Thompson Metal Monster Truck Madness
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, TN – 7.25.09

Thunderstorms Can Lead To Bad Habits….
By: The Everythingmonstertrucks.com Webmaster.

The worlds fastest half-mile with the coined phrase “racin’ the way it outta be” hosted the Thompson Metal Monster Truck Madness event. Monster Truck Challenge brought out a host of veterans and a few new faces to go head to head in elimination races and free-style. The trucks in competition were: Raminator with Mark Hall, Rammuntion with Tim Hall. Joe Sylvester with Bad Habit, Tony Budd with Ragin’ Rebel, Isaias Morales with Equalizer, Dan Patrick with Samson, Randy Moore with War Wizard and Kaila Savage with Heartbreaker.  There were a lot of driver changes and substitutions going on for the Bristol race. Tim Hall, who usually works as the crew chief for the Raminator/Rammuntion, who by the way hadn’t driven a monster for almost two years, got back into the seat this weekend, because the trucks normal driver Geremie Dishman was attending another event on the same night. Isaias Morales took over driving duties for Equalizer, which normally gets piloted by team owner Mike Hawkins. Paul Strong abandoned the seat of Marshal Law to give Kaila Savage a chance to drive this weekend. The Marshal Law truck also got a makeover and a new name to suit its driver: Heartbreaker. Another face, not so new to the monster truck world, but new to Monster Truck Challenge was Joe Sylvester and Bad Habit. Tony Budd was another name new to me. Budd piloted Mike Hawkin’s Ragin’ Rebel. The veterans of M.T.C. were there also. Raminator, Samson, and hometown hero War Wizard were ready to give the lesson of “catch me if you can” to all of the green bloods. Fans lucky enough to get there early were treated to a pit party, where they got an opportunity to walk the backstretch of B.M.S. and get up close and personal with the drivers and their machines. Qualifying started at 7:30 and each competitor would get two opportunities to run the track and try to grab that elusive number one spot. After the first round, War Wizard sat in the top spot followed closely by Raminator. Hall, the five-time MTRA champion would not be denied though and blazed down the track in the second round to pick up the number one spot. After an fmx free-style, Raminator pulled up to the line to start the first round of eliminations.  Mother Nature had other plans though, as a huge thunderstorm gathered overhead. Bristol officials were forced to delay the event due to the lightning that was coming and made fans move in under the awning on the stands or move under the stands until the storm passed. The storm didn’t pass though; rain, high winds, and lighting ruled for the next hour. Due to time constraints, officials decided to cancel racing and go ahead with free-style and the demolition derby. Free-style like always was interesting. The wet asphalt didn’t seem to slow the beasts down as they jumped over everything in sight. The wet surface did allow for some high-speed, smoky cyclones though. The winner was determined by crowd applause and Joe Sylvester was declared the winner with Mark Hall coming in second. That’s a wrap from Bristol, be sure to check out the photos and video’s of the event and leave your feedback, we love to hear what you all think and don’t be shy, if you think we could improve then TELL US! Everythingmonstertrucks.com strives to bring the most in-depth coverage on the web that will keep the fans coming back for more!