Monster trucks are well-known for jumping and smashing over junk cars in the arena. It's a good thing one of those cars isn't yours, right? Unfortunately, a freak series of events led to the flattening of a spectator's car by a runaway monster truck wheel in the parking lot.
The Kitsap Sun reports that the incident happened near the end of the three-day Monster Trucks at Kitsap Fairgrounds event. When truck named "The Veteran" landed from a rather high jump, its left-front wheel broke off. As the truck came
to a sudden stop, the wheel bounced over the east wall of the stadium and into the parking lot. It smashed in the roof of a black Kia Spectra, then hit another car and a tree before coming to rest on its side. For reference, a Monster Jam truck tire weighs 645 pounds. This was not a Monster Jam event, but it's reasonable to expect this tire to weigh similarly. That, plus the height it achieved before smashing down upon the Kia, explains how its roof caved in completely.
"There were no injuries, but the Kia is probably not going to live," Bill Payne, co-owner and operator of Straight Up Racing, the organization that runs the event, told the Kitsap Sun. Payne says his team will cover the cost of damages. The only question is whether to pay them directly or through an insurance claim.
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A Series Of Unfortunate Events
All's well that ends well (except for the Kia), but this wheel should never have left the arena for several reasons. Restraints on the trucks are supposed to keep broken wheels from flying away, similar to open-wheel racers. Another truck broke a wheel off later in the show, and the system worked perfectly in that case. Payne told the Kitsap Sun that six bolts hold this restraint system to the truck, and in The Veteran's case, all six of them somehow sheared off.
One safety aspect that did work according to plan was configuring the arena so that no jumps ever took place that faced any part of the crowd. We never need a repeat of Le Mans 1955, with debris flying into the grandstands. The wall at the east end is rather high, but the runaway wheel bounced just the right way off a barrier to get the boost it needed to hit a home run out of the park. Several highly unlikely scenarios happened simultaneously to make this improbable situation possible. Fortunately, there were no power lines to take down during the jump.
Payne told Kitsap Sun that he is already looking into installing even taller fences, closing the parking lot where the wheel landed, or setting up barriers of semi-trailers, all to improve safety at future events. So don't let fear of runaway wheels stop you from attending a monster truck show, which you should totally do sometime.
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