What A Weekend of Racing at Digger’s Dungeon R/C Monster Jam World Finals

June 1, 2007 – The results are in for the 2007 Dungeon R/C Monster Jam World Finals from Poplar Branch, North Carolina. There were 91 drivers with 214 trucks from 12 states at the race. Over the 3 days of racing there were over 275 side-by-side races. We would like to first thank Dennis Anderson and his family for providing a great venue to host this event along with all of his staff. This was our second year organizing this event with Dennis and this year’s event grew more than double from what we had last year.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors for this event: HPI, Traxxas , Parma, XXX Main, Venom Racing, R/C Raven, Pro-Line, RC Entertainment, Debbies R/C World Hobby Shop, MonsteRCUSA, Team PRP, Spaz Stix, Challenger Pulling Sleds, HPI Savage Forum, STS Micro Engines, RB Mods, Innovative-RC (England), Superior Hobbies, Savage Shock Covers, Tekin Racing, Nova, Castle Creations, Kyosho, Trinity, Maximizer Products, Tamiya and Racers Edge.

We would also like to thank RC Driver, RC Car Action, and Xtreme RC Cars magazines for coming out and covering the three day event. They not only covered the event but brought trucks and raced!

Lastly, I would like to thank the R/C Monster Motorsports crew and especially my family for spending long hours over the past months and during the event to make this event fun successful for everyone.

Concourse Winners

The Daily Driver winner was Daniel Ball from Virginia with Bounty Hunter. Dan Wyatt from Michigan won the Static Display with his Bronco Body custom Off Road truck. Steve Tash from Florida received special recognition from Dennis Anderson with the "Off the Hook" award for his Byron's Ford Thunder.

Side-by Side Racing Class Winners
Our World Championship winner in Side-by-Side Racing was Justin Heard from Orlando, Florida driving a Small Block Traxxas Revo. Justin went up against Big Block Champion Ryan Anderson in the finals. R/C Monster Truck Side-by-Side race class winners where:

World Champion Finals Standings

Top 5 Side-by-Side Racing Class Winners

The Side-By-Side Racing class winners received the following:

• Ryan Anderson - Rick Brake Mods STS Mircoengines Motor and Maximizer Wheels

• Justin Heard - Racers Edge Prize Pack valued at $150 and a Slap Mo Fro Fighting Gravity Video

• Dan Wyatt - Castle Creations Gift Card Valued at $250.

• David Pack - Creations Gift Card Valued at $250.

• Paul Overares - Tekin Electronic G-11 Speed Control

Freestyle
Bari Musawwir from Altamonte Springs, Florida driving a Team Losi LST 2 was crowned the World Championship in Freestyle. There were over 120 trucks that competed in this year’s freestyle event. Bari won this event last year and is now a two time R/C Monster Motorsports Freestyle World Champion. The judges awarded Bari a perfect score of 30. Bari won the $500 Bounty from Dennis Anderson and a STS Microengines Big Block "Monster Motor".

Long Jump
Over 90 trucks were signed up to compete in the long jump but only 34 decided to go for big air. John Schultz from HPI was the winner of the long jump competition. John won $100 from Dennis Anderson for hitting the fence and the end of the track. His jump was measured at 46 feet. The closest driver to John was Michael Crawford from California with a jump of 37 feet 4 inches. John gave the $100 back to Dennis to be used toward a permanent irrigation system for the track.

John also won the R/C Monster Truck Battle Royal. Since Team HPI took first and second place. John presented the third place winner Charles Beaman from Florida with the prize. Traxxas sponsored the winner of the R/C Monster Truck Battle Royal, the prize for first place was a Team Traxxas truck with all of the goodies valued at $2,500. This truck was driven by Darmon Atkins of Traxxas and Carl Van Horn, driver of the Full sized T-MAXX monster truck. The truck was autographed by Carl Van Horn and Dennis Anderson.

