Earlier this year, the staff at the CNB Raceway Park asked on their Facebook page what fans would like to see at the speedway aside from the usual racing that was already on the schedule. Without question, the most popular response from the people was wanting to see monster trucks. The closest show that the area has seen of such a show was back in 2012 at the Bryce Jordan Center, but the local fans still had to travel out of town to get to the venue.
The staff at CNB made that request happen as the KSR Motorsports “Night of Fire and Destruction” Tour would make a stop in Clearfield, complete with four monster trucks that call Pennsylvania home, along with quad wars action and also Doug Danger would perform a jump over the monster ride truck.
The night began with a pit party on the front straightaway where fans could walk onto the track and not only meet the drivers of the machines, but also get up close to the trucks and see their inner workings.
After the night began, the fans began to get ready for the drivers to go onto the track and perform their freestyle, where for about two minutes they can go out and do what they want. If something were to go wrong, officials on the sidelines were ready to shut the trucks off with their remote ignition cut off. In the first half of the show, Ty Cornelius came out onto the track to test the waters in his International Firetruck, Backdraft. After teasing the crowd a bit, he turned on the LED lights on the body and blared the siren, giving the real fire engine theme throughout his entire run. Every car that Novey’s Recycling provided was hit, and each van saw immediate demise.
After a strong run, Zane Rettew was next in his unique Ford Raptor, Stinger. What made it unique is the actual scorpion design, complete with a stinger on the back.
Rettew would be the only one to opt for a donut on the asphalt frontstretch, which seemed to be very popular among the fans both in the grandstands and along the turn 3 and 4 embankment.
After intermission, it was time for a the “fire” portion of the show, as Doug Danger began his preparation for the ramp jump. The Mopar ride truck was set in between the ramps, showing that the height needed to clear the gap needed to be over 10 feet. Danger would make two passes before looking at the ramp one last time and heading out to the backstretch.
When he stopped, the crowd was ready. At that moment, he lit up the fireworks on the back of the dirt bike.He went full-throttle to the ramp and at the moment he left, the big fire pyrotechnics went off. He landed safely and without any problems, as he would make his way around to the front straightaway to thank the fans.
The second half of monster truck freestyle started off rough as Paul Breaud in the Instigator Ford had to cut his run short when the rear end locked up, as the gearing wore out.
Track crews were busy pushing the truck off the track as the quad wars went on with Team USA against Team Canada.
Both groups battled hard, but in the end on Independence Day, it was Team USA taking the victory.
The final run of the night came from the unique truck of the group, Dave Radzierez in the XDP Ford, which is powered by a twin-turbo Cummins diesel engine. There was no loud roar from this truck, as the turbos kept things quiet the entire run. Radzierez would thrill the crowd with some of the best leaps of the night, as near the end out came Rettew to join him for a couple hits on the track. Cornelius then rolled the Backdraft machine onto the track again, all three parking right next to the outside wall.
Every driver plus Danger would then come out and wave to the fans, as the crowd then was allowed back onto the track for more time with the drivers to get autographs and pictures. To cap off the night, the fans were treated to a fireworks show to culminate a celebration of America’s birthday.
For a schedule of events at the track for the remainder of the season, visit CNBRacewayPark.com.