T-Maxx Reaches Finals in Lake Erie Monster Jam

NORTH EAST, PA (August 30) – The Traxxas T-Maxx™ was definitely the truck to beat Saturday during the USHRA Summer Heat Monster Jam® at Lake Erie Speedway.

USHRA Fan Choice Award winner John Seasock drove the larger-than-life-size replica of Traxxas’ #1-selling R/C monster truck through torrential rain to finish second in the wheelie contest, the doughnut contest and in the freestyle and racing competitions.

“When we got to the track Saturday, it started to rain,” Seasock said. “Boy, did it rain. There were a lot of good trucks there and the fans really turned out to see us. There were probably 4,000 fans who braved the rain to see us run. We did everything we could to give them the best show under the conditions. Lake Erie Speedway is a beautiful facility – all concrete – and the personnel were great to work with. We had a really good time.

“I was on a mission; I wanted to make it extremely tough on the competition. Mike (Hoy, the T-Maxx crew chief) made a new wheelie bar for the T-Maxx last week. I was hanging the other ones and bending them. We put a lot of special things on the truck, including new sway bars, and everything worked phenomenally.”

The T-Maxx finished one point behind Grave Digger® in the wheelie contest, and two points behind in the doughnut competition. Seasock tied former teammate Andy Slifko, who drives Eradicator®, with 25 points in freestyle. The T-Maxx defeated Destroyer® in the racing semifinals, but finished a truck-length behind Grave Digger in the finale.

“We were the bridesmaid – not the bride – but we made everybody run hard,” Seasock said. “All the trucks performed well in the tough conditions. We lost to ‘Digger,’ but he (Randy Brown) deserved to win. We ran really hard, but he was just a little better than we were that night.”

The T-Maxx finished third behind Grave Digger and Destroyer in Sunday’s wheelie contest before Seasock put together an absolutely awesome freestyle pass.

“We had great weather on Sunday,” Seasock said. “The sun came out, and it was dry. We pulled a really good wheelie, walking across the cars. Destroyer and ‘Digger also had awesome wheelies. They ran a Thunder Nationals format, so we ran freestyle before the races. All the other trucks went out and put together good freestyle passes.

“Mike and I talked, and we were feeling really confident in the T-Maxx. We wanted to go out and see just how awesome it could be in freestyle. Coming out of the fourth corner, I laid into the throttle and didn’t lift. I got huge, gigantic, unbelievable air. The T-Maxx was awesome and every jump was incredible. It was really fast and I was hitting the cars hard. It’s as fast as I’ve ever run the T-Maxx. We had a blast. When I came back for the van stack, I pushed it a little bit and it turned me sideways in the air. The truck came down on the left front tire and pinched it between the ground and the rim. It took a big chunk out of the tire, cracked the axle housing, broke some crank shaft loops and cracked the steering ram. The Grave Digger team came over and offered us some spare parts, but we looked at it and decided it wouldn’t be safe to patch it together and take it out again. Even though it put us out for the night, it was a phenomenal freestyle. It was a good weekend, all in all.”

Destroyer driver Dan Evans, celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary, received a bye when the T-Maxx was unable to run, then defeated Rap Attack® in the finals.

Seasock’s thoughts turned to his Sudden Impact teammates immediately following the Monster Jam, as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with one of the most devastating storms in United States history.

“We’re concerned about our friends in New Orleans,” said Seasock, who shares a shop with Brandon Lagarde and Sean Duhon in the Crescent City. “We know they got all the trucks out, but we haven’t been able to contact them since, so we hope everybody’s OK.”