A Wheelie Good Time: Monster Jam Spins Up Family Fun and Flying Metal Mayhem!

August 2nd, 2025

Monster Jam is more than just a specialized event, it’s been an ingenious brand and a staple in Motorsports for over 3 decades. Since being established in 1992, no other truck event has even come close. Bigfoot was the catalyst in its infancy, but other lasting superstars and new emerging ones has since taken its place.

The Monster Jam took over the Amerant Arena in Sunshine on Saturday night, August 2nd, where the Florida Panthers play. What used to be a slick rink of ice was now a heightened mound of dirt, or a pivotal monster truck launching pad. The audience wasn’t the commonality of a ‘Sea of Red’ jerseys but this night a medley of Grave Digger shirts, Zombie gear, bull-horn hats, and other trucking gear.

What really stood out to me was the convergence of one generation of fans to the next. You saw the older die-hard fans cheering their drivers on a first name basis to the children holding their play trucks and plush toys, while dawning their noice-canceling earphones. Monster Jam has understood the crucial mark of successful sustainability and that’s honoring the previous generation while embracing the next one coming in. They kept the roots of Monster Jam while still including the children as a part of everything that they did.

Monster Jam isn’t singular but rather a collection of different event locations that together find a World Champion by accumulating a tally of points from each event. Every event is showcased by three main disciplines that each Monster Truck must compete in. These are Racing, Two-Wheel Skill and closing out with the Freestyle event. Eight trucks are randomly selected to compete in each venue.

For the Racing part, the trucks had to go as fast as they can taking one lap around the track and launching themselves over the dirt jump. To the delight of the fans, Grave Digger set a blistering time just over 10 seconds that no one could beat. It was really close though, as Wildside lost by less than 3/1000’s of a second. The agility and raw power of these colossal Monster Trucks as they slid around the tight dirt oval without crashing was quite impressive.

The audience was really amazed though during the next discipline. The Two-Wheel Skills match must be seen to be believed and even when you do see it, it’s still hard to believe. It was almost like watching trained elephants in a circus doing the most dexterous tricks. Seeing the truck Bailey Circuit perfectly balanced on its front two wheels with its customized tongue hanging out or El Toro Loco blowing out jets of steam while doing the same.

But once again, it was the fan-favorite Grave Digger that stole the show. The crowd marveled as he went from his front two wheels to his back two wheels while moonwalking backwards up the dirt ramp. His daring show of tricks and percussion far exceeded the rest of the competitors.

A brief intermission before the final event featured fun audience-participation games with prizes, a cool digital wave created by cellphone lights, and a mini motocross competition. The winner, a local wearing a Florida Panthers jersey, was met with loud cheers from the crowd.

It was now time for the main Freestyle finale. Each Monster Truck got 60 seconds to show their tricks and try to get the highest score. Zombie had everyone doing the Zombie arms as the song ‘Thriller’ cranked from the loudspeaker. He, along with the Black Pearl, and the two other Over Bored trucks did pretty good but the others performed at another level.

Wildside, Bailey Circuit, and Grave Digger showed astonishing heights as they flew off of the dirt ramp from every angle. They incorporated more two-wheel maneuvers and other skills from their bag of tricks. El Toro Loco though did a trick that no other driver would attempt on this night. He lined himself up and did a full on backflip. After his truck landed, the momentum caused him to pitch sideways and fall on its roof. Other trackers had to come and take the Monster Truck off of the course. El Toro Loco was rewarded though for doing a backflip and he won the Freestyle competition. The champion though for the most totaled points went to the perineal favorite Grave Digger.

Monster Jam 2025 at the Amerant Area was another success and one that was enjoyed by all. It’s so original, entertaining, and engaging, that you can’t wait to go again and again and tell others to come to the next one as well.