Monstrous good time had at the Mission Valley Super Oval
A megasaurus snacked on cars during last weekend's Malicious Monster Trucks event at Mission Valley Super Oval. (Julie Flora/Leader)
The Malicious Monster Trucks Tour roared into the Mission Valley Super Oval south of Polson July 7-8.
Racetrack owner Tony Undem estimated the crowd size at 2,500 and said it’s one of their largest events of the season.
At the “ Pit Party “ at 6 p.m. both nights, kids and parents could get a close look at the monster trucks, talk to drivers, and snag autographs. Monster truck rides were available for an extra $10.
The giant vehicles included Weekend Warrior, CaliKid, Identity Theft, Rock Star and Spitfire.
It was young racing fan Aimery’s fourth birthday, and his birthday present was attending the Malicious Monster Trucks Tour and getting a t-shirt. With a summer haircut and big eyes, he was shy about meeting the drivers, but he had a big grin on his face as Identity Theft driver Marvin Anderson autographed his blue monster truck t-shirt.
Anderson, from Kelowna, British Columbia, has been in the monster-truck business for 33 years. It’s the little kids and their excitement and smiles that keeps him going, he said.
Kids raced their toy monster trucks in the dirt in front of the packed bleachers, as adults and youngsters cheered for their favorite monster truck.
Buried under dirt mounds around the huge trucks’ obstacle course were several junk cars and a bus with big tires on each side of it. There were also several earthen jumps for the trucks to launch themselves over.
A special guest was Megasaurus, a giant, fire-breathing robotic dinosaur, who lumbered to the race track and crunched up a car in his steely jaws in front of astonished fans. In between bites, he roared and shot fire from his mouth.
Local drivers also got into the act by racing pickups around an obstacle course.
The biggest event of the Mission Valley Super Oval year is coming this weekend with the Montana 200 – a 200-lap race for super late model cars.
“We’ve got people coming from Oregon, Washington, Canada, and California,” Undem said, as well as Montana drivers, and two women drivers.
Gates open for spectators for the Montana 200 at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 14, and at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 15.