Galvan and La’Marr Debut in Nampa

The annual October Nampa event at the Ford Idaho Center has become somewhat of a debut mecca for future ‘Rookie of the Year” nominees. This year was no different as two brand new aspiring Monster Jam superstars strapped in for the first time: Abe Galvan and Khalil’ La’Marr.

 

 

The phrase “Superfan to Superstar” gets mentioned a lot in Monster Jam, including by yours truly on our television broadcasts, but I don’t know of another sport in the world that offers as many opportunities for fans to achieve their dreams as Monster Jam. Galvan and La’Marr are the latest in a long list of drivers who saw their dreams come true on the track.

 

For the last seven years, Abe Galvan has worked his way up the Monster Jam ladder, most recently bringing out the special Fire & Ice Grave Digger during the Monster Jam Road Trip at Walmart. Abe has held many positions with Feld Entertainment, but the goal was to drive. Now that he has accomplished that, the sky is most certainly the limit for the driver out of Chicago. If you want to understand how much respect he has earned from years of working hard, just look at his Instagram page and the who’s who of Monster Jam superstars giving him his flowers. During his debut weekend in El Toro Loco, Galvan kept getting better through each event which culminated with a third-place finish Sunday afternoon, just 4 points off the Overall Event Championship.

 

Orlando’s Khalil’ La’Marr took a different route to driving, similar to that of his friend and The Amazing Spider-Man driver Bernard Lyght. Both are accomplished stuntmen; both have formerly performed in Marvel Universe Live and now both have been behind the wheel of Megalodon. Lamar, like me, has been a part of the Orlando entertainment scene for years, and as a lifelong Monster Jam fan, looked to his former colleague Bernard to help open the Monster Jam door. After learning at Monster Jam University under the guidance of The Professor, Tom Meents, Khalil’ made his debut in front of a massive crowd as he piloted a 12,000-pound shark and now will look to be a contender for the 2025 Monster Jam Rookie of the Year award.

 

You can see Abe Galvan and Khalil’ La’Marr back in action this weekend during our Monster Jam live streams from the Spokane Arena, which will also include the highly touted one-time-only return of Backwards Bob driven by Dalton Widner.