I happened to turn on TNN's monster Jam on saturday afternoon and noticed something new.

All the trucks of old have had no anti-squat or anti-dive which robs them of potential traction and makes for wierd handling characteristics. They also have the motors mounted midway on the chassis which unloads the front end making wheelies easy which also takes away from taction and kills their drag times. I had always thought they did these things for show. The trucks looks cool diving on braking and squatting on acceleration but it kills performance. The wheelies are cool too.

Team Meentz which apparently has been kicking ass recently has tried something new. Their suspension has a good bit of anti-dive and anti-squat built into it. You can tell because as he gets on the throttle or the brakes the truck doesn't dive or squat like all the others. They actually learned something about suspension geometry. He also put the motor on the front of the chassis which means he kills everyone in the drags and on airborne jumps the nose stays much more level and he can see what is going on as opposed to the other trucks with the nose pointed sky high on jumps.

So is it me or are they just catching on to what rockcrawlers have known for years? Are the teams allowed to make the chassis however they want? If so, I think I want to build a monster truck and kick some ass with all the tricks we know about :P

CJ I thought you were building a monster truck... :D

I happened to catch it last night and found something else even more interesting.

The guy who won drove the Ford and was sponsored by Ford, I think the name is "Old Blue" or something. He has a completely different approach than anyone I've seen. This guy wheelies from the starting line all the way until his back tires hit the first car pile. Then his front slams down and he accelerates even more. Last night he won in the show from Detroit with this style.

I'm not a huge fan but damn that was crazy to watch. I mean he's stairing straight up for like 30 yards and keeps it balanced, tak about nuts:eek: :rasta:

Originally posted by CJ Lagos
So is it me or are they just catching on to what rockcrawlers have known for years?

years...?????

Originally posted by CJ Lagos
............... I had always thought they did these things for show. The trucks looks cool diving on braking and ..........

Well lets think about that, if U win or lose U get paid the same:D What do U think:rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta:

Originally posted by SeaBass44


Well lets think about that, if U win or lose U get paid the same:D What do U think:rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :rasta:


Finally somebody agrees with me that the sport is Rigged...... for the past 3 years Team Meents (Goldburg) and Grave Digger ended up in the finals Coincidence I think not...... pre set up YES

Originally posted by CJ Lagos
So is it me or are they just catching on to what rockcrawlers have known for years? Are the teams allowed to make the chassis however they want? If so, I think I want to build a monster truck and kick some ass with all the tricks we know about :P

I think it must be just you :flipoff2: If you really think that monster trucks took there ideas from rockcrawlers :rolleyes: Team Meentz must have some new ideas though because his truck is getting more air than any other truck out there and surviving the landings.

CJ

Originally posted by dangerranger33



Finally somebody agrees with me that the sport is Rigged...... for the past 3 years Team Meents (Goldburg) and Grave Digger ended up in the finals Coincidence I think not...... pre set up YES


What do you expect. Thay have a wrestler backing one of the trucks. Monster trucks are just metal wrestlers

I dont think meentz is getting "more" air than everyone else, I just think he is landing a whole lot more squarely and the truck remains fairly level in the air...because of the suspension geometry and the motor being up front.

I just want to know if they can build the trucks however they want or what, perhaps the promoters are letting him use the new found technology so he becomes their money truck in terms of fan memoribilia.

CJ

MONTER TRUCKS KICK ASS......IF YOU THINK ITS RIGGED:flipoff2: :flipoff2: ......YOU HAVE TO BE A VERY SKILLED DRIVER TO HAVE A TRUCK BRAKE SOMETHING IN A RACE......OR LOSE CONTROLE A LITTLE AND LOSE BY AN INCH.......ETCETC......

ABOUT THE CENTER OF GRAVITY THEY WOULD FLY BETTER WITH THE MOTOR CENTERED IN THE RIG...JMHO

part of the dive helps absorb the shock and keeps the drivers back from turning into a slinky and show

Originally posted by 71RCKCRZR
MONTER TRUCKS KICK ASS......IF YOU THINK ITS RIGGED:flipoff2: :flipoff2: ......YOU HAVE TO BE A VERY SKILLED DRIVER TO HAVE A TRUCK BRAKE SOMETHING IN A RACE......OR LOSE CONTROLE A LITTLE AND LOSE BY AN INCH.......ETCETC......

ABOUT THE CENTER OF GRAVITY THEY WOULD FLY BETTER WITH THE MOTOR CENTERED IN THE RIG...JMHO

I didn't say rigged, I said winners and losers get paid the same, so not real competition.....

