Monster Jam invades Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE - The high-flying, car-crushing, heart-pounding 1,400-horsepower "Monster Jam" monster trucks took over the Grant County Fairgrounds Rodeo Arena on Saturday night.

Monster Jam's top privateers Arachnaphobia, the Airborne Ranger, Captain USA and Danger Zone were in attendance and had the packed house on their feet all night long with their Wheelies, Cyclones and 45 foot jumps over piles of crushed cars.

The Airborne Ranger, campaigned by Ranger Joe Cypher is the first hand-controlled monster truck of its kind.

Cypher was on leave from the Rangers when a traffic accident ended his career with the military, leaving him confined to a wheel chair. The Airborne Ranger said he "is dedicated to all Rangers past, present and future." More information on the Ranger can be found on the web at www.AirborneRangerMonster.com.

The featured truck of the evening was Captain USA, owned and driven by Jeff Bainter of Yakima, Wash.

Bainter's 1998 GMC took three months to build at a cost of over $150,000. The rear engine 482 cubic inch big block produces over 1400 horsepower and runs on methanol.

"It's not miles to the gallon, but gallons to the mile," Bainter said of how much fuel it takes to complete an event weekend.

Bainter does between 18 and 30 event weekends a year. He spends the winter on the Monster Jam series where he's taken on the "Grave Digger," a popular monster truck and driver.

Bainter said he has "beat (Grave Digger) as many times as he's beat me."

The most recent win over the Digger came in Roseburg, Ore., after a two week "thrash" to rebuild the machine he completely stripped the bodywork off of in an "end over end" collision in the Tacoma Dome. He won that event with just "a bare chassis."

Bainter called the rodeo arena at the fairgrounds "a nice little grand stand." As the featured truck he said he "should do the highest jumps and longest wheelies," a feat he backed up on the arena floor much to the crowd's delight.

Rounding out the Monster Truck field was Arachnaphobia and Danger Zone. Arachnaphobia, owned and piloted by Scott Anderson of Rigby, Idaho, regularly wins on the Monster Jam series, and Danger Zone is owned by Mike Welch. Welch is the "father of freestyle" and the builder of the "Monster Mash," the second Monster Truck after the world renowned "Big Foot."

Moses Lake is the "unofficial" birthplace of monster trucks according to Welch, who found the first set of tires used by Big Foot right here at the Alaska pipeline auction.

The most dangerous crash of the evening came during the Tough Truck finals when Hank Mulder Jr of Tri-Cities flew his truck more than 30 feet in the air ramp-to-ramp, landing on it's top. The wreck temporarily trapped Mulder and passenger Justice Hendrix until track workers could free them. Hendrix was transported to Samaritan with non life-threatening injuries.

In addition to the on-track activities, children were treated to rides around the track and over the bumps in the "family fun bus."

Welch, who served as announcer at the Moses Lake show for the past 15 years, stunned the audience with the announcement of his retirement from the "Monster Truck world" - a world he helped create over 30 years ago.

Welch said his life has had "lots of good times" and he's "been broke several times" but is happy to have "done it all."

Captain USA's Jeff Bainter said his "life story would be a best seller" and one heck of a Hollywood movie.