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Legends Turn Back the Clock in El Paso

Authored by Scott Jordan on March 14, 2024

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but that archaic philosophy does not apply to Monster Jam. Last weekend in El Paso, two legendary drivers proved there is still plenty of fuel left in their tanks.

 

The online community was buzzing when the announcement came that 2010 World Finals Freestyle Champion Charlie Pauken would be returning to Grave Digger for the first time in four years. The last time we saw Chuckie in the black-and-green wrecking machine was on March 8th of 2020, where we won the event championship in El Paso. Shortly after, Charlie would be crowned the Stadium Yellow Series Champion because he had the points lead when the pandemic ended the season early.

 

With nostalgia in the air, the three-time Thunder Nationals Champion entered the UTEP Sun Bowl on Saturday night and turned back the clock, winning skills and freestyle en route to the Overall Event Championship. Charlie can still win, and he can still win a lot as he proved last year on the International Series where he led the tour with five freestyle wins.

 

 

Speaking of freestyle, if you head on over to MonsterJam.com and check out the El Paso results, you will see another legendary name near the top of the freestyle leaderboard as Jim Koehler turned back the clock and turned in his best performance of the season, finishing second in Avenger.

 

 

While Sunday’s event would belong to his son Chris who took home his first overall win, Jim proved that the two-time World Finals Freestyle Champion can still compete at a high level and live up to his “Mr. Excitement” moniker. The seven-time Extreme Air Award winner has flashed the brilliance at times this season, that has made him one of the most popular drivers of all time.

 

With over 60 years of seat time combined, both Pauken and Koehler will go down as two of the sports all-time greats when they decide to hang up their respective fire suits, until then we can all enjoy a few more great nostalgic runs any single night these two legends fire up their Monster Jam trucks.

 

You can watch my interview with Charlie on Inside Monster Jam Powered By Lucas Oil Saturday April 13th at 9 p.m. EST on MAVTV and you can check out my interview with Jim and Chris Koehler on YouTube or in the Inside Monster Jam archives wherever you download your podcasts.