The New Year of Motorsports Starts In Monster Size with The All-Star Monster Truck Tour
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- 2024 is shaping up to be a bright year for motorsports, given all of the hype surrounding many of the top series.
However, this weekend brought a different form of motorsports to the table to kick off the overall racing season, featuring the opener of the Monster Mashers All-Star Monster Truck Tour in Brooksville, Florida.
The tour, which features a six-truck grid, is a three-month tour that runs across the southeastern part of the US with a three-event format of Best Trick Competition, Racing, and Freestyle.
Each event earned drivers points regardless of finish, with a chance of winning the overall championship for that day with the driver who accumulated the most points in a round.
By the end of the season, the driver who finishes with the most points accumulated once the season concludes in Chattanooga, Tennessee, takes home the National Championship.
This weekend saw the tail of two tracks for Saturday and Sunday, with a two-round weekend taking place at the Hernando County Fairgrounds, featuring muddier, slicker conditions on Saturday due to rain and a thicker surface for Sunday's afternoon matinee.
It was the father-son combo of Uproar's Jon Zimmer Sr., known for his stints in Grave Digger, and Jon Zimmer Jr., in Terminal Velocity, who controlled the weekend, taking 5 out of the 6 events that took place across the two days.
Jon Zimmer Jr.'s Terminal Velocity kept pace round by round with Uproar (below), piloted by his father, Jon Zimmer Sr. Photo: Dylan Spaulding.
But things wouldn't come easy with some steep competition from Montana and Triton Robbins, not to mention Elliot Miller and Athena Kozel as well.
Athena Kozel's "Lil Miss Dangerous" struggled at times during the weekend. Photo: Dylan Spaulding.
Saturday (Round 1)
The opening round of the 2024 campaign saw some highlight moments for some different drivers under the lights on Saturday.
The Best Trick competition saw Jon Zimmer Jr. win on a three-way tie that came down to fan voting, putting together some impressive two-wheelie moves in what was a very tight competition throughout the weekend.
When it came to racing, it was hard to deny how quick the Zimmers were on the track, posting track records in qualifying on both days, each driver finishing with under 14-second laps on Saturday and an outstanding 11.4-second run for Zimmer Jr. on Sunday.
Saturday's racing event did feature a bit of controversy during the semi-finals in the matchup between Triton Robbins with Krazy Train and Jon Zimmer Sr. in Uproar, with Senior's green light in the truck not going off at the right time.
This would happen again during qualifying on Sunday for Elliot Miller, who is running the Colossus truck.
However, after Zimmer Sr. tried to appeal the victory to hold a re-run, event officials deemed Krazy Train the winner, with Triton Robbins ultimately getting the final decision.
Triton Robbins' Krazy Train sure had some K-R-A-Z-Y moves! Photo: Dylan Spaulding.
Ironically, Zimmer would prevail over Robbins in the form of his son, with Zimmer Jr. taking the race victory.
Freestyle would continue to see this weekend's back-and-forth between the Robbins and the Zimmers, with Jon Zimmer Sr. turning things around to take home the freestyle win after grabbing big air during his run.
Robbins would run into problems, running in the final spot for Freestyle, landing into troubles with starting the truck, something that would bleed into Sunday's matinee.
- Best Trick Winner: Jon Zimmer Jr. (Terminal Velocity)
- Racing Winner: Jon Zimmer Jr. (Terminal Velocity)
- Freestyle Winner: Jon Zimmer Sr. (Uproar)
- Overall Event Winner: Jon Zimmer Jr. (Terminal Velocity)
Sunday (Round 2)
Round 2 of this weekend's festivities would bring the trucks back under the Florida afternoon sun, but the drama that ensued heated things up, even with the cool weather.
Colossus and Elliot Miller got the Best Trick competition started hot, with two solid moves in the form of wheelies in his run.
Some of the more impressive moves came from the Zimmers, with Senior going on his side with two wheels and Junior hitting a front wheelie that lasted so long that he removed his steering wheel during the move.
Unfortunately, due to not hitting their second move cleanly, both Zimmers weren't able to capitalize on their full points.
Robbins would find himself back in the thick of things with Krazy Train, completing two impressive wheelies and tying Miller in the competition.
Robbins would win the competition in another fan vote. However, the worst came when the truck again had starting issues.
Fortunately, Robbins would be able to refire, but the truck was never the same.
Triton's brother, Montana, would also run into problems during the event with Plane Krazy, dealing with rear steering issues, resulting in both trucks not competing in qualifying.
Montana Robbins' "Plane Krazy" was cleared for takeoff during Sunday's second day of racing. Photo: Dylan Spaulding.
Racing competition would get a bit blurry due to the issues that both Robbins' trucks experienced, with both of them not able to make it past Round 1 because of their problems.
Jon Zimmer Sr. would automatically advance to take on his son in the finals due to Montana Robbins' rear steering issues, but it was the son who schooled his dad in racing, sweeping the weekend in that event.
Freestyle saw a much more condensed version due to both Robbins' trucks being retired after racing, but the Zimmers again ran right through the competition, putting the two best runs of the weekend together, with Sr. just edging out Jr., 29-28 in the scores.
Both Zimmers all weekend were not only super quick in racing, not making many mistakes, but also worked the track well during freestyle and overall had the best flow.
Here's how the top points getters turned out:
- Best Trick Winner: Triton Robbins (Krazy Train)
- Racing Winner: Jon Zimmer Jr. (Terminal Velocity)
- Freestyle Winner: Jon Zimmer Sr. (Uproar)
- Overall Event Winner: Jon Zimmer Jr. (Terminal Velocity)
The next event on the tour is this coming weekend, Jan. 13-14, in Naples, Florida.
