T-Maxx Wins Southern Monster Truck Showdown Finale

EUSTIS, FL (June 6) – The Traxxas T-Maxx™ was definitely the truck to beat in the Southern Monster Truck Showdown last weekend!

Driver John Seasock won four of five races, including Saturday’s finale, at the Lake County Fairgrounds. Seasock’s lone loss came against Friday’s eventual winner, Gun Slinger®, which he defeated in the first round and in Saturday’s finals.

“We had a great weekend,” Seasock said. “We got to the quarterfinals Friday and won Saturday’s event. There was an enthusiastic crowd and a lot of good trucks. We had a blast!”

Despite losing to Seasock and the T-Maxx in Friday’s first round, Gun Slinger raced back through the field as the fast loser and won Friday’s finals.

“After beating Gun Slinger, we raced against Bad News Travels Fast® in the second round,” Seasock said. “It was a really close race, but they declared him the winner. We went out in freestyle and tore the place apart. We pulled some big sky wheelies, got big air on our jumps and had a really good time.”

Seasock made sure there were no controversial finishes in Saturday’s first-round race, then defeated teammate Brandon Lagarde before winning the finale against Gun Slinger.

“We raced Bad News again Saturday night and took him out,” Seasock said. “I won by a truck (length); I made sure we beat him this time. We beat Sudden Impact® in the second round.

“Scott (Hartsock) is a tough competitor and a hard racer, so I knew we would have a really good race in the finals. We both raced really hard and crossed into each other’s lane at the finish line. We collided and his left front tire ended up going between the right-side tires on the T-Maxx. We managed to keep our trucks under control and they separated us after the race.”

Seasock’s exceptional performance extended the Traxxas team’s streak of successful races in Florida. The T-Maxx has raced into the quarterfinals in all 11 events it has entered in the Sunshine State this year. The USHRA’s Fan Choice Award winner won the May 22nd Summer Heat Monster Jam in Ocala and a pair of freestyle contests during the Big Boys Toys event in Lake City April 9-10.

Seasock Answers Challenge, Crushes Pickup Truck

EUSTIS, FL (June 6) – Warning: Never challenge a man with an 1800-horsepower, 12,000-pound monster truck to crush your pickup truck. You just might get your wish.

Kevin White, whose Dodge was among the trophy-winning pickup trucks in the Tough Truck competition at the Southern Monster Truck Showdown last weekend, challenged John Seasock with the Traxxas T-Maxx to crush his truck. Below is Seasock’s account of what transpired at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

“During intermission, I was sitting in the truck drinking a Coke and I heard a guy on the microphone saying he had a challenge for John Seasock. So I got out of the truck and walked to the middle of the arena. There was a guy named Kevin White, the owner of a lifted Dodge pickup truck, standing there with the announcer waiting for me. He had the trophy he won in the Tough Truck competition and he challenged me to crush his truck. It wasn’t a bad truck – he finished high in the competition – it had big, 35-inch tires on it. I looked at him and said, ‘Are you serious?’ and he said, ‘Yeah.’ I told him, ‘If you’re serious, I’ll do it – there’s nothing out here I can’t crush – and the crowd went wild.

“Matt Steele and his crew from ‘Trucks Gone Wild’ (web site and DVDs) were there and they jumped all over it. They were filming all weekend and they interviewed me several times. They interviewed me again and interviewed Kevin, too. Kevin got on the phone with his wife and she was upset with him for doing it. We drew up a release form about the challenge and he signed it in front of a sheriff and the crowd. The sheriff signed it, too, and everybody witnessed it.

“I was last in freestyle, so they parked the pick-up next to the van pyramid. I went out in freestyle, turned some doughnuts and pulled some sky wheelies. I jumped over the truck several times when I went over the vans. The bad thing about a pickup truck is that the cab is so high; it can get stuck in the cradle. I wanted to smash the truck hard, so I went out of the arena, came blasting in and hit it with a full head of steam. The front of the T-Maxx shot straight up in the air, I came down on top of the Dodge and the place went nuts. We wiped that truck out!”