It’s been 20 years since a monster truck rolled into Northwest B.C., but after being “starved for such an event” for so long the famous Malicious Monster Truck Tour will roar back into Terrace this summer.
Rockstar, the former freestyle monster truck world champion, is scheduled to come with a fleet of other monster trucks including Willy Crash, Identity Theft, Beast Mode, and Pound Hound — putting on a show at the Northwest Regional airport July 13-14.
The trucks, along with a massive monster truck tank known as Majour Payne — newly featured by Straight Up Racing this year — will race through time trials, crash over jumps and cars, and swing up into wheelies as part of the two weekend shows.
“It’s great and I love seeing it,” said Jeremy McBride, a motorsports fan and president of the Terrace Drag Racing Association.
“It’s exciting… and it’s something we don’t see here… I’d like to see more things like that coming this way,” he said, adding that it’s a great addition to the Terrace motorsport scene.
READ MORE: Drag racers revving up for Hot August Nites
The last monster truck event in Terrace was back in 1998 at the Speedway track. Steve Pereira who organized the Terrace-section of the Malicious Monster Truck Tour says the area has been “starved for an event like this.”
“It’s very exciting,” said Pereira.
“We always have to leave our community to go see cool things, because we don’t get the big acts that go to bigger northern towns like Prince George or Dawson Creek.”
Pereira made it his personal goal to bring monster trucks back here, and he’s been fighting for it roughly 10 years, he says.
“Everytime I thought I was getting a lead, it just died ’cause they’d find out how far we are,” he said.
He’s talked to dozens of companies but has been repeatedly shut down due to concerns about location, population and not having facility geared to an event of this magnitude, he said.
It wasn’t until this year, when he managed to get Prince George to host a show so that Terrace could piggy back off them for their own Malicious Monster Truck Tour the weekend after.
“We’re lucky that Prince George jumped on board with the tour,” he said.
Pereira has been the organizer of other events like the Motocross Madness shows for Riverboat Days, but had to actually start his own business this year in order to keep the extensive costs of the show legal and on the books.
READ MORE: Snowmobile backflip to feature in Motocross Madness in Terrace
It’s called Steve Pereira Productions, and he says signing his name to the $30K contract with Straight Up Racing was a bit nerve wracking.
“It’s a risk, but I know we’ll do well,” he said. “And I know that the community will come out… I’m excited.”
The car-crushing, truck jumping monster truck show will be at a course set up near the Terrace Drag racing site by the airport, and will feature huge jumps with cars and vans to crush, and even two old city buses.
Kids will get a chance to take monster truck rides, and there will be autograph signing and an intermission featuring Terrace kids 50cc motocross races and remote controlled car races put on by the Northwest R/C Club.
Another cool aspect of the tour is support for the Canadian Cancer Society, due to a personal connection the Straight Up Racing owners have to the cause.
Bill and Lorna Payne have decked out the Rockstar monster truck in a pink ribbon theme, sell pink t-shirts, and donate those sales to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Lorna’s grandmother passed away from cancer, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago, but due to treatments funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, she is alive today and cancer-free.
Rockstar will also be featured at several community barbecues fundraising for the Terrace contingent of the Cops for Cancer tour.
Tickets for the Malicious Monster Truck Tour will be available May 7 in Terrace at Misty River Books, Prevost RV and Marine, and CFTK Studios. In Kitimat, they will be at Pyramid Office Supplies and in Prince Rupert at McCarthy GM.
Cost is $25, or $10 for kids, and Pereira says that tough tickets are not available online, they are looking to find a location in the Bulkley Valley to sell tickets.
Â
jackie@terracestandard.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
