Weekend Race Recap
Milwaukee, WI (January 10-11, 2003)
Friday
Tonight's show belonged to the two crowd favorites. The Wheelie Contest led a night filled with full throttle action. Running second, the local favorite, form Muskego, WI, Devastator set his truck up on top of the crush cars earning the best score with one single truck remaining. That truck, was Grave Digger. Rod powered Digger up and over the first crush car, resting the tailgate of the 1950 Chevy Panel Truck on to the top of the second crush car with the grill pointing to the rafters. With a burst of power, Digger finally came back down on all fours. Grave Digger scored a perfect thirty to take the victory.
With his dramatic victory on the Wheelie, Digger would have to sit out the Doughnut and Freestyle contests with a bent brake rotor. Bad News took over the contest, raising the tires off the track surface for the dramatic, crowd pleasing Doughnut. The crowded cheered the site of driver Bruce Haney's steering wheel hanging out of the drivers' side window, and scored the performance a perfect thirty.
Freestyle belonged to the local truck Devastator, and driver Mark Schroeder. A mini van found it's way to the middle of crush car stack, and the Monsters went after it. The top three trucks all scored with in one point of each other, as they launched themselves high into the air with the help of that mini van. The best of which was Devastator, using the van to completely clear the stack three times. The crowd showed their support with the winning score.
In Quad Wars, the captain for the visiting team out of Minnesota failed to make friends here in Milwaukee during his interview before the show. He attempted to assure the crowd of Minnesota's victory. The crowd wouldn't have any of it. Team Wisconsin, fueled by the crowd, easily took Race 1, but Minnesota would come back after both captains jumped the start, to take the checkered flag. The finals would prove that the crowd was in fact behind the winners, as Wisconsin would easily taking the victory.
Devastator earned a first round racing bye with his victory in Freestyle. Bad News crossed the finish line ahead of Radical Rescue in race one. With Digger's crew working since the Wheelie Contest to get the truck repaired in time for racing, the time would come where Digger would have to make it to the line. The crowd cheered to help Digger fire, and fire he did. On the line against Rolling Thunder, Digger proved he was back to normal making it into the next round. Rolling Thunder would make it to the second round as well as the fastest loser.
In round two, Digger would power past Bad News, and Rolling Thunder took Devastator to a photo finish. However, Devastator suffered a broken rear wheel helping Rolling Thunder to make the finals. But as luck would have it, Rolling Thunder also suffered damage to his steering causing him to miss the next round.
Bad News again had a chance to knock off Digger, this time in the Racing Finals. Tonight, though, it would be Digger's night. Rod Schmidt gave the Milwaukee fans the race they wanted to see, taking Digger across the finish line to victory.
Saturday Afternoon
With Grave Digger back in top form, the crowd in Milwaukee got exactly what they came to see. All trucks, in fact, after a challenging Friday night show were back in top form going into the night's first contest.
As the final truck to run in the Wheelie Contest, Grave Digger would easily take this one. Rod stood the Digger straight up and down on the second crush car, and then "walked" the truck over the next two. The crowd was amazed as they scored it a perfect 30.
In the Doughnut Contest, last night's winner would thrill the crowd in exactly the same way, and earn exactly the same score. Bad News turned in the best doughnut no question about it. Again today, driver Bruce Haney brought the fans to their feet as he stuck the steering wheel out of his window. The crowd judged the performance, for the second straight show, a perfect 30.
Last night's Freestyle winner again ran strong today. Devastator utilized the mini van to jump high above the crush cars. The crowd loved the truck, and scored it a 26. The final truck to run would be Grave Digger. Rod Schmidt let loose with Digger, jumping the mini van several times, and for his final run, again "walked" a wheelie over the crush cars. It seemed like Digger's headlights were in the air forever as Rod rode the wheelie down the crush cars and back onto the concrete before dropping the front wheels. One point short of perfect gave Digger the Freestyle victory.
In Quad Wars, team Wisconsin won the first and second heats, assuring them the best of three for the second consectutive show. The final race would be more about Minnesota's pride then anything else. After the two captains locked up the quads on lap four of the final, the race had to be stopped and then restarted under a red flag. In the final four laps, the race was easily handled by Minnesota's team captain.
Monster Racing showed us again why this Digger truck is undefeated at this early point in the year. Digger earned a first round bye. Radical Resuce beat Devastator, and Rolling Thunder made it past Bad News to the second round. Devastator came back as the fastest losing time to face Digger, but was then sent back to the pit area, as Digger made his way to the second straight finals for the weekend. Radiacal Rescue and Rolling Thunder raced to a such a close photo finish, the judges needed to confirm the call with the video screen replay. The replay clearly showed that Radical Resuce would go to the finals.
In the finals, we have the former crew chief for Grave Digger, Ron Cochran, driving Radical Rescue, taking on Rod Schmidt in his famous 1950 Chevy Panel Truck. After a dramatic build up, the crowd watched as the light went green, and with a burst of ear shattering power, Digger took the checkered flag for his second straight victory of the weekend.
Saturday Evening
Tonight's competition was just as thrilling as earlier today, but, with one major surprise in the finals.
The night started with yet another thrilling Wheelie by Digger. Grave Digger was built for this contest, as again, he rides the wheelie over the crush cars for this third straight perfect score of thirty.
Th Doughnut Contest also has its dominant truck this weekend. Bruce Haney's Bad News was equally impressive in the this contest all weekend. Again, without question the best doughnut, with the his steering wheel hanging out the window and all... he again earned a perfect score of thirty.
Freestyle offered as much as this crowd, or any other, could handle. Rod Schmidt was determined to take his second Freestyle victory. With the mini van again placed in the crush car line, Digger went to work, never letting the pedal come up for air. On his next to last run, Digger brought the red headlights up to face the rafters AGAIN, road the wheelie off the stack AGAIN, but this time kept it going and nearly brought the truck over backwards. Only the expertise of driver Rod Schmidt, and the wheelie bar on the back of the truck could save Digger from flipping over. The crowd loved it with a perfect score of thirty.
In Quad Wars, Team Minnesota took the first two heats. In the finals, however, Wisconsin rode away with the easy victory as the Minnesota team captain was bumped in turn two of the final lap and out of the race. Understandably upset, he issued a captains challenge, which would only give Wisconsin yet another victory.
In Monster Truck racing, the Milwaukee fans were served up a surprise in the final race. In reality, however, the victory should come as no surprise. The driver of the truck Radical Rescue was the former crew chief for the Grave Digger. Having such a strong racing background, Ron Cochran was a natural to get his own truck, and take on Digger in some side by side racing. Earlier today, the same two trucks met at the line with Digger taking the checkered flag. But tonight, with a finish so close, and so tough to call, it was Radical Rescue crossing the finish line ahead of Digger.
