Local racing schedule
KIL-KARE SPEEDWAY
Today: NASCAR Whelen All-American Series late models Robbie Dean 94, modifieds, sport stocks, compacts. Gates open at 6 p.m., racing at 8.
ELDORA SPEEDWAY
Saturday: Monster trucks. Gates open at 3:30 p.m., pit party at 6, action at 7:30.
SHADY BOWL SPEEDWAY
Saturday: Main Event Racing Series, Pro-4s, compacts, sport stocks. Gates open at 3 p.m., hot laps at 4, qualifying at 5, racing at 7.
WAYNESFIELD RACEWAY PARK
Saturday: Jack Hewitt Classic; non-wing sprints, mini-sprints, trucks, compacts. Gates open at 4 p.m., hot laps at 6:15, racing at 7.
KIL-KARE DRAGWAY
Saturday: NHRA-sanctioned racing; Jr. Dragster Challenge. Gates open at noon.
DAYTON MOTORCYCLE CLUB
Saturday and Sunday:
AMA Amateur National Championship Hillclimb at Oregonia. Races start at 8 a.m. both days.
DAYTON — When Bobby Holman’s daughter started school years ago, her teacher was skeptical of Shelby’s lively and personal accounts of car-crushing monsters. A few of them, Shelby said, even lived in her father’s garage.
As it turned out they weren’t tall tales. Just tall trucks.
Holman Automotive Center and Beast-Werx 4x4 Center — which today features monster trucks Beast and Ironman — continues its smashing success in the off-road business and on the monster truck circuit. And those stories — such as the ones Shelby told — keep reaching new, and true, heights.
“(Shelby’s) teacher called one day and said she really enjoyed having her in class but she has a really active imagination,” Holman said. “She talks about all these monster trucks. I told (the teacher) we own four of them and everything she’s telling you is true. She said we have to apologize to her. We thought she was making it up.”
Back in June, people might have thought the same thing about Holman after he told them three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip cautiously climbed behind the wheel of Beast for a spin around Eldora Speedway during the Prelude to the Dream.
After three laps, though, Waltrip wasn’t sure Holman wasn’t crazy after all.
“I tell you what, it takes a real man to hold on to that,” Waltrip said after driving the 9,000-pound, 2,200-horsepower generating 2005 Chevy Silverado. “That was the craziest thing I’ve ever driven in my life. That thing is frightening.”
Son of Beast
As a high school student at Northridge (he graduated in 1980), Holman figured it would be fun to jack up his 1973 Chevy truck.
And in doing so, the original Beast was born.
“Years and years ago when I was in high school, when we built that first street truck a buddy of mine said, ‘Man, this thing’s a beast. You drive like a monster!’ I was always flying somewhere, so that named kind of stuck,” Holman said.
The truck no longer exists — it’s been since chopped up and parted out, though a few pieces decorate the walls around Holman’s shop — but the name lives on.
Beast and Ironman — a 2009 modified slant back Humvee driven by Centerville’s Shane Smith — will be in action Saturday, Aug. 7, at Eldora Speedway.
No slowing down
Unlike motorsports such as NASCAR and NHRA, the slow economy has actually revved up the monster truck industry. With smaller budgets, Holman said corporate sponsors are finding monster trucks a better investment though it’s more common to receive the sponsor’s product rather than a paycheck. In addition to his local sponsors and Rockstar Energy Drink, Holman picked up Lucas Oil in January.
As for his shop, a state-of-the art addition adding 3,600 square feet on the back of his current shop — taking it to 6,200 — will be finished soon. Just in time, hopefully, for Holman to know if negotiations with a sponsor will add two more trucks to his arsenal.
Keep on truckin’
Adding two trucks is of special interest to Holman’s son, Cody. The 15-year-old has unloaded the trucks and moved them around the shop, but not driven them in competition.
Yet.
“It’s pretty sweet because not many people get to do it,” Cody said with a grin.
Crew help also comes from Holman’s brother Ralph, friend Jeff Hatten and Smith.
“Everybody wants to drive a monster truck. It’s finding the people to work on them that’s a little tough,” Holman said.
His daughter Shelby, 19, had interest in driving but she’s currently in nursing school, to which Holman joked that’s probably best so she can help fix him up should something go wrong.
His wife, Carmen, prefers to watch.
Crowd pleasers
She’s not alone.
Holman, who estimates he’s built about two dozen trucks, is in the middle of his fair schedule and recently performed in front of about 2,800 spectators in Mount Vernon.
Pit parties and autograph sessions are almost mandatory for the sport, helping them connect with the fans.
“They’ll drive for hours to come see a favorite truck,” Holman said. “We were down at Texas Motor Speedway, and it was 115 degrees out there. They’re sitting in the open bleachers out there and they packed the place in. There were people standing in line that passed out trying to get into the place. That’s how dedicated they are. They’ll drive through the snow. They’ll stand in the heat. It’s amazing.”
Just like those stories.
Contact this reporter at
(937) 225-2400, ext. 6991, or
gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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