Kevin, Kate, and I headed to Bradford, VT for the Vermonster Mud Races. Monster trucks, head to head mud racing, the trench, the tuff truck competition, and rock crawling. Before the events started we looked at the show trucks competition.
The monster trucks are big, loud, and have huge engines. They roared around and jumped over several cars and a school bus.
One of the Monster Trucks rolled over but no one was hurt.
The trench was not as deep as last year. This gave more trucks the opportunity to complete the run. The fastest time wins in each class if you make it to the finish line. The distance is also measured in case no one in the class makes it to the finish line. There were several bumps in the trench. I was thinking they must put logs in several spots to keep the mud in that section of the course. 
Many trucks bogged down and would dig deep holes. That would make it more difficult for the trucks that follow. Several drive shafts broke and it is clear 2 wheel drive vehicles don’t do well in the mud. One truck made a loud bang near the finish line sending parts flying through the air.
I can tell you there were 3 vehicles that were so fast and powerful they hit those bumps and went airborne coming out of the trench. 
The driver of this Ford Mustang was going very fast, lost control, climbed up the side of the trench, and tipped on its side when it hit and moved a concrete barrier. The front right suspension was damaged. Neither the photographer running away nor the driver was hurt.
Some of the drag races were very fast and close. I was taking pictures of a rock crawler when this driver lost control. His truck flipped and the front end was torn off. They said there are safety switches to cut the electric and fuel so the driver was not hurt. 
Rock crawling was fun to watch. Several close calls with trucks almost rolling. One guy thought speed was the way to get through the course. He has a license plate on his truck so probably drove it to the event. Needless to say he damaged a front quarter panel, rear quarter and broken tail light, then damaged the drive train. He had to be dragged off the course and pulled to the parking lot. It didn’t look like speed was the way to go after all. 
The Tuff Truck competition was fun. The course they set up had several jumps, big bumps and a large. I liked trying to take pictures of air born vehicles. As the red truck passed by us it hit the bumps hard. The loud pop we heard was the steering wheel and passenger airbags being deployed. Wearing a helmet helped the driver so he just kept driving the course. Two trucks had front tires come off their rims and a couple just stopped running in the middle of their run.
The weather was nice and we had a great time.
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