Safe Auto, Bulldozer Take Wins at 2008 Toronto Monster Jam

The annual motor sports event known as Monster Jam has once again paid a visit to the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Rogers Centre, formerly known as the Skydome, was nearly filled to capacity with excited Monster Truck enthusiasts from all over Canada and the U.S. The show included some of the typical fanfare and showmanship fans have come to expect from Monster Jam, with lights dimming, pyrotechnics and thunderous roars from the crowd when fan favorites such as Taz, Superman, and Grave Digger were introduced.

In the monster truck race events driver Mark MacDonald in his truck Safe Auto would set the fast time of 18.78 seconds to complete the course. Trucks such as Taz, Superman and Bulldozer also rose above the pack in race action. Safe Auto would later defeat Taz and be matched up against Chad Fortune in his popular Superman truck.

Safe Auto would take the checked flag, narrowly beating Superman across the finish line.

In the freestyle competition driver Paul Cohen in Bulldozer set standards very high early on with a 90 second set which included crushing several stacks of cars and concluded with a series of several power wheelies. The wheelies ultimately resulted in the truck flipping and rolling almost completely over. The display would earn Cohen and his truck 28 points from the judges.

Whit Tarlton in Monster Mutt, Gary Porter in Grave Digger, along with Safe Auto and Superman would also stand out from the pack in freestyle crushing and tricks competition, but would fail to beat Cohen's score. Safe Auto came in a close second at 27 points.

Monster Jam drivers compete in events all over North America every weekend in a season that begins in early January. The top winners earn a better starting position for the World Finals which are held in late March every year in Las Vegas, vying for a cash payout of over $100,000 and the coveted championship. Many drivers compete in other monster truck leagues that run their seasons in different times of the year.

Canadian stops on the tour include Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, & Winnipeg as well as annual visits to Toronto and London in January and March respectively.

As usual the event also included Quad Wars ATV competition, Street Warriors competition and Demolition Derby action.

Julian Denis would lead Team Toronto to victory over Team Montreal in Quad Wars, Rick Roeske's Volkswagon GTI would beat out Kevin Aube in his 1992 Ford F-150 for the win in Street Warriors, and Dave Tink was the last driver standing at the end of the 15 minute Demolition Derby.