The high octane, 1,500 horsepower, 12,000 pound machines from Monster Jam returned to the Payne Arena in Hidalgo this year featuring eight drivers and their teams competing in various competitions through five different shows.
Back in July Monster Jam held their World Finals in Nashville Tennessee where 24 teams were competing for the championships through four different competitions. With
one of them being Freestyle which consists of each driver getting two minutes to wow the crowd with the audience being the judges of who gets to win.
At the end of the night the eventual winner ended up being Colt Stephens from Houston Texas driving a brand new truck for this year called Thunder Roarus.
Stephens began driving in Monster Jam in 2014 but when the pandemic happened. Beginning in 2021 he was moved to a color commentator role for Monster Jam on NBCSN where he stayed for the last two years, but towards the end of last season he said it was his decision to return to get back behind the wheel.
“It was something that I knew I wanted to be back in the truck and I needed to so that’s kind of the direction I wanted to go.” Stephens said. “Commentating might be something that I definitely want to do in the future, but right now it’s being in the seat and obviously it paid off winning world finals. So I proved that the seat’s where I like to be and I think I deserve to be.”
Stephens is a second generation driver with his father being Scott Stepehens, the driver and creator of the King Krunch monster truck. And he said spending those years away from driving actually helped him improve by getting a different perspective on how to perform.
“Winning world finals. I never thought it would happen being in a new truck.” Stephens said. “I got a new crew chief. It’s been two years since I’ve driven and been almost four years since I drove an alcohol or methanol truck. So it was a lot of learning curves coming back, but it all accumulated and went down at world finals and couldn’t be happier.”
Crew Chief for Stephens’ Thunder Roarus Shelby Fisher said from the beginning of the year up until the end of the first quarter, she was actually working as a trainee with her first official start as crew chief being at the World Finals. And she explained what was going through her mind in the moment.
“So we were sitting there watching and I was trying to just watch it and I’m like, Oh, my gosh, this is really happening right now.” Fisher said. “Is this really happening right now? And then they announced Colt as the winner. And I just kind of stood there and I was like, my mouth opened. I looked up at the screen. I was like, no way. There’s no way. And it was so cool.”
Out of all the competitions that the teams compete in every weekend. Freestyle is the most demanding on the truck and Fisher said it definitely showcases the technicians abilities to keep the trucks working in top condition.
“Seeing him [Colt Stephens] just go and launch the truck, do big air and all these stunts, all the tricks and just seeing it just not fall apart and stay together.” Fisher said. “I just take so much pride in that. And it kind of does show our ability to be able to keep a truck running, keep it in tip top shape for the drivers to go out there and do what they do.”
Monster Jam will be returning to the Payne Arena next year from March 22-24 for more information visit monsterjam.com