Hmmmm, When I built my 4-links/coilover suspension, I took the ideas from monster trucks... rockcrawlers at that time were mostly leaf sprung and didn't handle well at all when going fast over rough stuff.

NOT YOU SEABASS......

DANGERRANGER33 AND TOYMANIAC.....

The Goldberg truck, now known as Team Meents (wcw sponsorship is gone since wcw is gone) is actually based on the first actual tube frame monster truck built by Jack Wilman and named Taurus. Its an exact replica. That chassis design has been around since 88'.
Monster truck put the engine in the middle for many reasons. At first they did it to center the wieght of the truck. Landing nose first was hard on parts and on drivers. Also with the engine set in the middle behind the driver the trucks have plexan floors so the driver can see when the nose is up in the air or see down at the cars when its is level. And for safety reasons obviously it is better to not have transmission blow up under you with a 1500hp motor.
CCE runs the Monster Jam shows on TNN. They also own almost every truck on the show. Even Gravedigger. Team Meants is under contract with them too so its basically theirs too. The shows are not "Fake" but close to it. Some of the trucks at each event are Independants not owned by CCE and they will run hard but CCE is smart enough not to hire top notch Independants because they dont like to lose. Normally a CCE truck will always lay down and lose to Team Meents and Gravedigger but sometimes they cant help it because of a roll or spin out. Also if you run with CCE they take marketing rights for Tshirts at events and such. Thats another reason why you wont see a Bigfoot on Monster Jam.
Blue Thunder is the truck that won the other night. Its owned by CCE too. Its sponsored by Ford and has a CHEVY engine!!!!! HA!! Because of the Ford sponsorship they let its driver go for the wins too. You will see that at other show too. If its a drivers home town they let them go for the win and not laydown. Like the Carl Malone sponsored truck that has never won a race but won 2 of 3 nights in Salt Lake City (carl malone plays basketball for the Utah Jazz).
Basically CCE is considered a black eye to most Monster Truck owners. Most owners are hoping for more racing series like the ProMT series that started last year. ProMT is an open field with money devided up by how you finish. It also has a point series with more money for the champion.
Did I talk to much?:D

Well thanks zebra you cleared up a lot of the smack, I always wandered why you never saw Big Foot on TNN. I think Meentz is getting the most air him and Gravedigger are the only ones I see completing the double jumps, think I may of seen Blue Thunder do it once or twice also since he does have a kicking motor.

CJ

wow I didn't know there was a "Big Brother" to monster trucks

Ya Monster Jam is pretty much a joke but my son sure digs it. Do anything for your kids even if you have to fly to Vegas to see the Jam Finals. Hell even Medusa's boobies aren't real.

Bigfoot wanted to run with CCE but CCE wouldnt even let them tape themselves for Videos that Bigfoot sales. Bigfoot said no. You will also notice that they dont push Goldberg/Team Meents like they used too. He even wasnt at a couple of the telivised events this year. Without WCW as a sponsor and no Goldberg on the tshirts its not as marketable so they dont push it as much. The reason Goldberg is so fast is that he runs a bigger blower than the other trucks. The independant trucks that run on CCE have to run 871 blowers to comply with othe promoters rules and all the other CCE trucks use identical components to keep the price down and also use 871 blowers. Team Meents sits more level than the other trucks because of his shocks. Most trucks run Nitrogen shocks (super long travel and easy to adjust to different track, 2 per corner 1 for extension other for compression) and others use Kuster coil over shocks that arent as long travel and are not very adjustable(1 per corner, very dependable and little maintenence though). Meents uses a 2 nitrogen shocks per corner with one per corner with a coil over it to keep the ride level.

Again, I write to much huh?:D

I followed it alot as a kid...growing up in the South meant NASCAR, wrastlin' and munster' trucks was imbedded in you from day one. I wasn't really happy that it's gone so corporate lately, and the introduction of the wrestlers into the equation probably wasn't the best combo either. All they talk about now is "Who can beat Tom Meentz" thanks to Goldberg and his inflated ego.

Either way Tom Meentz's head is so big he would fit right in on Jeeps Unlimited.

Its part of the show. They tell Tom Meents to act that way. He's not really like that. But he is one hell of a driver

I just like the 'vroom vroom' sound :D


When wrestlers started to get into it I figured it was at least sorta rigged.
I got turned off by it when they went the 'wrestling way', you know where they yell and scream, etc. And when that had that 'mystery truck'. I turned it off after that.