Post Race Raffle Winners
Among the many items that were raffled off during the post race ceremony the major winners were:

• Challenger Sled - Joey Gargaro (VA)

• Traxxas Stampede- Robbie Bunting (VA)

• Kyosho Mad Force - Matthew Riley (VA)

• HPI Savage X - Danny Myers (VA)

• Tamiya TXT-1 - Eddie Tipton (NC)

• Associated Monster GT - Kevin Willetts (NC)

• Traxxas Stampede- Mike Hylton (MD)

• HPI Savage X - Heath Bradshaw (VA)

• Traxxas T-Maxx 3.3 - James Knight (NY)

• HPI Savage X - Zeek Heard (FL)

Ethan Wyatt of Maryland won an HPI E-Savage (under 12yrs old). This truck was driven by Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports Inc. who took 2nd place in the Side-by-Side Brushed Electric racing class. The truck was topped with a Parma Grave Digger body themed for Diggers Dungeon event.

Early Bird Truck Raffle
On Friday our first day of racing we had over 120 trucks qualifying for Saturday’s Side-by-Side Elimination racing. The winner of the Early Bird Raffle was Justin Heard from Orlando, Florida who won an HPI Savage X provided by HPI Racing.

Spectator Raffles
Throughout the 3 day event numerous items were raffle off to spectators. Shane and Chase Gosney of Virginia won the top spectator prize which was a John Schultz, Team HPI built Savage X monster truck, driven by Dennis Anderson during the event.

Navy Special Warfare Foundation
The Navy Special Warfare Foundation was successful in raising $1,404. The winner of the raffle was Mark Ceja who won a HPI Savage X provided by HPI Racing. This raffle was to Support Navy SEAL families. For more information on the Naval Special Warfare Foundation Scholarship you can go to their website at www.nswfoundation.org.

Daniel Ball’s Bounty Hunter Wins Daily Driver Concourse at 2007 R/C Monster Jam

June 26, 2007 - We caught up with Daniel Ball this year’s Daily Driver concourse winner at the 2007 R/C Monster Jam. This was Daniel’s first major event other than running R/C trucks in his back yard, and at friend’s houses. He had heard all about the R/C Monster Jam experience from his friends who attended the 2006 event. They had urged him to go last year but he stayed behind. So he wasn’t about to miss it this year. He and his friends talked about the event weekly, planning what trucks to take, what power train would be needed for the event, what truck bodies they would we paint up and run and so on.

Daniel said that he had put in a lot of time into his trucks over the past year. He built the Bounty Hunter’s chassis from the ground up, cut his own tires, and painted the truck body himself. He had also built six other custom clod busters in the last year an a half. Daniel used to run nitro trucks but he found building the electric trucks more satisfying making them look like the real thing. On most any given night or day for that matter you’ll him in his garage working on a new "whatever" or doing maintenance on a completed truck.

Along about the end of March 2007 Daniel decided to build a "tube" chassis scale monster to enter into the static display concourse. He was able to complete the truck in a hurry, and knew when it was completed it would be worth it. He named the truck “Bits & Pieces 5ive” an awesome work of craftsmanship. We say this not to take anything away from his Bounty Hunter truck.

Well it was down to the Wednesday of the week of the event, before he had all the details on the trucks where he wanted them. Registration complete it was time for the concourse judging. Daniel said his heart was pounding as he watched the judges look over the 200 plus trucks. He was ecstatic when he saw Carl Van Horn honorary judge and T-Maxx driver pick up his Bounty Hunter, and lay it in the row for the final judging. At that moment Carl Van Horn became his new Monster Truck hero, just joking he said…

When Dennis Anderson came around and announced the decision, Daniel said he was on cloud nine, but nervous because Dennis was walking toward him with a microphone in hand, and he gasped as he had never spoken in public before. Daniel said, “After only 30 minutes on the track Dennis had already given me the nickname of Bob Chandler Jr.” Daniel said Dennis is a great guy, very personable, and interested in what all the RC guys had done with their trucks.

Two weekends later Daniel, and his buddy RC monster truck enthusiast Robbie Bunting went to a real Monster truck show in their area. Daniel and Robbie saw Dennis and as they walked up to him, Dennis said "well here comes "Hippie" and “Bob Chandler Jr." “Amazing the memory he has with all the fans he sees”, comment Daniel.

In closing there were some final thoughts Daniel wanted to share.

I want to thank RC Monster Motorsports for all their effort, in arranging an event of this caliber. It was the best thing I have even done related to the RC hobby. There was a lot of work put into the event of which the racers never saw, and those things can easily be taken for granted. I would like to praise all the people involved that let it come to pass, and make it go as smoothly as possible.

