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Real Racing Monster Trucks
sporting fully blown supercharged Drag racing
1500 horse powered engines capable of speeds
over 100 kilometres per hour, contesting a wheel
standing sky wheelie
competition will take to the arenas, check out
our events page for a show near you!
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Still powering on |
Roll
on with the recession that’s all I
can say after the first three
official months of the latest World
recession all I can say is can we
PLEASE keep it.
Crowds are definitely way up this
year. Merchandise is up over 30%,
advertising rates are at realistic
prices and on a selfish basis its
even possible to find workers to
travel on the road which is always a
problem for a major touring road
show like the Monsters Tour of
Destruction.
I spoke with USA monster truck
driver Paul Shafer when he was in
the country last year voicing my
concerns about the impending bad
economy and his suggestions were
that people really start to believe
all the media doom and gloom, stop
travelling away for the annual
holidays etc. So when an annual type
spectacular like ours hits town they
figure what the hell its a
reasonable priced night out. I do
believe he’s right virtually
everywhere we’ve gone this year has
been a sell out and we now have most
venues locked up on five year deals
to ensure we will be heading back on
an annual basis for a while to come.
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National Coverage |
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We are also really stepping up our
marketing this year, here in
Australia you will see a lot more
of Scooby, Batman, Outback Thunda
and co. on TV starting with a live
broadcast from Movie World at Easter
for the Bat and Scooby then from
there our own TV show will
definitely appear on a monthly basis
on FOX, SBS and on Bi Monthly on
Noontime slots on National TV9
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Still Growing |
Jane
Simmons has left her promotional
position at the Macquarie Radio
station Network to assist in
Promotions and will be a great asset
as major expansions continue in our
attack into the world of monster
truck that brings us to yet even
more big news lots more new bodies
and new trucks are explained later
in this edition of the monster
monthly and this is all part of a
serious attack that will finally see
this company seriously invade the
likes of NEW ZEALAND, CHINA and
various other ASIAN countries. We
are rapidly tying all our venues in
long term contracts in this country
and now see it as a perfect time to
expand into the Asian market. The
New Zealand Tour will commence in
Auckland in October this year and
again will be an ongoing
relationship that will then happen
every two years.
Once upon a time we had this dream
of working with the Americans
nowadays I believe we can take our
trucks and produce a family style
show that includes a wide range of
entertainment that in time can be a
better product. Certainly we can’t
and don’t want to try to match their
VEGAS show, who would want to the
costs would be horrifying and human
nature then expects every show to be
as good as that.
No, we have a great product that we
are refining that will continue to
grow and is already a major
highlight on many towns around
Australia’s calendar each year.
We do have to continue to address
spectator safety, lack of seating,
better catering, better production
of the actual show, and better
ticketing not dramatically but
certainly these are area’s that we
and a lot of other event organisers
suffer in but rest assured over the
next few months HUGE changes will
occur.
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A New Beginning for Motorstorm |
That’s
right once the trucks return from
their current Western Australian and
Southern Australian adventures the
Sony Playstation truck Motorstorm
will be NO MORE. Once there was
management changes at Sony last
September all interest was lost in
the Motorstorm truck and we were
basically going through the legal
motions to keep the company happy
but no matter how many times we
called them to let them know the
progress of their truck they would
never show interest or even return
calls. However we decided to keep
faith and although they had not
really kept up their end of the deal
we honoured ours and now we can
finally move on and with some
regrets we say farewell to
Motorstorm. It’s had some great
victories including Dan Patrick’s
win in the Racing at Last years
World Finals event at the Brisbane
Entertainment Centre. That was
followed up on the same night by
Kreg Christensen with a Freestyle
victory in the same truck. It has
been Jaye Featherby’s regular truck
for the entire season, has featured
on hundreds on TV shows some more
for the unfortunate reason as this
was also the truck that TV
personality Grant Denyer
mysteriously injured his back in at
Dapto Showgrounds last year. All in
all Motorstorm will certainly be
remembered for a long time to come
but GUESS WHAT???
