HI-TECH FREESTYLE: FANS’ TEXT SCORES WILL DETERMINE MOLINE WINNERS 

 Advances in technology have made a huge impact as Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam^® has grown into a world-wide phenomenon, allowing the sport’s talented drivers to fly their machines higher and race them faster while strengthening all the safety aspects of these amazing machines at the same time. Technological developments have also been coming into the sport that further fans’ enjoyment and knowledge at the events, like the addition of the pro tree starting lights and electronic scoring at this year’s Monster Jam World Finals, and now another major leap forward in that regard is coming to Moline, IL, this weekend when the fans in attendance will determine the winners of the freestyle battle between a incredible line-up of World Finals superstars by texting their scores in as the freestyle competition unfolds. 

The texting of freestyle scores by the fans in Moline follows up the most interactive event in the history of the sport, last month’s Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals^SM XIII presented by NGK Spark Plugs. It was there in Las Vegas where several popular new twists were added to the thrilling experience that the fans enjoy during every trip to Sam Boyd Stadium, this year allowing them to send messages and pictures to the stadium’s video board through the text to screen, pics to screen, and text polling programs. The text to screen was very popular as fans could send text messages that then appeared on the video board at select times throughout the world championship weekend and many fans did just that, texting in everything from Happy Birthday messages to texts of support for their favorite Monster Jam trucks and drivers.  Pics to screen also had lots of traffic when fans were able to upload pictures that they had taken at the Double Down and the Party in the Pits to an email address and then saw many of their pictures actually appear on the big screens in Sam Boyd Stadium. Maybe the most popular of these new hi-tech options was the text polling which was done several times throughout the weekend, beginning with allowing fans at the Double Down on Friday night to predict the Young Guns shootout winner, then continuing Saturday with text polls that predicted the winners of the World Racing and World Freestyle Championships. It was really entertaining for all of us to watch the numbers fluctuate as the fans began texting their picks in and those results were updated by the minute on the video screens during the events in Vegas. 

So this weekend in Moline, fans will get the ultimate interactive experience because their text scores will determine the freestyle winners this Friday and Saturday night. The fans in attendance will love it, but they have a tough, important, and serious job in this new role. The line-up in Moline is not only the best that market has ever seen live; it may be the best line-up that has appeared in any arena anywhere in the world this year. Ten-time World Champion Tom Meents will headline the event behind the wheel of Maximum Destruction^®, but I’m sure Tom will tell you himself that this is a wide-open competition with every one of the eight super talents in the field capable of taking home this coveted win where the fans make the final call. Going up against Max-D in Moline will be Whit Tarlton in Monster Mutt^®, all-time great Gary Porter driving Grave Digger^®, George Balhan’s Mohawk Warrior^®, Chuck Werner driving El Toro Loco^®, Chad Fortune in Captain America, young gun shootout participant Scott Buetow in Iron Man, and the Advance Auto Parts Grinder^® with Frank Krmel in the cockpit. Wow, what a line-up!!! The fans are in for a treat period, but you have to believe every superstar will be going for their best arena freestyle ever with the chance to be the first ever freestyle winner picked by the fans. I know, in the original days of freestyle fans were selected to score, but that was only three or four fans making the call. This time every fan who registers to be able to text in their scores, and meets all rules criteria listed on http://www.monsterjam.com/Events/2012/04/27/Moline,_IL/, will be one of the judges. 

Fans coming to Moline should go ahead and pre-register their phones to be able to text in their scores and be a part of this historic, first time ever, truly fan determined freestyle outcome. Registering can be done inside the arena but pre-registering means you are good to go as soon as the competition begins (Moline attendees - - you can pre-register your phone at http://www.monsterjam.com/Events/2012/04/27/Moline,_IL/). As a special incentive for fans who pre-register by midnight Thursday, they will also be registered in a special sweepstakes for a chance to participate in a private meet and greet with several of the amazing superstars who will be in Moline this weekend. If you are coming to this mega event then pre-register so you are ready to cast your vote so to speak and again if you do it before midnight Thursday you may just win that special invite to the private meet and greet with the drivers. It’s simple to do, just text the key word MONSTERJAM to 66937. There you go. It’s that simple and you’ll be ready to be a judge in this weekend’s freestyles. 

Once you have your phone registered to be a judge then at the event following every freestyle you’ll text the truck’s keyword and you’re score in. For example, if you think that El Toro Loco earned a seven, then you’ll text that truck’s keyword and the number, in this example it would be: ELTORO7. All of the text votes from the fans will be totaled for the next minute after their performance and the most common score will be the one that is recorded. So if 30% of the votes are say, a 7, and 28% are an 8, then the official score will be a seven. Every fan can have their vote counted in determining who wins the freestyles this weekend. 

To get you ready to be a judge, here are the keywords that will be used:  

Monster Mutt - MUTT 

Grave Digger – DIGGER 

Mohawk Warrior – MOHAWK 

Maximum Destruction – MAXD 

El Toro Loco – ELTORO 

Captain America – CAPTAIN 

Advance Auto Parts Grinder – GRINDER 

Iron Man - IRONMAN 

One of the reasons that the time seems so right for this new technology to be used in this way is that Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam fans are so knowledgeable these days, they know what makes a great freestyle and while everyone has their favorites when they walk into the arena, this new opportunity is one I’m sure they’ll embrace and reward the best performances with the highest scores no matter which truck it is. That said, fans will hopefully be looking for the same things that the judges on the tour consider: filling the clock, flow, momentum, hitting every obstacle in different ways, combinations, big air, unique moves, great saves, all the elements that make up a great freestyle. To give the fans plenty to judge the track construction crew will also be creating the biggest and most unique obstacles the fans have ever seen in Moline, and this time they’ll be on a dirt track for the first time in that building. 

It’s going to be an amazing weekend and I can’t wait to see what happens when the fans take total control of the freestyle results. Anyone coming to the events in Moline this weekend should make sure to pre-register their phone and be ready to judge an amazing night of freestyle as soon as the light turns green!