Heat, Rain or Mud didn’t Slowdown the Competitor’s at Race #1 of the Iron Truck Challenge held in Tampa

Not only did the driver’s do battle on the race course, but they also had to battle thunder storms all day long on the first stop of the Iron Truck Challenge hosted at Ronnie Setser’s Customs in Tampa, Florida. The day started with an awards ceremony for the winner’s of the 2006-2007 Chase for the Championship Series (Click here for the final standings) along with the winners of the 2007 Chase to the Iron Truck Challenge Series (Click here for the final standings)

Congratulations to all of our R/C Monster Motorsports winners. Get ready for our toughest point series yet, the “Iron Truck Challenge”.

First off concourse, Gene Foust with his Finding Nemo R/C Monster truck took Best in Show in the Daily Driver class. Once again, Rip Koepke with the Wolf Truck dominated the Static Display class.

The Side by Side race track for this event was configured as a straight line drag race over two sets of Parma Chevy Caprice crush cars. Unfortunately, we were only able to utilize part of the track at Ronnie Setser’s Raceway due to the large puddles created by the on again off again rain throughout the day. Racers we able to lay down the horse power on the very moist, sticky clay surface with very fast run times. Steve Tash started the day off by setting a new track record in qualifying of 2.047 seconds in the Small Block class.

Side by Side Big Block racing matched up top qualifier Gene Foust driving Team Magic 2 against Tommy Feichtel driving Plum Crazy in the finals. Feichtel would claim victory with a time of 2.559 seconds. Side by Side Small Block racing would put Yvonne Feichtel driving Pretty in Pink against new comer Mike Wells driving Monster Bus in the finals. Wells claimed first place with a time of 2.222 seconds to Feichtel’s 6.256 seconds. In the Side by Side Buggy/Truggy finals new comer John Goodpastor driving Who’s Your Daddy was paired against JD Kelly’s Nitro Express. Goodpastor claimed victory with a time of 2.054 seconds over Kelly’s 2.863 seconds.

Sand Drag Big Block racing would put current R/C Monster Motorsports quick time record holder Gene Foust driving Team Magic 2 against Tommy Feichtel driving Roebuck in the finals. Foust would take the win and set a new track record with a time of 1.212 seconds over Feichtel’s 1.460 seconds. The wet sand didn’t seem to slow anybody down. Sand Drag Small Block featured new comer Mike Wells driving Monster Bus against JD Kelly driving Wild Thing. Wells would take the win over Kelly with a time of 1.402 seconds to a red light by Kelly. Sand Drag Buggy/Truggy paired new comer John Goodpastor driving Who’s Your Daddy against Paul Montecalvo driving Jammin. Montecalvo would claim victory over Goodpastor with a time of 1.274 seconds.

With a heavily rain soaked track driver’s held the horse power and made for some great truck pulling action. There would be a four way pull off with Yvonne Feichtel claiming first place with a distance of 29’2” at 30lbs. Her husband Tommy driving Money Pit would end up doing the dishes this time, coming in second place with a distance of 27’1”. Small Block Truck Pulls featured Gary Strainer driving Monster Bug narrowly claming victory over JD Kelly’s Wild Thing. Strainer drove his truck to a distance of 26’9” to Kelly’s 26’2”.

The day wasn’t over yet! R/C Monster Motorsports debuts another new event. See it here first R/C Monster Truck Sumo Wrestling. The Warriors, who were able to make it through all of the challenges throughout the day, had one final battle in a 20’ diameter circle. Each truck was fastened together with a special fixture designed and fabricated by Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports Inc.

Once both trucks were revved up and fastened together the driver’s anxiously awaited for the sound of a Japanese Gong. Yes, a gong! At the sound of the gong both opponents tried to out wrestle each others truck out of the 20’ diameter circle. The first truck to push the other outside the ring wins.

In Small Block Sumo it would be JD Kelly (JD son) driving Wild Thing versus Gary Strainer (Gary son) driving Monster Bug. Wild Thing would out muscle Monster Bug for the first ever Small Block Sumo win. In Big Block Sumo it would be Tommy Feichtel (Tommy son) driving Money Pit versus John Goodpastor (John son) driving Who’s your Daddy 2. Money Pit would nudge out Who’s Your Daddy for the win. Look for more R/C Monster Truck Sumo Wrestling at our upcoming events. Tradition Sumo Wrestling outfits optional.

Congratulations to Tony Jackson. Tony won a Traxxas T-Maxx courtesy of Ronnie Setser in the R/C Monster Truck Raffle. Thanks to all of our racers, sponsors, and supporting venues. See you next week at eXtreme Hobby Zone in Winter Haven, Florida for the next stop in the Iron Truck Challenge!

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