MOTORSTORM TO BECOME THE NEW BUGS
BUNNY TRUCK…….
That’s right keeping with the 3D
Warner Brothers/Looney Toons cartoon
trucks what better way to say
goodbye to a Champion than to
replace it with one of the most
famous cartoon characters ever
created. Under licence from Warners
again Bugs will be designed and
built by Lindsay Houston from L.D.I.
Kustom Signs and Designs and should
be released at the Cairns Show on
June 6. If this fails due to design
approvals from Warners then its
release will be at Dapto Showgrounds
in September. Many names are being
thrown around for the new truck.
Bugsies Revenge being one of the
favourites at present and rest
assured this truck is set to be just
as popular as the Scooby Truck which
would have to be one of the World
most popular characters. Lindsay
says the design for the bugs truck
is going to be his best yet and will
be a real crowd favourite . Yet
another fantastic asset for the
Monsters Tour of Destruction in 09
and 2010.
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But that's not all Folks |
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BUGS is set to get a new friend
because he is going to be joined by
another well known kids favorite
TAZ. That’s right still keeping
with the kids theory. We will be
saying farewell to Thunda 2 and
replacing this body with an all new,
style TAZ body that will NOT be a
direct copy of the American one in
fact it blow theirs away just as
Batman did. Everyone said when we
built our latest Batman that we
would just copy the USA one. Not a
hope in hell ours is far nicer and
that’s exactly what Lindsay has
promised with TAZ. Anything we do
from here on in has to be better and
it will be, TAZ will definitely be
in Cairns for the June 6 show and it
was one of the stipulations from
Warners that we don’t directly copy
the Feld one and why would we want
to.
Just
when you thought every USA design
was sacred well its not Monster
Patrol is coming off the circuit for
awhile after Mt Gambier and is set
to get a whole NEW facelift and will
return to the public arena as the K
ZONE MONSTER PATROL with a whole new
Police look, gone will be the
current Sheriff. In its place will
be a more kids friendly themed
truck, still similar to CARS
Sheriff, again targeting the 3 to 13
year age group. The flashing lights
will stay as will the green colors,
but that’s about the only
resemblance you will see to the old
Monster Patrol. We are currently
talking to the Police forces about
using the truck for various
promotions in certain states which
will also be good for branding and
could even lead to sponsorship
through the drink driving campaigns.
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The original Thunda gets a new look |
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That’s
right after 22 years of twisting
oddly over the cars with its giant
coil spring out dated chassis over
the next couple of months poor old
Thunda as we know it will be NO more
Thunda will get a Brand New Chassis
from James Tigue and Rich Inman.
New sheet metal housings, new
Coombes shocks, new Profab transfer
case new poweglide transmission, all
Patrick sway bars and accessories
basically the lot, then it will get
the Thunda 2 Body and will all be
reassembled by one of Kreg
Christensen sons in time for the
July shows. Basically a complete
new truck. The Old Thunda will be
repainted and will be kept as a
display item at the new permanent
Souvenir Shop opening at the Big
Kart track later in the year on the
Sunshine Coast in Sunny Qld
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More still to come |
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There’s still more the brand
spanking State of the art truck that
Dan Patrick is currently building us
to head over to our shores will be a
complete replica of his very own
SAMSON truck right down to the
bulging muscle arms that have made
the truck famous in the USA. No
expense will be spared on this brand
new truck that will also come with a
full toy range. These should hit our
shores as early as mid April. Dan is
planning to spend more time here
again in June upgrading more of the
current fleet of KC’s trucks and in
another first Clive may head over to
the States to drive his Samson truck
at the same venue. This truck will
be equivalent to any of the Grave
Diggers or Blue Thunder trucks of
the Feld Entertainment World and
continue to bring Australian efforts
up to yet another level.
