the International Monster Truck Museum & Hall of Fame’s fifth ever spring monster truck show. Over 1,000 people braved the windy and cloudy day to watch the 10,000 pound, 1,500 horsepower machines do their thing. J.R. Rouse and Full Throttle Monster Trucks promoted this year’s spring event. For days beforehand, museum volunteers were working hard getting everything ready as the big day drew closer and closer.

The lineup of monster trucks was dynamo. Starting things off was Eric Howe and the steel bodied Country Strong, sporting a brand new blue look, which certainly looked great. Eric has supported the museum heavily since its early days. Brandon Overmeyer returned to the museum in his 100% pure diesel-powered American Outlaw, debuting a brand-new Dodge square-body. Colton Kiser continued to run High Roller 3 on his American Scout chassis to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary name.

And celebrating the 50th anniversary of the king of the monster trucks was Roger Gauger in Bigfoot. But in an ultimate surprise that the crowd loved, Thomas Borders of Monkey Business also drove a Bigfoot. The two were differentiated by the blue bead-locks and blue shocks on Roger’s truck while Thomas’ Monkey Business chassis sported white wheels and silver shocks underneath the Bigfoot body. So, the two became known as Bigfoot Blue (Gauger) and Bigfoot White (Borders). After some time to peruse the museum and check out the car show, headlined by Dragula from “The Munsters” TV show, the spectators settled into the grassy seating area and the car show awards were handed out. After intros and the national anthem, it was go time.

In the show opening wheelie contest, all drivers gave their best efforts. Country Strong got started with a good 45* wheelie off the racing lane crush cars. American Outlaw gave a good effort with two wheel skills attempts. Both Bigfoot trucks put the pedal down and didn’t hold back. But after the crowd cheer off, the wheelie win went to Colton Kiser and High Roller 3, as he had the distance, the height and verticality all down pat. With that, it was time to go head to head straight line racing.

In the closest race of the whole show, High Roller got the hole shot but American Outlaw came on strong in the air. After some tense waiting, it was decided that American Outlaw had just barely come from behind to take the win. After that, Bigfoot Blue defeated fastest loser Country Strong and Bigfoot White beat American Outlaw to create an all Bigfoot finals. The history was alive and well to see two Bigfoot trucks going head to head on a straight line course. The championship finals went to Roger Gauger in Bigfoot Blue, to much adulation from the fans.

Between rounds of racing, the Blue Ox old school monster truck showcased some classic car crushing, driver Jay Bozart having traveled all the way from Janesville, WI to please the fans and demonstrate the early days of the business. Also, Dave Mays and the Blue on Black elevated pickup truck performed a car crush of his own, to much applause from the fans.

During intermission, five past monster truck hall of fame inductees were interviewed. Charlie Pauken and Mike Nickell of Excaliber, Scott Hess of Bear Foot, Jerry Richmond of Terminator and Jeff Cook of War Wagon. The crowd showed their appreciation for the legends before the 2025 Monster Truck Hall of Fame nominees were revealed, as follows:

• Ice Monster driver Brett Englemann
• Nite Life driver Dave Weiczorek
• Master of Disaster driver Doug Spanier
• West coast pioneer Gary Schott
• Mopar Magic driver Gary Wiggins
• Two-time World Finals champion Jim Kohler
• Rollin’ Thunder driver Jim Oldaker
• Lil’ Miss Dangerous driver Jocelyn Perrin
• Buffalo Tremor driver John Kwasniewski
• Event official Mike “Papa” Speller
• Occasional driver and fleet manager Mike Wales
• First monster truck racing champion Rod Litzau
• Bigfoot display truck legend Ron Bachmann
• King Kong and Awesome Kong driver Steve Dane
• Promoter of USA Motorsports, Steve Wood

Three of these individuals will join the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame on November 14th and 15th, 2025, with the announcement of the three incumbent hall of famers to happen at the museum’s second show on October 4th, 2025.

With intermission and hall of fame obligations over, it was time for the main event, monster truck freestyle. To start, girl power was stood up for as Amy Arn and Lil’ Miss Radioactive mini monster, showcasing its glossy pink paint scheme, hit the hills and spun some donuts to the enjoyment of males and females alike.

Next up was Waterloo, IN’s Todd Lockwood and his Chevy Invader-1. Todd set the tone with an exciting run that got the crowd making noise. But things would only get better from here.Country Strong put together an admirable effort with big jumps and good speed. American Outlaw had the diesel smoke pouring high and long as racing lane jumps, hill jumps and donuts pleased the crowd.

The old school High Roller 2, with its 48 inch tires gave old school car crushes to showcase how the sport was born. The old school truck parked and right on cue, High Roller 3 performed a high speed, dust-throwing, car clearing run that had the fans clapping and cheering. To finish off the event, both Roger Gauger and Thomas Borders took to the track together to take care of business as only the king of the monster trucks can, with both trucks hitting the racing crush cars in opposite directions at the same time being just one highlight before both trucks parked on top of the center mountain. Despite this finale, the freestyle win, decided again by cheer off, went to High Roller 3 as Colton Kiser took two of the three competitions. It was a wild afternoon in Butler and the fans expressed their desires to come back in October.

The International Monster Truck Museum and Hall of Fame is a 501c3 nonprofit organization where 100% of everything comes back to the museum, every single dollar spent by everyone keeps the museum open and the history alive for future generations. “The Allen Report” suggests to everyone reading this that they support the museum however they can and visit the museum when traveling through northeastern IN, the history of this global, multibillion-dollar motorsport depends on it. Thanks to all the museum volunteers for all their hard work, thanks to all the performers for donating their time, thanks to you for reading. I’ll be seeing you at the museum soon and cheer on!