Adding some successful new cities and returning to several locales that have been home runs year after year proved to be a recipe for another exciting Monster Jam World Tour that finished last weekend in Stockholm, Sweden.

Poland, Spain, and Mexico all hosted Monster Jam for the first time in 2009. I was there with some 45,000 plus new fans for what was an amazing event in Poland and I've heard lots of good things about the debuts in Barcelona and Mexico City, leaving me to guess that all three are prime candidates to host future Monster Jam events.

At the core of the Monster Jam World Tour are the locations where the sport has been building new traditions for five or six years, and hopefully Poland, Spain, and Mexico will enlarge that core in future years. To see the Globe Arena in Stockholm filled to capacity for a sixth consecutive year is the perfect example of a wildly successful new tradition being built not just in a new city but on another continent to boot. You have to think that more new homes will be added to the growing list of strong overseas venues for Monster Jam and it will be exciting to see where the sport heads next, but everyone involved in the World Tour really has special feelings for the Stockholm’s and the Helsinki’s and the Arnhem’s, cities that have seen fans turn out in huge numbers for five or more years.

Some thoughts and notes regarding the three events in Stockholm last Saturday and Sunday.....no one in Stockholm was happier Sunday than Candice Jolly. Not because she won the wheelie competition, which she was happy about, but she was most thrilled by her amazing save when the Monster Mutt Dalmatian appeared to be flipping over, all the way on its side, but somehow she got the truck back onto all four wheels. Candice said she had never pulled off a save like that before, so obviously, she was ecstatic.....we were all reflecting on how dominating Charlie Pauken had been in Grave Digger when it dawned on me that it was actually Damon Bradshaw who won two of the three freestyle competitions driving El Toro Loco. We’ve seen often on the 2009 Monster Jam European Tour that Bradshaw has consistently backed up his World Championship status with fantastic performances in freestyles on that continent since he won his title last March in Las Vegas…..back to Pauken, maybe no one in the industry has as much respect among his fellow drivers, and I’m not saying that just because he was undefeated in racing last weekend. In an interview in front of the Swedish fans during the pit party two –time World Racing Champion John Seasock, the Batman driver, referred to Pauken as “the greatest Monster Jam driver in the world.” High praise indeed, especially coming from someone who has so much respect on his own…..Coming up in this space next month I’m going to sit down with Seasock to talk about his foundation which is doing lots of great charitable works these days…..we see lots of drivers who get huge cheers in their home state events, but I don’t think anyone gets louder home field cheers than Thor driver Anders Flogard, the Swede who is wildly popular in his native land…..kudos also go out to Dan Evans, who again did a phenomenal job representing one of the European Tour’s biggest sponsor’s Disney XD. Although there were no event victories for his this time, which is rare for Evans in Europe, Evans was the one driver who consistently pushed Pauken as the pair had several close races during the time in Sweden. He was also on his game in freestyle and would have won Sunday’s wheelie competition if not for Candice Jolly’s amazing wheelie and save…..finally hats off to the crew members who worked the European Tour this year. I am constantly amazed at the hard work, long hours, and great results from R. L. Arace and all of his mechanical team. They seemingly can fix anything, and get it done right now. No matter the damage from show to show they found a way to get things put back together so the fans were almost always seeing the full complement of trucks at every Euro event. I think I can speak for everybody who participated in this year’s European events when I say that we can’t wait to go back there in 2010!