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SYRACUSE, NY. |
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Being a retired Marine, I really enjoyed the Military Colorguard being there for the playing of our National Anthem. |
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I took my brother Dan and my boys, Alex and Tony to the Syracuse State Fairgrounds June 2, 2001. It was my first SFX show. I have recently been talking with Senior Director of Production for SFX, Mike McFarlin. He let me know that the show was happening in time for me to catch it. Mike has also invited me to join him in a show in West Lebanon, NY. July 15-18, 2001. We have been discussing how SFX is in the Entertainment business, and he has been telling me about what goes on at their live shows. I think a lot of you know that I want to see the sport go in the direction of a serious sport with entertainment as a side dish. Well, what I saw was just that. There were 6 trucks competing, Quad Wars, and Tuff Trucks. I'll start with the Pit Party. They gave us nearly an hour and a half in the pit area to get up close to the trucks and the drivers. I talked to them and gave them a business card to invite them to check out my site. Gary Porter and Scott Hartsock recognized me right away. That made my day. Gary couldn't believe how big Alex has gotten since he hasn't seen him in a number of years. The crowd really seemed to enjoy this time with there heros as much as Alex and I did. Now, Tuff Trucks. There were only about 8-10 of them. Some of them were getting enough air on the last jump to clear the cars lined up for the monsters. The jumps were tuff, about half of them had to be towed back to the pits. These were not back yard junkers, they were the pros that we see on TV. Personally I would liked to have seen more of them and less of the quads. My pictures of the Tuff Trucks didn't turn out too good but here are a couple that show some of the air they were getting.
Now, the Quad Wars. The guys got great air, and the crowd loved that. I didn't see anybody fall off or crash. The only thing I didn't like about it was the team bashing, and predictable out come of the whole ordeal.
USHRA announcer, Joe Lowe, introduced the 2 teams as, one from Long Island and one from Syracuse. Then Interviewed the team captains. The one from Long Island was bashing the other team and the crowd for being Red Necks, Hicks and Hill Billy Sissies. I knew it was just part of the show but the crowd was getting pissed. Then they raced and I told my brother one team would win, then the other team would win, then it would be a tie and a fight, then the captains would race. I was right except that the fight was only verbal after the Long Island team captain went of coarse to block the other team captain so they would win the 3rd round. Then the captains raced to decide it and they went all out but in the last turn on the white flag, the Long Island team captain cut off the other bike and they got tangled up. This is when I thought they would fight, but the Syracuse captain took off on a dead run for the finish and did a baseball slide across the line. The crowd went crazy, so I guess I was the only one there that didn't care for it. Here are a few shots of the bikes.
Now the Monsters. They consisted of Goldberg, Grave Digger, Gun Slinger, Wolverine, Little Tiger, Wrenchead.com 2, and Bulldozer. There was something wrong with Bulldozer so they didn't even put the monster tires on it. The best part of the racing was in the second round when Brian Barthel put Tom Meents on the trailer as Wolverine beat the Goldberg truck. Gary Porter of Carolina Crusher fame drove the Grave Digger to victory. Then came freestyle, the moment we've all been waiting for. Nobody was holding back, they all stood the trucks straight up with big air. Little Tiger did one of his trademark wheel stands down the runoff area. Goldberg got hugh air and tried to go into a cyclone but the traction was too good. Then about half way through his time period he pulled off the track and asked for a tow, I don't know what happened to the truck. Then it was down to the last truck, Gary Porter and the Grave Digger. He came out and got great air over the cars and a stack of crushed cars and vans, did a short donut and lined up for the last stack. It consisted of a line of cars and a van at the end. Earlier Wrenchead.com 2 hit the van from the line of cars end. He rolled the van on its side, then no one hit it again. Gary Porter lined up with the roof of the rolled van and hit it, he went straight up then landed on the van with no tires touching the ground. He sat there a few seconds, spinning and turning the wheels from side to side to get the truck off the van. Then he backed up to hit it again. This time he went straight up and landed the rear tires on top the van and came crashing down on the roof of the Digger. After a few heart stopping moments Gary came climbing out to the thrill of the crowd. Here are the rest of the pictures less the last roll that has not been developed yet. As the night went on it got too dark for the camera, so I'm sorry about the quality of some of these pictures. |
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Over all the show was FANTASTIC and I highly recommend you to go check out an SFX show yourself. I can't wait till July!!! |
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