All About Horse Power Motorsports 24/7
As the latter part of first quarter action draws to a conclusion, the news outside of the arenas and stadiums for the monster truck industry is just as big as the competition on the dirt and concrete. With many tours coming close to finishing out their seasons, the outdoor campaigns are almost ready to roar to life.
It is no secret that the monster truck industry grew the most not just in the big stadiums back in the day, but also at outdoor events where fans can get up close to the machines, and explore what makes them true modern marvels. No event allows such a vast array of fans to see these monsters, along with many other incredibly detailed four-wheel drive machines, than the 4-Wheel Jamboree. For over 40 years, these events draw in the fans as young as infants and toddlers to the retirees that just love trucks, Jeeps, and SUV’s.
This year, the jamborees went under another makeover, one that has familiar faces.
After last year, the folks at Events Inc. approached Bonnier Corporation about reacquiring the jamborees after they oversaw the last four years of action. It brings back some familiar faces that have been part of the jamboree family for many years, although they were not around for a few of them with the change in ownership. But now, it will potentially mean familiar track officials, possibly familiar announcers, and for fans, a familiar vibe for the weekend action.
Last year’s infield show was a raving success in the eyes of many fans, despite being cut short a day due to severe weather. For 2024, the Monsters of Destruction will be invading the infield, and in doing so will bring along with them some intensity and tough competition. It means some jamboree staples are back for action, some monsters that have done these shows in years past now make a comeback, and even some debuts as well.
Let’s look at the Monsters of Destruction lineup for the jamborees. NOTE: No official points for this year, although wins in racing and freestyle will be noted all season.
FIELD OF TRUCKS:
Raminator
Driver: Mark Hall
2024 Ram Power Wagon
Jamborees: Both
Certain trucks are just iconic with the 4-Wheel Jamboree. Over the years, one of the biggest staples of the jamboree came in the form of Hall Brothers Racing. From 2002 all the way through 2020, except for one season, whether colored bright red, deep red, tie-dye or black, the Raminator was there, and was putting on a clinic.
For three years now, the team has been away from the outdoor events that gave them the most exposure outside of their visits to dealerships. That all changes in 2024.
Back on the jamboree circuit is the 2024 Ram Power Wagon, with the 3-D rams sticking out either side, ready to put that HEMI power into the dirt. At the wheel of the main Hall Brothers Racing machine, a hall of famer himself, lead driver Mark Hall. An icon at the jamborees, Hall has consistently been one of the best racers in the country. He would have a streak at the Bloomsburg jamboree where he would win at least one racing bracket between 2002 all the way to 2014, a 13-year run that started once the Chrysler sponsorship began with the team. He would get that streak back going in 2018, although it came after one of the most spectacular rollovers he has endured in his career during an early-round of competition. Former teammate Mat Dishman continued that tradition in 2019, his final year in competition.
Hall has a chance to not only get back in victory lane at the jamborees, but also see many friends and fans he likely has not been able to see in several years. It is certainly going to be a welcoming state of mind for many, especially once that 2000-horsepower HEMI fires up.
Rammunition
Driver: Kurt Kraehmer/Dan Agosh
2024 Ram Rebel
Jamborees: Both
Why have one 2000-horsepower HEMI when you can have two? That has been the theme with the Hall Brothers ever since they became a multi-truck team over 20 years ago.
This year, the Hall Brothers are bringing the second team truck to compete once again, but this time it will not be the General Tire-sponsored truck as they had ran between 2018 and 2020. This time, the 2024 Ram Rebel will still be adorned in red and black, but it will be Rammunition that is represented, making a return to the jamboree circuit for the first time since 2018.
As of now, it is unclear which driver will be at the wheel, but both team drivers are showing they deserve the chance.
Kurt Kraehmer has come into his own over the course of his career, and has not only shown his ability against the competition, he also has shown he can beat the boss. His biggest win of his career came just a couple years ago at the Hall Brothers’ home event in Champaign, Illinois, where he bested the entire team plus another pair of strong trucks. This year, Kurt ran in many indoor arenas and showed he’s capable of doing a few of these new skills that the industry has witnessed over the years. If given the chance, the jamboree could see how well he’s become accustomed to his chassis.
At the same time, the newest driver for HBR has proved his worth.
After several years as a crew man, then crew chief on a few teams, Dan Agosh joined Hall Brothers Racing and worked his way up through the team. Now in his third year of driving, the man nicknamed “Cheech” has shown that his ability at the wheel is just as impressive as it is when he has a tool in his hand. Cheech has proved he can handle the truck, and he certainly has earned the chance to possibly drive at the biggest summer events of the year.
Who gets the nod is yet to be known, but no matter who, they will bring the heat.
