Monster Jam returns to Capital Region

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Monster Jam is returning to the Capital Region and will be taking place at the MVP Arena on April 5 and 6. Six monster truck drivers will be competing for the Arena Championship Series Central.

Monster Jam is held on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., as well as on Sunday at 1 p.m. The trucks competing are Grave Digger, Sparkle Smash, Megalodon, El Toro Loco, Terminal Velocity, Zombie, Krazy Train, and Plane Krazy.

Matt Cody, the driver of Grave Digger, has been a monster truck driver for years. He said the job is a dream come true for him after he was fascinated by the truck since he was a kid.

"Luckily I got hooked up with the right people and started from the bottom, from sweeping the floors to working on them to driving semis down the road to traveling the world with Grave Digger," Cody said.

Cody said the competition consists of three parts: a race against the clock, a skills competition, and a freestyle portion. The driver with the fastest time wins, while the other parts of the championship are judged by the audience.

"Both of them is basically us trying to show off and trying to get the best score that we can," Cody said. "We're going to try to balance on the front tires and back tires, whatever we can do."

The trucks weigh about 12,000 Ibs., are 12 feet tall and have to perform on 60 trucksloads of dirt. Sparkle Smash will be driven by Jamie Sullivan, who said it is new to the competition.

"Sparkle Smash was actually a toy originally, so it's been a toy for a couple of years, and then we actually decided to go ahead and make it a Monster Jam truck because it was such a fan favorite," Sullivan said.