Maximum Destruction Driver, Tom Meents Planning For Another Chance At The Double Backflip

By Scott Douglass
Jul 10, 2012

 Tom Meents’ much anticipated attempt at the first ever double back flip in an Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam^® truck came up just short last month at Met Life Stadium, but that doesn’t mean the daring, extreme move is impossible. To the contrary, Meents believes that his first attempt really proves that it can be done, and he is hoping that he will get another opportunity to pull it off. Meents says that he is already thinking about it and planning for it if and when he gets to go for the double back flip again.

The first ever attempt at the double in the shadows of New York City saw Maximum Destruction^® make it about one and two thirds of the way through before the truck twisted sideways. Max-D had what appeared to be the right speed and height during the attempt at history and the first back flip looked close to perfect. But just after the half-way point of the second 360 degree revolution the truck began to twist sideways and was unable to complete the second back flip.

Rather than indicate that the spectacular stunt cannot be done, one of the sport’s greatest innovators says he believes that coming up just short the first time means that if he gets a second try he will be able to pull it off. “I can’t wait to try it again,” Meents told me. “I know I can make it happen. The truck is right, it can do it. I’ve got a few modifications in mind that we need to do and we’ll be ready to try it again. Five percent here and five percent there will add up to 100%. I’ve looked at so much footage from so many angles. Between what all of the Speed cameras shot and all of the footage that is on You Tube I think I’ve seen maybe 20 different angles, and it really has let me look closely at some of the things that went wrong.”

So what does Tom say kept him from completing the double back flip in East Rutherford? “To me the main reason was that the right side of the ramp had been somewhat compromised during the freestyle competition,” Meents reasoned. “Then the track construction crew had to spend a lot of time to get Grave Digger^® moved after Dennis’s crash, which just made the time frame tighter for them to get the ramp ready. I still thought that there was plenty of room on the left side of the ramp to pull it off. I actually moved to the left, looked at the run I would have, and then moved even further to the left and I think because of moving so far left I actually hit the ramp just a little bit crooked. Even though the first rotation was good when you look at the footage you can see that even that first rotation had a little bit of an angle to it, and that carried over to the second rotation even more. So I think that the main problem was that the ramp had been compromised during freestyle.”

Meents went on to say that during the live event circumstances at the time did not allow the track construction team the proper time to make corrections to the ramp. “The dirt crew lost a lot of time having to remove the Grave Digger truck, it was a big crash and they had to wait to get Dennis out and make sure he was alright,” Meents recalled. “Those guys do an amazing job with the time that they have to work with, but because of the time it took to remove that truck it cut into the time they had to get ready for the double.” The ten-time World Champion also had to modify his original plan at the run-up to the ramp because of the way the track was laid out for the first ever major stadium competition for Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam in the New York City market. “All week long I had been preparing and focusing, planning on coming from the tunnel to check the speed a couple times, then coming from the tunnel for the double back flip,” Meents explained. “I didn’t foresee that there would be an obstacle there. So I didn’t have the opportunity to come from the tunnel because of that freestyle obstacle. So that caused me to change the plan. I would have preferred to come all the way from the end of the building to hit the ramp.”

As soon as Maximum Destruction crashed to the ground about two-thirds of the way through the second flip Meents says he wanted to make another attempt right there in Met Life Stadium. “There is a reason it took me a while to get out of the truck,” Meents remembered. “After it was done I was there in the truck and I didn’t get out right away. I was fine. Mark Cole (Crew Chief for the specially built double back flip truck) got there to make sure I was OK and I asked Mark if the truck was OK and he said that it was. I said ‘flip it back over, we’re going again.’ That was my immediate thought, let’s go for it again. Then Mark noticed a tire was flat and I told him to go take a tire off of Neil’s truck (Neil Elliott’s Maximum Destruction monster jam truck was there having just won that freestyle competition). I wanted Mark to go right then and pull a wheel off of Neil’s truck and put it on mine; I wanted to do it again. I didn’t get the chance, but I wanted to go again right then and there.”

In talking with Tom I got the impression that he is not disappointed at all that the first attempt was not successful, that all he is doing is looking forward in hopes that he gets the opportunity to give it another try. Meents is really appreciative of everyone involved with Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam who worked so hard to make this special moment become reality, and to all of the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam fans for their support and encouragement as he made the attempt. “To me I thought that it was so cool that Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam went out on a limb and gave me the opportunity to do it,” Meents said. “I mean it took lots of money to promote this and to get fans excited about it and they did such a great job promoting it. That’s one of the things I love so much about running for Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam these days. Just to see them willing to invest in the sport for the long term, that’s so exciting to be a part of and it’s awesome that they really got behind letting me try the double. I can’t wait to try it again.”

That was about the fourth time during our conversation that Meents told me “I can’t wait to try it again.” So I thought the logical final question in this interview was to ask not about what he hopes will happen, I asked him what he really thinks will happen. Will there be another attempt at a double back flip? “Absolutely! There will be another attempt at the double backflip,” Meents responded instantly. “Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam gave me such a great opportunity to make it happen and I hope they will do it again. There are a few things that we need to fine tune, but we’re not very far off. It was so great in East Rutherford to see almost all of the fans stay to watch the attempt. They were all talking about it before, everyone I talked to was asking me about the double. That fan support is so awesome, and with the support of the fans I really hope that Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam gives me this great opportunity again, the chance to try it again. I believe that will happen some place, some time, and hopefully sometime soon.”