Monster truck driver Bill Payne likes fast-paced runs, tearing stuff up and being constantly on the throttle.
Mostly, he likes to make his truck dance.
“And when I’m done with a run, I’m sweating because I’ve been trying to keep the truck on four tires,” said Payne, 27, of Port Orchard. “I like getting that truck right on the edge and still save it.
“That makes me feel good.”
Payne is the speed-talking adrenalin junkie behind the wheel of Rock Star, one of several oversized trucks roaring through Comcast Arena at Everett on Saturday during the Monster Madness World Tour.
The action starts with a free pre-show pit party for all ticket holders at 6 p.m. followed by Monster Madness action at 7:30 p.m. at the arena, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett.
The tour includes Monster Truck freestyle competitions, a wheelie contest and extreme quad racing.
Payne’s Rock Star will be joined by some of the biggest and best monster trucks around, including Miss Behaving, driven by 36-year-old Teri Olson.
The freestyle competition is a crowd favorite and the favorite of these two drivers — they get to show off their skills in an obstacle course that involves flying stunts, crashes and wheelies.
Though Payne might like making his truck do all sorts of twists and turns, Olson prefers catching air with her pink and yellow monster.
“I like that air. It’s like when you ride the roller coaster and when you get that feeling in your stomach,” Olson said. “I’m riding 10,000 pounds and it’s an awesome feeling.”
These trucks pack a punch at 2,000 horsepower with the capability of going 0 to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds. During wheelie contests, drivers push the trucks to their vertical limits, then try to walk them across a stack of cars.
The extreme quad racing — with big, noisy all-terrain type machines — is part of the whole motor madness experience, said promoter Ralph Moore, president of Canada-based Edge Motorsports.
“Other shows might fill up the space between monster trucks with comedy clowns,” Moore said, “but we like to keep the action in front of the crowd at all times and give people value for their dollar.”
This is the first time Edge Motorsports has put on a monster truck show in Washington state.
Moore is well aware of the fatality that occurred in January during a monster truck event at the Tacoma Dome, when a 6-year-old boy was killed by a piece of flying truck debris.
Moore said Edge Motorsports has been around since 1987 and has never had any type of accident. The trucks are inspected once before the show and once during intermission. Technicians for Edge also use remote ignition interrupters, a device that can shut off a truck if a technician suspects something is wrong.
“We’ve also got all sorts of cables attached to the various parts in these vehicles so if something happens, the inertia is stopped by the cables,” Payne said. “The people want the destruction, but we have the safety in our minds.”
Payne is the 2008 Freestyle World Champion. He’s been driving for five years, describing it as the kind of job that millions of people dream of having.
The crowds always go ballistic when trucks break up and Payne said he aims to please when that happens, sometimes handing over pieces of his pulverized truck to the audience as souvenirs.
“It’s worth it to me to tear stuff up,” Payne said in a sit-down interview before the show, and grinning ear to ear. “My truck will do some great doughnuts and there’s going to be smoke coming off all the tires. It’s a fun event.”
Touch-A-Truck
Attention truck fans of all ages: Start revving up your engines. Many different trucks are coming to Everett on Saturday for the city’s first Touch-A-Truck event at Hewitt and Lombard avenues in downtown Everett.
The free fun runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, preceding the Monster Madness World Tour that begins at 7:30 p.m. Monster Madness is advised for ages 3 and older. Tickets are $17 to $27 before Saturday and $19 to $29 on Saturday. Family packs of four tickets cost $68.
Tickets: 866-332-8499 or www.comcastarenaeverett.com.
Andrea McInnis
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