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Another addition to the line-up |
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Well
its NOT exactly a monster truck but
it will be joining the Monsters Tour
of Destruction. Paul Shafer has
been helping us to acquire a 2007
Hummer vehicle with Mag Spinners,
the works, that will shortly travel
to Australia then have its interior
removed and will then be re modified
and will be our own very spectacular
VERY COOL HUMMER JET VAN. Also
equipped with life kits, this is
certain to be yet another absolute
hit with the kids in the later part
of this years Monsters Tour of
Destruction.
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Western Australia it's a long way
from Home |
It’s
4500 kilometres from Qld’s Sunshine
Coast and a bloody long way for
Barry, Ken and the team to travel to
W.A. for our Bi Annual Monsters Tour
of Destruction jaunt and I have to
say although the crowds have been
huge now having added up the costs
will probably not rush to bring such
a large scale show back to the West
in a hurry. After great shows in
South Australia at Adelaide and
Whyalla we headed to the very
Southern part of W.A. to Albany, a
very beautiful part of Australia and
to the local trotting track where
the club manager Colin Parks and his
team were some of the nicest people
we have ever encountered. Saturday
February 28 saw the show go ahead
under threatening skies and blustery
conditions all trucks with the
exception of Thunda that was
suffering mechanical problems ran
well. But as has been the norm right
around Australia we had the usual
complaints about people not being
able to get a good viewing spot and
rightly so. I really don’t know how
we keep the price down to an
affordable level for families yet
keep to venues that won’t cost a
fortune and put the tickets up in
the Crusty’s bracket. It is a real
problem. From here on we headed up
the highway to Perth Motorplex, this
venue has to be one of the most up
market Speedway complexes in the
entire World, it reminded me of
driving into the Brisbane
Entertainment Centre, nice fully
asphalted car parks, lighting
everywhere, the grounds were
impeccable just like a NASCAR
circuit. The promotional team were
on another level as well Gary
Miocevich, Kevin Prendegast and
Gavin Migro are all very switched on
hard working Promoters set on making
sure they hit a winner wherever
possible. We were on a hire deal to
them and charged them fairly serious
money but thankfully this was to all
work out good for them in the long
run. On the night of the show they
had gone all out. They had so many
freestyler Motorcross riders I
actually thought they were running a
supercross, they had the car crane
drop, hilarious demo derby football,
Tractor Pull, and stunt acts, the
trucks ran great. Darrel went out in
his very first jump of the night in
Thunda 2 and proceeded to hit the
cars then try to wheelie off just to
end up on his roof. Jaye then went
out cleared the entire row of cars
in Motorstorm in a Huge jump bending
a torsion bar that was later
replaced, however not to be outdone
Billy went out in Scooby and
launched just as high with another
great wheelie. It’s really sad that
Billy won’t be around as much this
year due to his studies as he has
now become a very reliable driver,
who always entertains yet still
bring the truck back in one piece on
most occasions. Even the Grand daddy
of them all Barry in the Batman
truck let lose with a great wheelie
of the cars and then the original
Thunda hit the cars for its first
jump snapped the rear heim joints
and tipped off the cars completed on
its tyre walls before Clive drove
out of it only to find it had
sheared every bracket off the rear
diff to put Thunda out for the rest
of the night .
All In all the Motorplex management
put the money up and they got a
record crowd and they deserved it.
They ran the show how it need to be
run if promoters want crowds to keep
turning up in big numbers. Now it is
just Bunbury left and tickets are
selling well for this Saturday, then
the trucks head back across the
Nullabour to Mt Gambier in South
Australia for a final show there on
April 4th. Other dates for Geraldton
and Wanneroo were cancelled,
Geraldton simply because we found it
too hard to deal with the club and
will not ever contemplate going near
the speedway ever again and Wanneroo
because of promotional difficulties
which really makes us seriously
consider whether next time around do
we go to W.A. where authorities
drive you nuts for just three shows
or ship four trucks to New Zealand
for eight shows and do a deal with
the promoters over there.