Blockhead
Driver: Daron Basl
2023 Custom Block Set
Jamborees: Both
What kid, or for that matter what adult, had a set of those building block toys that have become so familiar and iconic over the years? We’d make buildings, build the Millennium Falcon, put the little figures in the driver’s seat, even make entire towns just by connecting those little pieces together.
Last year, the crew at DCT Powersports decided they needed another new identity on their team. The oldest chassis in the fleet certainly had seen some changes over the years, but this one when it debuted in Virginia Beach, Virginia, immediately made the kid in all of us smile.
The debut of Blockhead certainly caught the eye of everyone, and since that moment every age can’t help but smile at the truck that literally looks like a kid’s playset.
Driver Daron Basl has taken a liking to this truck, a chassis that has been around for the good part of nearly 20 years, and is still winning many events while at the wheel. That is thanks to the many improvements that have been done over the years to the chassis to keep it winning events. Now, a big stage is awaiting the custom block-body machine.
It’s not the first time this chassis has been at the jamborees. It ran in Indianapolis back in 2017, then as Quad Chaos, and kept the same identity in 2020 and 2021 at the same venue.
Now, it will be making an appearance not only in Indy, but will also make its first appearance in Bloomsburg. Get those building blocks out, because the Blockhead is locked in.
Dirt Crew
Driver: Jerry Beck
2015 Ram Dump Truck
Jamborees: Both
Just like how many a young kid played with those interlocking blocks, those same kids at some point likely had one of those infamous Tonka trucks that they were using to load gravel, dirt, mud and grass in their yard. Days of pushing it around the grass, unloading the dump bed only to fill it back up and do it once again.
Sometimes, playing with those trucks, dozers and backhoes ends up being a career choice. Just ask Jerry Beck, the lead man behind DCT Powersports. When he’s not at the wheel on the weekends, you can usually find him with a hardhat and at the wheel of a piece of equipment.
It’s appropriate that Beck’s career outside of monsters soon worked it’s way into his career in monsters. For the last decade, his time at the wheel of the Dirt Crew dump truck has brought in fans that either used to have those toys in the closet, or still do.
The “Flying Dump Truck” is coming back to the jamboree after a three-year absence, last being on the track in 2021 in Indianapolis. Like the team truck, Blockhead, fans can “Get a Load of This” at both jamborees, as Beck will be making his Bloomsburg debut this year.
Only one thing is for certain; when Dirt Crew hits the track, that truck will be soaring to the roof, flying across the track, and if the freestyle run finishes with the tires on the ground, the air horns will be blaring through the fairgrounds.
War Wizard
Driver: RJ Turner
2024 Willy’s Pro Mod
Jamborees: Both
One of the wildest trucks to ever come out in the industry came out 21 years ago. It wasn’t a truck body, it had an atypical chassis and suspension setup, and it had elements that spoke more to the quarter-mile drag strip instead of a dirt-filled stadium.
However, from that moment, the War Wizard was instantly a success. Over the years, the truck took on different innervations, including having the original chassis get scrapped after a major suspension collapse, colors of midnight blue, black, red, and even purple. The chassis running today still dates back to the late 2000’s, at least from the frame rails up. For the bottom, the team at The Metal Shop in Delaware did an entire revamp in 2019 to make it stronger, and handle better.
Driver RJ Turner is a hot shoe and has shown that he enjoys slinging this Pro Mod Willy’s around the track, winning events and adding in new War Wizard fans across the nation.
The current look of the War Wizard debuted last season, honoring the 20th anniversary of the truck. With a white nose, green highlights, a wizard cloaked in purple and a black finish across the back, it looks every bit of something one may see in any kind of hot rod, not just a monster truck.
War Wizard is the only car body in the lineup this year, but sitting on 66-inch tires, it fits perfectly among all the crazy builds that the jamboree sees every year.
Kamikaze
Driver: TBA
2018 F150 Raptor Trophy Truck
Jamborees: Indianapolis
A pair of trucks each will be only doing one of the two jamboree events for this year, and it starts with a pair of team trucks that will be hitting the asphalt at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Just like last year, there’s one lone Ford in the lineup, but no matter who is piloting the Raptor known as Kamikaze, it has been proven that they are capable of putting on a show no matter the venue.
Team Throttle Monster has a fleet of trucks, and a field of drivers, that all have shown why they are part of this strong group.
It has not been officially announced as to who will be at the wheel of the F150 trophy truck, as the team has seen many a driver pilot the machine. From Zach Jensen to Joe Urie, Devin Winfield and Logan Tweedy. Tweedy is the latest to take the wheel of Kamikaze, making his debut with Monsters of Destruction at Corbin, Kentucky.
No matter who is going to be at the wheel, the certainty is that it truly will be a kamikaze run once the dirt starts flying and the blacktop gets lit up.
