“Follow your dream and do whatever it takes to make it happen!”
An inspiring quote from XDP’s Dave Radzierez during his opening interview at Monster Jam in US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As the crew pulled out of Tampa last weekend, they not only had to fix the trailer axle that caused a fire the week before, they also had to get the truck race ready after Dave rolled during Freestyle, in Tampa. Heading another 1000 miles north, the crew got the trailer fixed and then made their way straight to Minnesota.
Once the team rolled into town, they got right to work fixing some carnage and getting “Xtreme Diesel” show ready for Saturday’s event. We also can’t forget the added help of Team XDP’s Anthony Reams. While Anthony normally keeps busy on the Drag Truck, he took the trip to Minneapolis to see the show, and help out anywhere he was needed.
Fast forward to show time on Saturday night, everything was going well until Dave felt an axle break during the wheelie competition. Leaving him with just front wheel drive, not a good thing when you’re trying to lift the front wheels off the ground. Instantly our Crew Chief Michelle knew what the issue was and got straight to work. The crew had to leave the stadium, go 4 blocks, and get a 200lb center section!
Once there was a pause in the action, Dave was able to get off the field and go down in the tunnel where he began tearing the truck apart, waiting for the rest of the crew to come back so they could swap out the broken parts. A 3-hour job that needed to be done in 45 minutes before the Freestyle competition!
With just minutes to spare the crew was able to get the parts from the trailer, get back to the stadium, fix the carnage and get the truck back together. Minutes later, we were called to Freestyle with a grand entrance coming in full throttle out of the tunnel! Just minutes ago that truck was broken, and now Dave’s out blasting sky-high to please the crowd!
All in all, Team XDP was able turn around what would have been a very rough weekend by doing whatever they needed to do, to make it happen!
A special thank you goes out to Candice Jolly (Monster Mutt Dalmation), for rallying up the spare Monster Jam crew members mid-event to help us get back up and running, and of course our Crew Chief Michelle Simpson, who’s quick thinking got us out of a bind, and back into the action!
Team XDP will be back at it this weekend (2/18/17) at Petco Park, in San Diego, California!