I would love to attend something of this caliber every month! Hey RC Monster truck racers if you didn't make it this year, you missed a great time, and you need to be there next year, mark your calendars!

The weather was great! The company was great! And early in the mornings the SKEETERS were BIG! Thanks for everything, and see you next year!

For more details and pictures of Daniel’s Bounty Hunter truck click here to view his online truck profile.

Traxxas Provides One-of-a-kind Team T-Maxx Truck for Battle Royal Winner

June 14, 2007 - Charles Beaman from Winter Springs, Florida received something special for his efforts in the Battle Royal competition at the 2007 RC Monster Jam event. Traxxas provided the winner of the R/C Monster Truck Battle Royal event with a Team Traxxas T-Maxx truck with all of the goodies. What was the Battle Royal you ask, well just a wild free for all, last truck standing bash your truck kind of event. John Schultz won the R/C Monster Truck Battle Royal. However, since Team HPI took first and second place. John presented the third place winner Charles Beaman with the prize. The truck was driven by Darmon Atkins of Traxxas and Carl Van Horn, driver of the full sized T-MAXX monster truck. The truck was autographed by Carl Van Horn and Dennis Anderson.

We spoke with Charles after he was given the Traxxas Team T-Maxx truck. Charles said, “I would first like to say thank you to my wife Laura for putting up with me and our heavenly Father for allowing this to happen.” Charles also wanted to thank his sponsors JAC Pro Fuel and Racing Products of Casselberry, Florida and Superior Hobbies of Casselberry, Florida for all their help along with his Gold Dust R/C Racing team members; Chas Beaman, Carey, Adele and Keenan Sparks. Charles said, “I would especially like to thank my daughter Samantha for letting daddy go play trucks with the boys.”

Charles would like to especially thank Traxxas for supplying the T-Maxx and supporting the R/C Monster Motorsports 2007 RC Monster Jam event. Unfortunately Charles custom hand fabricated modified sled pulling Clod Buster truck got destroyed during the Battle Royal. But the sacrifice was well worth the opportunity to own this one of a kind Traxxas 3.3 T-Maxx.

Charles first got involved with radio control cars 20 years ago with an electric buggy from Sears and from then continued to move up to bigger, better faster trucks. His first nitro truck is the Traxxas Pro .15 T-Maxx. Charles gave this truck to his son 7 years ago for Christmas and they still race it in the Small Block class with an upgraded 2.5 motor. Charles custom makes and fabricates most of his own chassis and parts for his trucks. He enjoys building and designing what he needs for the trucks.

Charles owns numerous R/C trucks including; Tamiya King Cab, Bruiser, Clod Buster, Ofna Pirate Monster, Duratrax Axial, Traxxas T-Maxx, Stampede, Kyosho 1/6 scale buggy and several nitro and electric boats and not to mention one hand fabricated two truck transport trailer. And that was what he could remember.

Here are the specs on the T-Maxx 3.3 that was given to Charles:

• Part #4909 - T-Maxx 3.3

• Part #5451R - Drive shafts, Revo/ Maxx (steel constant-velocity) (assembled with inner and outer dust boots) (for models with sealed pivot ball suspension and 3.8'' wheels) (4) Suggested retail price $80.00

• Part #5470 - Tires, SportTraxx racing 3.8" (soft compound, directional and asymmetrical tread design)/ foam inserts (2) Suggested retail price $35.00.

• Part #4962 - Aluminum Big Bore Shock Kit (8 shocks) Suggested retail price $99.99

• Part #5195 - Forward-Only Shaft Suggested retail price $12.50

• Part #4957R - Springs, Progressive Rate (for ultra-shocks only) (progressive rate) (F/R) (4) Suggested retail price $8.00

• Part #5372 - Wheels, Gemini 3.8"(Chrome) (2) Suggested retail price $11.00

Also included was a fuel bottle, extra receiver battery pack, and spare parts.

