Q. You’re obviously a Mover & Shaker in your line of work. How did you become a monster truck driver? What type of driving did you do to prepare for this career? How long have you been a monster truck driver?
A. I started out mud racing and doing truck pulls at fairs. Every once is a while there would be a monster truck on display during intermission – and I had to do it. I put parts under my mud racer and I never looked back. I bought parts from Michael Vaters and his Black Stallion monster truck. I bought his hands me down. I never had all the money to do this brand new. I’ve been chasing everybody and buying their parts. That was 20 years ago. I had done mud racing for 10 years before that.
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Q. How many shows a year do you? How many miles do you travel performing each year? What’s the most unusual place you have driven your monster truck?
A. I do 40 to 45 shows a year all over the country. I have to travel probably 30,000 to 40,000 miles a year. It’s not a lot but it’s just on weekends. The most unusual place I brought my truck was a National Boy Scout Jamboree at Hammonasset State Park. The unusual part was I didn’t know there was going to be 10,000 Boy Scouts there. An awful storm came through that day and knocked down the 30-foot video screen. They asked me what it would get for me to stay so they could project their movie about scouting on my trailer to stay. All I said was “Just feed me” to stay and I had food from 10,000 Boy Scouts.
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Q. What’s the most dangerous aspect of your job? Is there risk of injury from driving the monster trucks? They’re big but they probably have a lot of safety equipment.
A. There’s risk of injury with any profession. I have a lawn service and could be hit with a rock in the eye. I’ve never been injured driving but I have been injured working on the truck. The safety is second to none. The trucks get inspected every day. Nothing can fly off the truck. There are onboard fire extinguishers. There are special wheel tethers so they can never leave the vehicle. There is a remote ignition interrupter so any race official can shut the truck off. Every time the truck starts it gets tested. It’s very safe.
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Q. What does a monster truck cost? What are its annual maintenance costs? Is your truck sponsored? If so, by who? What does it cost to sponsor a Monster Truck?
Q. If you were to buy one turnkey, it would cost about $150,000 … I started out with a street racer that I turned into a monster truck. In 20 years, it’s gone from a backyard operation with nothing other than a torch and a welder. Now it’s like a NASCAR operation. We have stuff that is now built for monster trucks. We used to use military axles out of a troop carrier. Now the parts are made for us. Toyota of Wallingford is one of my biggest sponsors and Porter & Chester Institute is my second biggest sponsor — and me. I don’t like to discuss specific sponsorship costs.
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Q. What is the “Promise Not To Drive Distracted” campaign that you are involved in with WFSB-TV? What are some of its goals?
A. It’s a great program. I have a lawn service. I travel the local roads and highways. I see people on cell phones and they’re distracted. I was guilty of it myself. I have two kids who are near driving age and I don’t want them to be statistics. It is a conscious effort every day not to do it but I don’t.
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Q. If you weren’t a monster truck driver, what else would you like to be doing? What comes next in your career?
A. It takes up my entire week between the phone calls and the interviews, the repairs, the maintenance. the traveling. As much as I want to say it’s a weekend hobby, it’s not. There is a lot more to it than the one hour people see on the Speed Channel. We can drive 13 to 14 hours to get home in time for our Monday jobs. This was a dream of mine since I was 16. Now I’m one of the ones I can watch on TV. There is not much more I could be doing besides spending more time with the wife and kids. I’d like to do it full time but that would be more of an obligation away from home. There are folks who do it full time but they’re involved in the business at another level.
