Freestyle (monster Trucks) - History and Development

History and Development

The earliest monster truck competitions were rudimentary freestyle events. Drivers would crush cars and perform wheelies and would typically be judged by the audience in a "cheer-off", where the truck that got the most applause was determined to be the winner. As monster truck racing developed in the mid 1980s, freestyle was relegated to an exhibition exclusive event, and was almost non-existent for a portion of the early 1990s.

Freestyle entered back into the sport as some drivers, notably Dennis Anderson and Mike Welch, began asking promoters if they could bring their trucks out for an extra freestyle exhibition for the fans when they were eliminated from racing in early rounds from breakage. They were given permission to do so often and the positive crowd response was noted by the promoters, who then decided it would be a good addition to all shows.

In the middle of the 1990s, freestyle was added to most monster truck events as an exhibition segment for all trucks. The segment served two purposes: first, it gave the crowd the wheelies, long jumps, and donuts that they wanted and were not usually a part of racing; second, it brought the trucks out for a longer period of time in front of the audience, allowing for shows with fewer trucks and fewer rounds of racing.

By the end of the 1990s, freestyle had become an anticipated part of shows and the drivers had begun to develop their own individual tricks, as well as informally competing to put on the best show for bragging rights. This, combined with the Motor Madness television show format of one event spread out over two episodes, influenced the USHRA's decision to turn freestyle into a judged competition that would also count toward a championship. Currently, while not every promoter runs a championship for it, most promoters run freestyle as a competitive event at shows in conjunction with racing.