Monsters are coming to Scott County

Shakopee Valley News

Among the farm equipment, car parts and tractors on Jim Bendzick’s property near New Prague, one vehicle in particular stands out — his monster truck, Thunder 4x4.

The truck towers over the other vehicles and when running, the roars of the engine drown out the sound of passing cars.

But those cars don’t have 1,500-horsepower, a state-of-the-art suspension system or a $40,000 motor. Thunder 4x4 does.

Though Bendzick has been all across the United States in massive stadiums, he hasn’t been able to perform in his hometown — until this year.

Thunder 4x4 will speed, jump and spin at the Scott County Fair at 7 p.m. on Friday in the fair’s first monster truck competition.

“I’ve tried to get them to do it for years,” Bendzick said. “We finally talked them into, this year, giving us a try and I hope it’s hugely suc cessful so we can come back next year.”

Bendzick started building his first monster truck in the late 1990s from old tractor parts and debuted it in the early 2000s. It cost him about $20,000.

He built his second in 2013, starting with a 2012 full-size Chevy Silverado base. Nearly everything on the truck is custom-built, right down to the $3,000 lightweight tires. The entire truck costs about $175,000.

But monster truck shows have experienced an exponential boom since the 1970s, Bendzick said, with audiences filling up venues as big as U.S. Bank Stadium across the country, from Anaheim to New York.

Hot Wheels even produces toy versions of the trucks, including Thunder 4x4.

“It’s actually worldwide, just exploding every year, filling more stadiums and going to more countries worldwide,” Bendzick said. “There are many, many factories across the United States that all they do is build monster trucks.”

During a monster truck show there are two events, racing and freestyle. Freestyle is typically what someone thinks of when they imagine monster trucks — doing wheelies, jumping over buses, flying over ramps.

“I like freestyle where one truck goes out there and you get to wow the crowd,” Bendzick said.

Thunder 4x4 is famous for fast-paced donuts, which Bendzick calls cyclones. The truck whips around in circles and looks like a 10,000-pound version of a ballerina doing pirouettes.

“It’s so fast the truck is almost a blur, just spinning on a dime,” Bendzick said.

Though the sport looks dangerous, Bendzick said it’s quite safe. The seat is custom-built specifically for Bendzick. Five lap belts and a head and neck support device are used, the same as NASCAR. A cage prevents the driver from being crushed in the event of a crash. At any point during an event, the official can use a “kill radio” and the show will stop.

“I’m extremely safe in that truck, even on a rollover,” Bendzick said. “I’ve rolled over seven or eight times and I’ve never been hurt.”

Being in control of a truck twice the height of a full-grown man capable of flipping over at any moment might make some people nervous — and no one could really blame them. For Bendzick, nerves dissipate quickly once the competition begins.

“Everybody thinks you’re nervous, but you’re nervous until you hit the first obstacle and then there’s so much going on you kind of forget about the crowd,” Bendzick said. “You kind of settle down after that first hit and just do what you can do.”

Monster truck shows are for everyone, not just those who know what camshafts or exhaust manifold gaskets are, Bendzick said.

“You might not be a motorhead but I think if they gave it a chance, they would really enjoy the show,” Bendzick said.

Tickets for the show at the fair are $15, or $10 for kids 4 to 12. More information can be found at scottcountyfair.org.