First Quarter MONSTER JAM Update
February 7, 2012
The first quarter of 2012 has been extremely busy for Joe Sylvester Motorsports and BAD HABIT Monster Truck Racing. Between getting the truck and hauler ready for three months of Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam and going through some changes in crew members, things have been very crazy the past couple months. Our season started off in Columbus, OH with a display at Taco Bell and one at Advance Auto parts, both had a great turnout. That weekend, we performed in front of thousands of people during three performances at the Nationwide Arena. Despite having transmission issues all weekend, the ReadyLIFT BAD HABIT sponsored by Lincoln Welders won a few rounds of racing and kept the fans on the edge of their seats during freestyle.
After Columbus, it was time to start our five week southern swing kicking off at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio with another successful display at HEB grocery store. Over 100,000 wild Monster Jam fans would pack the stadium during the two shows that weekend. Still struggling with transmission problems and tire setup, we lost in the first round both nights. After my crew worked hard all night fixing damage from a wild freestyle on Saturday night, the truck worked well and I was able to put on a great show in freestyle for the fans in San Antonio during the Sunday afternoon performance.
Hidalgo, TX would be our next stop on the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam tour. After a static display at Advance Auto Parts on Thursday, we performed in front of a sold out crowd in all five shows that weekend starting on Friday night. Throughout the weekend, the ReadyLIFT BAD HABIT truck took home second in freestyle every show and a few round wins in racing. Again we had a long weekend with five shows and a lot of broken parts, but thanks to my crew Cory and Ray, we got the truck up and running every time! I would also like to give a huge thanks to Marty and the Truck Toyz Performance crew for allowing us to use their shop for the couple weeks we were down in south Texas.
Our next stop was the “Big Easy” - New Orleans, LA and the Superdome for one huge show in front of about 60,000 fans and the SPEED channel cameras. With a unique track layout for racing that not many of us have seen, it was any racer's night. The ReadyLIFT BAD HABIT took down a very fast BACKDRAFTR in the first round. Second round saw us paired up with long time veteran Dan Evans in the HOT WHEELS machine. Just as we thought round two was in the bag, the rear steer motor burnt up and we lost the race in the last turn when the steering locked to one side. After thrashing all through intermission, my crew and I got a new solenoid and rear steer pump on the truck and were ready to tear it up in freestyle. With a tricky course, I started off with a few strong hits but after misjudging a jump, I landed on the front very hard taking out the tie rod and steering ram mounts on the knuckle ending my run early.
This past weekend we came back over to Texas to perform in front of another 60,000 crazy Monster Jam fans at Reliant Stadium in Houston. On Friday we got to interact with some of our Houston fans at a local Fiesta Grocery store while the truck was on display. The race course was traditional Chicago-Style and the freestyle course was very busy with obstacles everywhere. First round we were paired up with the all new CAPTAIN AMERICA truck driven by veteran Chad Fortune who has been fast all season. It was a close race that came down to the final turn and I tried a different steering technique without using the rear steering and lost by a small margin. Freestyle started off well with a few big air hits and slap wheelies. A tire blew off the bead but I did not let that stop me from filling the clock for the great Texas fans. Huge thanks to Pablo and Tina Huffaker of Racesource for their unbelievable hospitality and opening up their shop and home to us to be able to get the truck back up to 100%.
I would like to thank all our sponsors for another season of support:
I would also like to welcome all our new sponsors to the team for 2012 :
Thank you again!
-Joe Sylvester