Day 4

It was a cold morning in Las Vegas today!  We walked down the street to Denny's for breakfast and the sky was dark and looked like it was about to rain, it was also really cold.  There was also a long wait for our food at Denny's so we had to walk really fast to get to the Imperial Palace hotel to catch the shuttle.

We got to our shuttle bus in really good time and since there weren't many people on yet, the driver decided to be nice and leave early.  That got us to the stadium in enough time to be one of the first in line for the second day of the pit party.  After talking to some people yesterday who have been to five world finals, we realized that we probably wouldn't get Dennis Anderson's autograph because there would be so many people.  The people that have been here before said about 1,000 - 2,000 people rush toward Grave Digger's location, so we decided we'd get all the Monster Mutt trucks instead.

When the gates opened everyone started rushing.  Dad grabbed my arm and took off running, pushing past people and running around tents and the displays.  We ran straight toward Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger location...and we made it in!  They only let a limited number of people in the first session (there are only two sessions) and we did it!  Even then it took nearly two hours in line, but I was able to get Dennis Anderson's autograph on my world final's shirt and book...we even got a photo!

We started for the Monster Mutt Dog Pound, where all the dog themed trucks are but realized we would never make it before the 2pm cut off.  So we walked around and found a few more drivers that we were able to get in to see.  We found Damon Bradshaw who drives Air Force Afterburner.

 

And the Advance Auto Parts Grinder team, all very experienced drivers; Frank Kimmel, Lupe Soza and John Seasock.

Then I competed in a radio controled Monster Truck race using miniture models of trucks. 

I also signed a box truck that everyone autographed and the drivers demolished in the freestyle event.

There was still some time before the afternoon autograph session so we had some lunch and listened to the Air Force Reserve Band.

Dad heard that they were going to cut off the line for the Monster Mutt Dog Pound when it got full, so we walked over nearly 40 minutes before the line even opened and camped out for a spot. 

The Pit Party is huge!  There are events, Monster Trucks, displays, musicians and food everywhere. 

Finally they opened the line and after an hour and a half we made it!  The first driver we saw was Rich Helgendorf driving Spike.

The we saw Pitbull with Gerald Torres.

Charles Bens driving Monster Mutt Rottweiler.

Chris Bergeron driving Brutus...he's another one of our favorites and one of the nicest drivers.

I even got to walk up close to Monster Mutt Dalmation.

And the original Monster Mutt.

Then got to meet Candice Jolly of Monster Mutt Dalmation and Charlie Paulkin of the original Monster Mutt.

We walked over to see Robosaurus, the car-eating, fire-breathing demolisher.

We thought we'd never get in to see Cam McQueen of Nitro Circus, but during one of the events the line went down and we got to talk to him!  Nitro Circus is owned by stunt driver Travis Pastrana who is from Davidsonville, MD.

The we found Steve Simms from Virginia Beach who drives Stone Crusher.

I thought we wouldn't see anyone else, but I made it in time to see Paul Strong of Martial Law and Kaila Savage of Heartbreaker.

Joe Cypher of Airborne Rangers was just getting ready to leave, but I got him just in time!

Time was ticking away, but I ran and made it to Rick Dunsmoore of Maverick.

By now they were calling all the drivers to the Monster Truck parade, but Dad and I ran to catch some others like Todd Leduc of Blue Thunder, we just didn't get photos of all of them.

Finally they made everyone leave the truck area so they could line them up for the parade into the stadium.  While we waited we grabbed some dinner, I ate a roasted corn on the cobb that even had the husk still attached.

We walked over to the stadium and found our seats, we were only five rows up.  By now it was starting to get cold again.  I had to put on a sweatshirt and my jacket and was still cold.  It was also really windy.

Before long they had the drivers come out in pick-up trucks to wave to everyone.  Here is Dennis Anderson and Madusa.

Jeremy Silfko and Chris Bergeron.

Jeremy is only 20 years old and the youngest driver to make it to the World Finals.

George Belham and Damon Bradshaw.

They inducted 13 people into the Air Force and sang the national anthem.

Then the trucks came roaring out and circled the track while music played and fireworks went off.  We even had a flyover from military planes while the national anthem played.

The racing was amazing and I had a blast, it went on a long time but I loved every minute of it.  It got so cold that we ended up buying some hot chocolate (and I had a churro). 

The racing was one by Tom Meents who drives Maximum Destruction.  Then we went on to the freestyle where 24 drivers each get two minutes to pull as many stunts as they can with the truck. 

The first driver was Cam McQueen in Nitro Circus who did some huge air and pulled a backflip!  He got a 32 which is the highest score for the first driver out in history! 

A lot of the drivers ended up on their roof or lost tires.  The other good driver was Jim Koehler who didn't do a flip but also got a 32 score.  He always jumps in the fountain in the middle of the track, but this year they didn't have a fountain so he got a limo with a hot tub in the back.  He climbed up and jumped in the hot tub for a run around the track!

Jimmy Creten of Bounty Hunter had a really good run, he even knocked the body off his truck!

Maximum Destruction won the racing.

The Freestyle was a tie, so they added in the highest score (which is always dropped) and it was still a tie!

So the rules call to add in the lowest score and that pushed Jim Koehler of Avenger into first place and he won the freestyle.  I wasn't happy, I wanted Cam McQueen to win...but Cam had a great attitude and gave Jim Koehler a high five and a hug.

By now it was after midnight and we arrived there just after 10am!  It took another hour to get the shuttle back to the hotel and then even more time to find a taxi, I was too tired to take the monorail or walk.

We got back to our room around 2am and I had a burst of energy.  I got some snacks from the gift shop and watched some TV...I was so excited about the event that I couldn't sleep.  Dad says I passed out suddenly around 2:45am.  This was an incredible long day!