As the regular season came to a close the Stone Crusher team embarked on the journey west to Las Vegas, Nevada. For the fourth year in a row driver Steve Sims was invited back to compete in the Advanced Auto Parts Monster Jam to square off with 24 of the best drivers in the sport. The festivities kicked off on Friday with the Double Down event where thousands of the most die hard Monster Jam fans came out for the private pit-party and qualifying. After hours of signing autographs Sims geared up for qualifying. During his two practice runs Sims was very consistent and improved considerably on each pass. In his Qualifying pass Sims picked up a great amount of speed with a 16.70 second effort for 12th place.
On Saturday it was time for the biggest spectacle in monster truck racing. The packed Sam Boyd Stadium was electric as the event got started. In the first round of racing Sims had a tough opponent in Jon Zimmer and Amsoil Shock Therapy. When the light turned green, the Stone Crusher flew down Thunder Alley towards the turn with the lead. Sims made a smooth run and sailed to victory. Unfortunately after the finish it became clear something wasn’t right with the truck. Despite the crew’s best efforts the truck was unable to be repaired in time to make the call for the second round.
After a disapointing early exit in racing the Stone Crusher was ready for freestyle. Sims traversed the tough track as he got to work early in his freestyle taking on everything in his path. With massive air and some great vertical leaps the truck lasted throughout regulation and bonus time. In his last jump in bonus time the truck suffered some breakage to the steering, but that wouldn’t stop Sims. The determined driver wouldn’t stop there as he continued on for all the fans. The truck finally came to a stop a minute later after Sims got crossed up over the center hill and ended up on it’s side. The run would earn a score of 24 which was good enough for 10th place at the end of the night.
Once again, it was a great showing on the sport’s largest stage as Sims and the Stone Crusher performed well. Another grueling first quarter was in the books and the team wrapped up another awesome winter season.