The 2018 Beast of the Beach Monster Truck show is in the books. This year’s show advertised six monster trucks (although only four were working at the time of the competition), FMX ball of death motorcycle show, and tuff truck racing.
The absence of the Bigfoot monster truck could noticeably be seen and felt as in the number of fans were dramatically reduced and the feeling of the show was that something was missing.
This show was different than in previous years and not in a good way. Before I get into details, this review has nothing to do with the competitors that raced Saturday Night. The racing and freestyle were excellent.
Cory Rummel, the driver of the Rage monster truck, won the Saturday Night racing while Jim Koehler in Avenger took freestyle. The promoters failed to give the fans a show that would leave them wanting more. Instead, early exits, fans wanting refunds, and a disappointed crowd was the result.
Before the show took place, Wildwood Motor Events advertised there would be more than six monster trucks. The poster featured not just Avenger but Bigfoot as well. Bigfoot was not at the show this year, and there weren’t more monster trucks like advertised.
The pit party did not start as scheduled and fans who arrived early for autographs and pictures were left wondering why they arrived early. The trucks were parked back by the beach next to their haulers, far from the bleachers and the fans. An afternoon show had taken place earlier in the day, and a couple of monster trucks suffered casualties. However, that does not mean that the rest should have been late to the pit party.
Attending the second or third shows does not guarantee you will see all the trucks. Trucks do break, that is the nature of the business, and that is what happened before the Saturday Night show. However, having a show that starts on time, has a flow to it, and has an announcer who knows what is going on and keeps the audience informed is vital, which did not happen Saturday night.
Saturday night’s show got off to a rocky start when at 6:30 pm there was an announcement that the pit party would be short and go until 7:15, which would’ve been showtime. However, the show did not keep to its rescheduled start, and finally, at 7:30 pm, the show began with the singing of the National Anthem, and the introduction of the drivers.
The show began with tuff truck qualifying, which had twelve trucks many more than in past years, fans were wondering how come they did not draw spots for the race like the monster trucks did and went straight to racing.
After the tuff trucks qualified then came the first round of monster truck racing. The racing was good, but some fans left after the first round. They had come to see the Monster Trucks and now had to sit through many rounds of Tuff Truck racing. It was now after 8:30 pm and those fans with kids began leaving.
The semi-final monster truck race did not begin until almost 8:45 pm. The show had too many vast stretches of time between when a race ended, and the next round began. Again, fans continued to leave during the races. The finals of the monster trucks came after 9 pm. Cory Rummel in Rage defeated Nick Pagliarulo in Kraken.
It was then announced that the FMX motorcycles would then perform their ball of death show followed by a 15-minute intermission before the finals of the Tuff Truck Racing would begin and the Monster Truck freestyle.
It was 9:15 pm and fans were annoyed, and that is when they began to leave in huge numbers. By the time intermission was done which was around 9:30 pm, there were plenty of empty seats as the final round of Tuff Truck racing started.
After the finals of the Tuff Truck, the monster truck freestyle finally began. All six trucks competed in freestyle as those who were not working for the racing were repaired and put on a pretty good freestyle show. As the show ended at 10 pm, those that did stay for the whole event quickly left the stands. The show was poorly organized and dragged on compared to last year’s show which ended at 9 pm.
There were plenty of people who came to the show for the first time and weren’t impressed. Some fans during the show were comparing this to other monster truck shows and were wondering why other shows could end on time but not this one.
Those who attended for the first time will not be back; others may go to the Saturday or Sunday early shows or not go at all. Wildwood Motor Events has much work to do for next year’s show.
