SponsoredLast night I loaded the family up in the car and headed to downtown Sacramento for a night of jaw-dropping monster truck races, stunts, jumps, and competitions.
Inspired Imperfection was gifted free tickets to opening night of the The Monster Jam® Triple Threat Series™ presented by AMSOIL at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center and four free tickets to give away to a lucky blog reader — and our families ended up sitting right next to each other!
Out of all of us, only Brian and Carter had been to a Monster Jam event before, so we all were pretty excited to see something brand new and I really wanted to see one of those giant trucks crash. That was on my bucket list for the night and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed.
The only thing I was a little disappointed about was the food. I was really looking forward to trying some new and different food options in the Golden 1 Center — especially after so much buzz about all the restaurants, choices, and fresh farm-to-fork options. But I think there were even fewer concession stands open for Monster Jam than there were for Disney On Ice. Sort of a bummer. But, with no new choices and limited options at the concession stands open, we just made a beeline for the awesome tacos at El Centro, and the ice cream and french fries at Cafe Bernardo.
Monster Jam Triple Threat Series
The Monster Jam Triple Threat Series is in Sacramento January 20-22, 2017, and on Saturday and Sunday, you can pick up special Pit Passes for an extra $10 to get up close and personal with the Monster Trucks and their drivers before the show.
Our night at Monster Jam was AWESOME. We had fantastic seats and we saw gravity-defying tricks, monster truck crashes, huge jumps in the air, and it was really, really loud. We brought ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones just in case. While we didn’t end up wearing them, kids and parents throughout the entire stadium and all around us were.
The Monster Jam Triple Threat Series is a seven round competition between eight Monster Jam teams, in order from our most favorite to our least favorite:
- Monster Mutt® Dalmation* driven by Cynthia Gauthier
- Max-D® driven by Jared Eichelberger
- Scooby-Doo™ driven by rookie Myranda Cozad
- Grave Digger® driven by Cole Venard
- Zombie™ driven by Tyler Groth
- El Toro Loco® driven by Mark List
- Mohawk Warrior* driven by rookie Bryce Kenny
- New Earth AuthoritySM (N.E.A.) driven by Travis Groth
Each team drove three different vehicles during the Monster Jam event that tested their versatility and driving skills:
- Monster Jam trucks
- Monster Jam Speedsters
- Monster Jam ATVs
Our Monster Jam Triple Threat Review
Natalie and I had never been to a Monster Jam event before, and Carter was only 5 the last time he went, so he didn’t really remember it — and we really didn’t know what to expect. Throughout the night, we were going to see seven different competitions between the Monster Jam teams, and competition had multiple heats to work their way from 8 teams to one winner.
When the first Monster Jam competition started, we were a little underwhelmed. I wanted to see big jumps, cools tricks, and car smashes, but all the Monster Tucks were doing was driving in circles. Not super exciting, but it gave us a chance to get to know the trucks and the drivers — and pick out our favorites to cheer for throughout the event.
Then we realized that they just starting off slow, and working their way up to the big tricks and jumps!
Monster Mutt Dalmatian was my favorite because the monster truck jumps were awesome and really, really high and the ATV racing was really cool too. Plus, the driver is a girl and she kicked butt!
Natalie
The Monster Trucks were our favorite vehicles of the night by far — nothing can top a Monster Truck flying through the air and crashing down on the cars below. But, with that said, the speedster races and the ATV races were really cool to watch too.
- The Monster Jam Speedsters are a weird shape and look a bit top heavy, so when they round the corners, they tip over onto two wheels. A few times they crashed into each other and almost tipped over. I really wanted one to tip over, but they held on every time and made it around the track.
- The Monster Jam ATV races were awesome! The drivers aren’t protected in a big metal machine for these. Instead they’re perched on pimped out ATVs and they don’t hold back. We saw them bump into each other, tip over onto two wheels, and a couple teams were taken out of the races.
Monster Jam Monster Truck Crashes
While our favorite Monster Trucks were MAX-D and Monster Mutt Dalmation, Scooby Doo was a close third. The Scooby Doo Monster Truck didn’t get the best scores or win any of the competitions, but it crashed big time TWICE. We also got to see Mohawk Warrior crash and start smoking while completely upside down!
That is what I wanted to see!
While all of the other teams ignored the cars on the arena floor for most of the freestyle competition, only driving over them a little bit, the Scooby Doo team went straight for the cars, and just ate it big time. It was not only awesome to see the crashes and the pieces breaking off the truck bodies, but really fascinating to see the tractors come out, pull them over upright, and in some cases tow them around the arena.
The best part of the whole event were the crashes!
Monster Jam Monster Trucks
The engineering of the Monster Trucks is amazing. Seeing them fly through the air, hit the ground, and bounce back into the air is incredible.
As a designer who specializes in helping small business build brands, I also appreciated the thought behind the brands, truck bodies, music intros, and even the audience participation. The kids loved it when Zombie came onto the floor and the fans started waving their Zombie arms.
From almost the very first race, Natalie and I decided Monster Mutt Dalmation was our favorite. Mainly because the driver was the first to jump the Monster Truck into the air in between the kind of boring first racing competition. Then, when she destroyed everyone else in the ATV race and drove like a boss in the Speedster obstacle course, we knew we made the best choice of who to root for. (And, I have to say, I loved that it was a female driver.)
My favorite truck was MaxD. The spikes all over it were cool and the face on the side was super cool too. The front wheelie while backwards driving up the hill and the backwards wheelie, when he just held it and balanced on the wheels were the best.
Carter
Carter loved MAX-D. The truck had this giant, creepy face on the side and the top was covered with giant spikes — and MAX-D had the best stunts of the entire night. MAX-D was the only Monster Jam Monster Truck to do a wheelie on its front two tires AND its back two tires, and to do a wheelie while driving backwards up a dirt hill.
During the freestyle competition, MAX-D got a flat tire from the broken car debris. But did he quit? No way! He kept going, trying to do more tricks with a flat front tire. While Scooby Doo wins for best crashes, MAX-D wins for best tricks.
The jumping competition and the freestyle competition featured the most jaw-dropping stunts and jumps, but one of the most fun competitions of the night to watch was the donut competition. It was awesome watching all of the Monster Trucks do donuts one-by-one, trying to see who could to the best and longest donut.
Monster Jam Sacramento Information
Monster Jam Sacramento Dates:
- Friday, January 20, 2017 at 7:00 pm
- Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Pit Party open from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm (event ticket and pit pass required) - Saturday, January 22, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Pit Party open from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm (event ticket and pit pass required)
Monster Jam Sacramento Location:
- Golden 1 Center
- 500 David J. Stern Walk, Sacramento, CA 95814
- Venue Website
Monster Jam Sacramento Tickets:
- Tickets are affordably priced for the whole family with seats starting at just $20 each. Tickets are now available for purchase online at Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 800-745-3000 or visit the Golden 1 Center Box Office.
- Pit Passes available to purchase for $10 each.
If you’re thinking about taking the family to see The Monster Jam® Triple Threat Series™ presented by AMSOIL at Golden 1 Center, do it! You’ll be amazed by the awesome Monster Trucks, the gravity-defying jumps, the loud donuts, and the smashing cars. You’ll have fun cheering on the drivers in the Speedster Races and the ATV races. And, you’ll get to be a part of the action because the audience gets a say in who wins every competition!
