Trucks star in freak show | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers

American Kreg Christensen, of Salt Lake City in Utah, drives his monster truck Freakshow over two derelict cars yesterday at the Lismore Showground yesterday ahead of this weekend’s Monster Truck Family Spectacular.

Jerad Williams

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THEY are like stock cars on steroids.

Monster trucks are, well, monsters. And so is their price tag. Each one is worth around $300,000.

That’s good news for events promoter and monster truck driver Clive Featherby, who will present the Monster Truck Family Spectacular at the Lismore Showground this Saturday, from 4.30pm.

He’s just sold 12 of them to a Sydney company so he can move to Asia to promote the sport there.

Featherby, 49, from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, has been promoting speedway, motocross and monster truck events for 28 years, and driving for 13 of those.

A highlight of the weekend’s event will be the back-flipping of a new, purpose-built truck called Freakshow.

“It’s certainly dangerous,” Featherby said. “You have four-and-a-half tonnes of metal going upside down with someone inside it.”

The man performing the stunt will be legendary US monster truck champion and world number three, Kreg Christensen, from Salt Lake City, Utah.

He said he had only been hurt once, after a truck hit a wall at 140km/h and he broke a collar bone.

“Monster truck racing is huge in the United States,” said Christensen, 45, who works full-time as a monster truck driver.

Monster facts

• The tyres of a monster truck measure 1.67 metres high.
• Each truck weighs an average of four-and-a-half tonnes.
• Monster trucks run on methanol, chewing through 60 litres in three minutes.
• With 1500 horsepower to fire them up, they can reach a top speed of 130km/h