Freestyle (monster Trucks) - Rules and Format

Rules and Format

Freestyle competitions typically run in conjunction with racing events, and typically share the same basic track setup. Modifications can be made to the racing obstacles, however, to make them more suitable for freestyle. This usually involves removing ramps to give the trucks a more vertical take-off from the cars, and even stacking cars or adding vans to a set of vehicles used in racing. Separate freestyle obstacles are also usually placed in the competition area outside the boundaries of the race course. These obstacles can include dirt hills, extra rows of cars, recreational vehicles or trailer homes to drive through, or what are termed as "pyramids" - an obstacle that uses vehicles of increasing sizes to form a kind of stair set for trucks to climb up. A typical "pyramid" is known as a car-van-bus-van-car pyramid, called such because the trucks climb over the vehicles in that order.

There are several variations on the judging of freestyle (depending on the promoter), but they all share a common thread in that they usually involve the spectators having some say in who the winner is. Some promoters still use the applause-based "cheer-off" method, however scorecard based judging, as is done in the USHRA, is increasing in use. In this method, a set of judges is chosen to score runs individually on a scale from one to ten, one being the worst score and ten being the best. These individual scores are then added up to give the total score. At most events, three judges are used and the best possible score is thirty; at the Monster Jam World Finals six judges (all from within the industry and not fans) are used and the lowest and highest scores are thrown out for a maximum total of forty.

Basic judging criteria includes:

• Amount of allotted time used
• Amount of speed maintained during run
• Aggression in hitting obstacles
• Height, length, and verticality of jumps
• Use of specific tricks (slap wheelies, donuts, etc.)
• Getting the truck out of situations which would otherwise result in a crash ("saves")
• Spectacular moments (can often add significantly to the score of an otherwise unimpressive run)

At smaller events, if the scored judging ends in a tie, a "cheer-off" is often used between the tied competitors. At larger events, the tie is broken by a secret judge called the "tie breaking judge".