Member-only story
Monster Trucks More Popular Than Taylor Swift?
Welcome to Monster Jam
Why do Americans love monster trucks?
We went to multiple monster truck shows in the past few months because our two-year-old son loves them. The minute he discovered what a monster truck was he was infatuated.
The massive tires.
Giant engines.
Lifted suspensions.
Graphic designs with captivating names: Grave Digger, ThunderROARus, Big Foot, Megalodon, etc.
We first tried the Hot Wheels version of the Monster Truck experience, which led me to think the target audience is primarily children like my son.
I could not have been more mistaken.
Monster Jam is Hot Wheels’ competitor. They use dirt tracks, instead of the arena floors used by Hot Wheels. And unlike Hot Wheels, there’s no car crushing, except for perhaps of the monster trucks themselves.
At Monster Jam, the trucks compete with one another in various skills and big air events, as if it’s like the X Games for monster trucks.
They crash, wreck, bounce, and fly all over the place.
The stadium we went to in Bridgeport, Connecticut was on the smaller side, so we didn’t get to see all of the big air…
