A lot of people think these engines get torn down every weekend and freshened up. “World Products’ blocks are really, really usable. “Monster Jam, and Dennis in particular, has had a very long-standing relationship with Paula and everybody at PBM and World Products,” Alderson says. The starting point for assembling each monster truck’s 540 cid big block Chevy blown alcohol engine is a World Products block. Each truck is transported in specially prepared trailers, which can include spare parts and as many as two trucks. The truck bodies are custom-built and constructed of fiberglass. The driver’s compartment is a steel safety structure, built from tubing and mounted to the truck frame. The BKT tires are 66˝ in diameter and 43˝ wide, inflated to 16-20 psi and weigh 645 lbs. It rides on clusters of nitrogen charged shocks that offer 30˝ of travel in the suspension. The truck utilizes a four-link racing suspension with four main bars that link the front and rear axles to the frame. It is powered by methanol fuel, consumed at the rates of three gallons a minute from a specially constructed safety cell. A monster truck engine can generate up to 1,500 horsepower, thanks to a blower that forces air and fuel into the engine. Each Monster Jam truck is approximately 10.5 feet tall, 12.5 feet wide, 17 feet long and weighs 12,000 lbs. Nothing is more evident of that evolution than the changes in the 540 cid big block Chevy blown alcohol engines inside each truck. It has certainly come a long way from the mud bog.” Monster Trucks Engines and Components “Feld is pretty good at putting on a show and engaging the crowd. “At the headquarters in Florida, Feld has floors of people whose job it is to do nothing but book hotel rooms, flights, schedule venues, deal with logistics, etc.,” Alderson says. We found out there’s a ton of effort put into these Monster Jam shows and into the trucks that keep thousands of fans entertained at each venue. In a given weekend, they’ll have a show in maybe Minneapolis, Houston and Dubai.”
There’s four or five El Toro Loco trucks. “There’s four or five different touring Max D trucks. “There’s eight or nine active touring Grave Diggers,” Alderson says. Tracks like this are used for racing, two-wheel skills, donuts and freestyle stunts. Monster Jam does more than 70 shows from January through the end of May, culminating in the World Finals. There are also plenty of duplicate trucks in circulation in order to logistically have all those trucks at different events. When it comes to Monster Jam in particular, Feld owns more than 50 monster trucks and a fleet of more than 100 blower engines. In fact, the Palmetto, FL-based company owns not just Monster Jam, but Disney on Ice, Monster Energy Supercross, Disney Live!, Marvel Universe Live!, Sesame Street Live!, Trolls The Experience, and Jurassic World Live Tour. Some of what Jared learned was that Feld Entertainment is an expert at putting on these large traveling shows. It was an honor to meet him and an honor to work under him and I certainly learned a lot during my time there.” I had known of Richard Midgette, who has run the engine program at Feld for many years. “About four years ago, they had an opening in the engine room, so I was able to start working here as an engine builder partially through a recommendation from Dennis. “I was working with Dennis Anderson at his mud bog prior to working with Feld formally,” says Alderson. We caught up with Jared Alderson, who has a background working with Dennis Anderson of Grave Digger fame and Feld Entertainment in the engine room under the tutelage of Richard Midgette, to keep these 1,400 horsepower, big block Chevy, blown alcohol engines performing at their best. In order to put on a show of this caliber and magnitude, the folks at Feld Entertainment and their partners need to have every aspect buttoned up tight, even when things go wrong. What was being done with these trucks 30 years ago was certainly unique and impressive for the time, but today’s Monster Jam events, put on by Feld Entertainment, Inc., are nothing short of a spectacle.
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