Over the last couple years, the monster truck industry has seen a trend that at one point seemed to be impossible. Sure, these days anything seems like anything can be done in these 10,000-pound beats, but one stunt in particular has taken off like crazy.
I'm speaking of the backflip. A stunt that is not as easy as it sounds, and has taken a few years to even try and perfect.
The first attempt at a backflip in front of a crowd was done by Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction at the 2009 World Finals in Las Vegas. Even just to try to accomplish such a stunt, Meents modified one of his trucks for the attempt. Things such as his shocks, a stronger rollcage, and a different tire cut on the rear of his futuristic SUV.
When he came out and did his encore for the World Finals, it was the first attempt by a driver to pull off the unprecedented move. Unfortunately, his attempt didn't exactly go perfectly. Meents over rotated and actually landed on his rear bumper.
That move set forth the next wave of attempts. Since that show, a total of 11 trucks have at least attempted the backflip, with only half doing what some consider a successful attempt.
Larry Quick, driver of the Ghost Rider, has his own view of the backflip and what should be considered a successful attempt. Last year, before he attempted his next back flip in Montreal, he told TMBTV host Ross Bonar that a successful attempt is "a full rotation with the truck landing on all four tires, or the front landing just before the rear."
That's an accurate classification because on some attempts, the driver has actually landed on the front tires, nose down, and actually hit the throttle to land the truck back to earth.
Case in point, here's the Project X truck attempting a backflip in 2009. It was extremely hard to put the truck on all fours, so the throttle was nailed to bring the truck back down. this by many is not considered successful, or in Quick's terminology a "glorified crash."
The first successful attempt at the backflip as part of competition was done by Cam McQueen in Nitro Circus. He did the feat in 2010 in Jacksonville. The truck made the full rotation, landing on the front tires just before the rear.
After that run, the backflip was not seen by many trucks until the 2011 Monster Jam World Finals. There, three trucks attempted the backflip, with each having different results.
McQueen again made the attempt, with his truck landing on the nose, but he let gravity to it's work and the truck came down on all four tires. This was considered successful because he did not use the throttle to bring the truck around.
Debra Miceli was the first woman to ever attempt the backflip on that night, but her attempt went a little too far. Her truck landed on the nose, bounced with a hit of the throttle, and then landed on the roof.
The only successful backflip of the night came at the hands of Ryan Anderson, debuting his new Son-Uva Digger truck. His attempt went the full rotation, and not only landed on all four tires, but he was able to still run the truck and continued with his performance.
Since then, two more trucks attempted the backflip in Mexico. One truck snapped a four link bar, with the other breaking off a wheel. Both were perfectly landed, unfortunately each didn't continue, but are considered successful.
It's hard to judge where the backflip goes from here, but more trucks are going to attempt it, and many are probably going to fail. But, at least now drivers have an idea of what is successful, and what is not.
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