Authorities in W.A. are truly 15
years behind the times and most make
life so difficult it has not been a
very nice experience in this state
and even with the money the
Motorplex has paid us in all honesty
we are a promotions company so we
can do that ourselves quite easily
without going on a 9000km round
trip…. Time will tell but in the
meantime we have been there, done
that for another season and
hopefully left a lot of families in
this part of the world a bit happier
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The Monster Trucks that could be at a shows near
you
SCOOBY-DOO is an all
new 3D concept truck. It is probably the most
advanced and superior Monster Truck to ever
grace Australian shores.
Costing
around $500,000 to construct SCOOBY-DOO is the
latest in Monster Truck
technology.
SCOOBY-DOO is
unique in many ways, not only is it the only
Scooby Truck in the world, it is the only
Monster Truck to be driven by a 15 year old.
Yes, that’s right only Fifteen!
Batman Begins™
is a world first and is the first monster truck
in conjunction with Warner Bros™ in the southern
hemisphere. Batman begins™ is a world first with
the truck being a scale replica of the hugely
popular “Tumbler™” from the newest Batman™
movie. KC’s fireworks took the first step to
bring monster trucks to a new level in Australia
and went into partnership with Warner Bros™ to
bring you “Batman Begins™, which is just the
first of two household names to be the new face
of Monster Trucks in Australia.
Monster
Patrol
is an American icon in motor sports and was the
truck that started the career for five-time
World Monster Truck Champion Tom Meents.
Monster Truck is valued at over $250.000, it has
become one of the most successful in the world
of Monster Trucks. Chicago based owner Paul
Shafer is excited at the prospect of Monster
Patrol joining another of his heavyweight
heroes, Bear Foot USA, already racing in
Australia for the next three years.
Outback
Thunda
is big, he's bright, and to many this great
Monster Truck is both brilliant and beautiful.
He's a favourite with the children and adults
alike, around the world. In 2002 after what was
the only ever Monster Truck Freestyle
Championship Challenge, Outback Thunda was
crowned the Australian Monster Truck Champion,
he again won in 2005 at Brisbane International
Speedway, 2006 at the Brisbane Ekka grounds and
again in 2007.
Outback Thunda is a 7 1/2 tonne car-jumping, car
crashing legend. Outback Thunda has appeared
with distinction in every state in Australia and
several East Coast USA States.
Devils Dodge
The latest truck to join the KC's Outback Thunda
Promotions Team is the highly acclaimed Devils
Dodge, formally owned by Larry Birch from Mays
Landing Florida. The truck is the first non
Chevrolet truck in the fleet, powered by a 570ci
Hemi motor. These motors run a lot different to
the conventional chevs, if it is too hard to
maintain, the motor will be sold and replaced
with another big block Chevy. Devils Dodge is a
very well looked after, almost new truck, having
completed less than 30 shows all up.
Larry Birch is also the owner of the main
business that manufactures the kill radios (Rii,
Remote ignition interrupter), that are used by
law on all Monster trucks. Devils Dodge will
change appearance by mid
year
to become TAZ.
The Boss
This is one of the classic
Monster Trucks that Australia has. The Boss's
body is a combination of a Chevrolet cab with
Ford F-series pick-up front end and bed. The
motor in this truck is a naturally aspirated
Chevrolet V8. Now would you be a real good
citizen if the Sheriffs Department all got squad
car like this one.
The Undertaker
VEHICLE: 1990 Chevrolet S-10ENGINE: 454cu.in V8
CARBURETION: Naturally aspirated HORSEPOWER:
450hp TRANSMISSION: Modified Turbo 400 AXLES:
Modified 5-ton axles SUSPENSION: Arch springs
with 14 shock absorbers
TYRES: 66" x 44" x 32" low profile tubeless
floatation tyres
This is another of Australia's classic old
Monster Trucks.
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