Jurassic Attack
Driver: TBA
2022 Custom Triceratops
Jamborees: Indianapolis
These days, the customized bodies with the 3-D additions are still just as popular as the day the first one debuted in 1991. Some even decided to go so off the wall they don’t even have a reference to an actual truck body, but a creature of some kind.
This year’s Indy jamboree is getting a creature of prehistoric nature.
Team Throttle is deciding to bring a dinosaur out to ply this year, as for the first time at any jamboree it will be Jurassic Attack that will be looking to make the competition extinct.
Just as with Kamikaze, no announced driver has been named yet. But, with a field that includes Paul Jensen, Tim Hall Jr, and Dalton Widner, any one of them could climb into the custom Triceratops and make a run at being a champion.
Dinosaurs may have died millions of years ago, but they do live on. Difference is, they have four tires instead of four legs.
Playin’ Hookie
Driver: JR Seasock
1995 Chevrolet Silverado
Jamborees: Bloomsburg
There is something about having an advantage that no one can match that seems to always give an extra edge when at the wheel. For one driver, for one weekend, that certainly is the case.
For the Bloomsburg weekend, a Pennsylvania native will be performing in front of a crowd that is literally nearly down the road for him. JR Seasock is getting the chance to perform in front of the biggest crowd, at one of the biggest venues, he’s ever had in his eight-year career this season when he brings his Chevy tow truck to the Bloomsburg Fair.
His dad, John, performed here numerous years when at the wheel of Sudden Impact, T-Maxx, and Batman. But, JR is paving his own path in this industry and has shown he can put his truck through the grinder when needed. His second year behind the wheel of Playin’ Hookie is one that includes a new chassis, new engine, and a bit of a learning curve to his new piece.
Even his body has a slight bit of historic value. The OBS Chevy body wasn’t always blue and white, because prior to being on Seasock’s truck, it was painted yellow, spending a short time as Hurricane Force, but for just one day, that body got a final ride as Carolina Crusher, with Gary Porter at the wheel.
Seasock is putting his hooks in the ground, and is planning to tow away a victory or two if he’s able. With the home state crowd watching, he certainly will have a strong chance in doing so.
Bad News Travels Fast
Driver: Brandon Derrow
2008 Chevrolet Silverado
Jamborees: Bloomsburg
Every now and then, there’s a truck and a driver that doesn’t have to push the equipment to the point of being on the brink of breaking. No big risks taken, nor run to the point the truck or driver is bracing for impact. Yet, they still are considered one of the best drivers, with some of the best equipment, and will put on a show every single time.
That is how one can describe Brandon Derrow in Bad News Travels Fast. In a truck that was built 21 years ago, the machine has top-tier parts to keep it updated to today’s standards. Derrow has campaigned the truck since 2011, and even in a chassis that he has ran for the better part of 13 years, he’s still winning shows and putting on stellar performances when at the wheel.
This Patrick Enterprises chassis is well known in the monster truck industry as being one of the best wheelie machines in competition. Some even joke that the way it’s set up, Derrow could hit an ant hill and he would managed to drag it on the wheelie bar.
Derrow last competed with the jamboree back in 2019, competing in Lima and Indy. This year, he gets to cross off the other historic venue in jamboree competition, as he will be making his Bloomsburg debut in the light blue 2008 Chevrolet Silverado.
It is all but guaranteed that when the neon lights come on, and the truck is set up right, someone will lose to Bad News.
The lineup may look a little different compared to last year, or even years past, but the Monsters of Destruction crew are not unfamiliar with what the expectation of the 4-Wheel Jamboree is, and 2024 is just the start. The new owners from Events Inc. are planning to bring back even more big, and familiar, names to these events in the next few years. With many teams having their schedules set long in advance, it will be 2025 when potentially some more jamboree staples make a return. However, the 2024 field is one that can certainly bring the heat and the intensity.
How the monster shows will be set up is not yet known. Last year, one event was spread over three days, with qualifying, round racing, finals, skills and freestyle spread over three different events. Historically, the jamborees have monster events each day, giving three opportunities for racing, skills, and freestyle wins.
Whether this will be done this year is not yet determined, but the anticipation is already high and many are excited for the new crew.
Want to be part of the jamborees this year? Registration is officially open to show off your ride, compete in the side X side shootout, bring a tough truck out to hit the hills, or even get dirty in the mud bog. Tickets for a single day or an entire weekend are already on sale.
Here’s where and when you can come join in the 4×4 fun in 2024.
- JULY 12-14: Steve Shannon Tire & Auto Centers Summer 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals-Bloomsburg Fairgrounds in Bloomsburg, PA
- SEPTEMBER 13-15: 43rd Annual Fall 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals-Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, IN