Wining the Traxxas T-Maxx 3.3 makes it his fourth T-Maxx in his stable of trucks. Charles typically brings around ten trucks to R/C Monster Motorsports organized races. Charles and his son started racing with R/C Monster Motorsports three years ago and formed the Gold Dust R/C Race Team. His son’s best friend and dad joined the race team last year. The Gold Dust Racing team has received several 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in concourse, side by side, freestyle, long jump, and sled pulling events at R/C Monster Motorsports organized events. You will find their trucks in Big Block, Small Block and Electric classes.

Driver Profile: Steve Tash's "Off the Hook" Concourse Winning Truck

June 9, 2007 - Steven Tash, has been racing with R/C Monster Motorsports since the 2003 season. Back in 2003 Steve bought his first R/C monster truck a Team Associated Monster GT. With only a basic knowledge of R/C monster truck racing Steve entered his first race at Race Rock in Orlando, Florida and won the Tug of War event.

After gaining more experience, Steve set his sites on building a customized R/C Monster Pull Truck to compete in the Sled Pulling competition. He learned by trial and error and eventually set the first heavyweight sled pull record of 90 lbs. Steve has been a regular at R/C Monster Motorsports organized events over the years winning numerous Side-By-Side races and his favorite event Sled Pulling.

With his sites set on bigger and better things Steve retired the Monster GT and purchased a Team Losi LST. The truck started stock out of the box however over the next 3 years this truck has grown into something special. Steve bought all the hop-up parts that he could and fabricated the rest. The result, one sick looking R/C Monster Truck known as the Byron Fuels sponsored Ford Thunder LST.

In the Heavyweight sled pulling class his LST has been unstoppable. He easily pulled 90lbs. matching the mark set by his first truck. Steve has powered his truck to 94 lbs. and 100 lbs. establishing new records on the way. The Byron Fuels sponsored Ford Thunder LST has had over 14 first in Show Concourse wins and is undefeated in the Tug of War event at R/C Monster Motorsports organized events.

Byron Fuels sponsored Ford Thunder LST specifications:

• Chassis: All Aluminum with numerous Integy after market parts. The chassis has been stiffened and modified with fabricated links and braces manufactured by Steve (Tash Motorsports) as well as having a custom mounting plate for the pulling sled.

• Complete Titanium output shafts, axles and carriers, by Hot Racing.

• Electronics: The steering servos are Airtronics Dual 200 oz mg. (94361z) and the throttle/brake servo is a JR590 all with custom linkages, with a Spektrum DX3Tx and Rx.

• The differentials are custom lockers front and rear.

• Tires and Rims: The rims are New Era 40 Series billet Aluminum and the tires are Imex Jumbo Claw Dogs.

• Engine: Initially the truck had a Picco Outlaw .27 however, the current motor is a OS VG .30 both mills have been polished and ported by Tash Motorsports.

• All of the body's for the truck have been custom painted by Steve (Tash Motorsports).

Besides having one of the most powerful trucks at every race Steve has felt the need for speed. R/C Monster Motorsports established a new event during the 2006 race season called Carpet Drags.

Steve tuned and tweaked his Byron Fuels sponsored Traxxas Revo 3.3 and currently holds the fastest Carpet Drags ET with a time of 2.01 seconds. During the 2006 Chase for the Championship Race Series Steven was also the Small Block Side-By-Side and Sled Pulling champion.

This past Memorial weekend Steve along with his fellow Team Syndicate members drove up from Florida to participate in the 2007 Diggers Dungeon RC World finals event. Steve entered the Byron Fuels sponsored Ford Thunder LST, Traxxas Revo, and a hand fabricated functional trailer. Steve likes to point out that his trucks are not just "Shelf Queens" or static display vehicles; they are the real deal racing trucks.

During the Concourse judging and after close scrutiny and inspection of the entire field of trucks (over 210) by the host and judge Dennis Anderson, he deemed Steve’s trucks to be "too much" to be judged with the rest of the Daily Driver's entries and honored Steve by creating a new class just for his trucks! Dennis Anderson deemed the new class "Off the Hook".

This was truly an honor and a very humbling moment for Steve. Steve couldn’t thank Dennis enough for the honor. Steve would also like to thank R/C Monster Motorsports for introducing him R/C Monster truck racing, his sponsors Byron Fuels, MonsteRCUSA.com and all the local hobby shops in Orlando, Florida.