(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we travel up to the biggest 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals of the year at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Eight of the fastest, most competitive monster trucks in the nation were on hand to do battle on a modified “So-Cal style” race track. Mark Hall held the reigns of his usual Raminator. Mat Dishman was right behind piloting Rammunition as was relative newcomer Mike Miller in Mopar Muscle. But Team Bigfoot wasn’t going down easy as Dan Runte, running his own 25th Anniversary paint scheme on #18 and Larry Swim at the controls of Lucas Oil Bigfoot #19 ensured that The Original Monster Truck team would fight all the way to the end of the weekend. Returning to the Jamborees after a few years away were Jim Koehler driving Avenger with his brother Steve behind the wheel of General Tire, along with Dave Radzeirez and his signature diesel powered XDP Diesel Monster Truck. Elsewhere on the grounds, the world’s only electric powered monster truck, Odyssey Batteries Bigfoot #20 was on display.

Old school monster trucks were in the house as well. Monster truck creator Bob Chandler brought the legendary BIGFOOT 1. Past Monster Truck Hall of Fame Inductee Allen Pezo hauled in not only his own Predator 1, but a replica of the original King Kong, built by fellow Hall of Famer Jeff Dane. Both trucks would continue on to the International Monster Truck Museum a few hours north in Auburn following the weekend. IMTM President and creator Jeff Cook had his old school style truck Shotgun Harry on display for all to see. Moline, Illinois, resident Fil Tristan, owner and b4uilder of the beautiful black and orange Titan was part of the festivities – Titan was back under its own power for the first time in many years with a new motor and made a grand return to the Jamborees it frequented so many years ago. Finally, longtime mud racer John Nowacki showed off his Mud Monster old school style truck. On Sunday, between racing rounds, Bigfoot 1, King Kong, Predator 1 and Shotgun Harry did a parade in front of the main grandstand. Much to the delight of the fans, Kong had its hood and bed raised high in the air, true to the old school formula of appealing to the fans with tilt hydraulics.

The first race of the weekend showed clearly how tough a track this would be to master. In the last of the quarter final races, Avenger had the lead against teammate General Tire General only to come into the last of the three turns too hot and did a complete 360, giving up the win and the shot against reigning series champion Raminator. In the first semi final, Dan Runte proved his experience on these tracks, besting teammate Larry Swim. Mark Hall was just too fast for Steve Kohler and won to set up a classic Bigfoot/Raminator final round. Dan had the lead for the first two thirds of the race, but broke free around the final turn, costing him time and the race. In efforts to conserve their trucks for the entire weekend, Dave Radzeirez and Mark Hall pulled out of freestyle this first night. But the fans would not go home disappointed as Dan Runte and Jim Kohler both put together high speed, big air runs, each one including a massive jump from a moderate sized ramp, over a gap to a ten foot high plateau of cars. Both moves put a roaring cap on the first of four races.

Saturday would feature two races on the same day. The afternoon race featured a rematch from the night before, only this time in the first race of the night. Dan Runte continued to put pressure on his Dodge sponsored rivals by facing all three members of Hall Brothers racing and beating them all to head to the winner’s circle, catching up points-wise in the process. Once again, Dan Runte and Jim Kohler stole the show in freestyle, with big air, cross threads and, in Avenger’s case, terrific slap wheelies.

Between races, International Monster Truck Museum and Hall of Fame President Jeff “Wildman” Cook and Vice President Allen Pezo announced the fourth International Monster Truck Hall of Fame class, set for induction this November:
• Andy Brass, a legendary driver of both old school and modern day style Bigfoot trucks.
• Jon Breen, the owner and driver of Mad Dog and other memorable trucks and one of the sport’s early great innovators
• Kirk Dabney, a builder and driver of numerous monster trucks, from the monster car Blue Thunder all the way up to the more recent Maximum Overkill
• Michael Vaters, creator and driver of Black Stallion, a champion and owner of one of the sport’s longest running and most successful teams
• Diehl Wilson, the owner, builder and driver of Virginia Giant, one of the most beautiful monster trucks to ever run

Also before the second race on Saturday, Dan Runte’s 25th Anniversary as a member of Team Bigfoot was commemorated with a tribute video and a Harley Davidson motorcycle sporting a paint scheme to mirror that of his beautiful truck for this year. Dan’s friends at the Team Bigfoot shop had not told Dan ahead of time that they were doing this, and the veteran didn’t hide his thankfulness as his competition looked on.

Back on the track, Larry Swim in Lucas Oil Bigfoot went all the way to the finals. But a chance at a re-race with teammate Dan was ruined when Mat Dishman in Rammuntion beat the silver anniversary driver to the line. Mark Hall downed his own teammate to set up the third Hall Brothers/Bigfoot final round in as many races. Larry gave it all, but it just wasn’t enough to catch up to the Hemi-fueled Raminator, as Mark Hall got win number two of three throughout the weekend with only one more to go. With increasingly intense lightning in the surrounding area, race officials were forced to cancel freestyle. Even so, all signs pointed to a hot and heavy final race on Sunday.

The fourth and final day of racing on the 4-Wheel Jamboree schedule was one for the history books. Team Hall Brothers continued to rain on Dan Runte’s parade with Mat Dishman knocking out the 25th Anniversary truck in the first round. But team driver Larry Swim was ready. The Lucas Oil Bigfoot defeated Rammuntion in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, where Raminator was there waiting. With all eyes on the finish line, Mark Hall finally pushed his truck too hard, spinning out in the final turn of the 2014 edition of the 4 Wheel Jamboree season, handing the last race win to Larry Swim. But Mark Hall, having participated in three out of possible four final rounds, and winning two, was once more declared the Monster Truck Thunder Drags Champion.

To salute the fans one more time, Dave Radzeirez had a plan. The double ramp jump from the first two days had been changed completely during the overnight into something meant especially for one trick. And at the end of the freestyle competition, the man called “Diesel Dave” and his XDP monster truck executed a picture perfect backflip, even with an imperfect reaction to the cars on the ramp. It was a wild finale to the Jamboree season, and you can bet that Team Bigfoot will be out to take the championship back in 2015.

With our very memorable first venture to the biggest 4-Wheel Jamboree of the year now history, we at “The Allen Report” will very soon catch a plane back to Indiana. Only this time, we will be bound for the 4th Annual International Monster Truck Museum Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion in Auburn, just north of Fort Wayne. Tickets to the festivities, including a Meet and Greet on Friday, October 31st, and History Discussion, gourmet dinner and the Induction Ceremony itself on Saturday, November 1st are available on www.MonsterMuseum.org. We hope to see you there as the 5 legends of monster trucks mentioned above receive our sport’s highest honor. Well then, thank you for reading, a heart-felt thank you to Family Events for their wonderful hospitality, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

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