Monster truck promoters
Ed Beckley's Checkered Flag Productions earns annual revenues of about $2 million, but the company is considered a small-time operation by industry standards. Before going off on his own, Ed was a burly, 300-pound motorcycle jumper. A series of crashes forced him to seek a safer line of work, which he found as an ad purchaser for a promoter in the mid-1980s. Ironically, he worked with and was a good friend of Charlie Mancuso, a venue booker who went to work for Clear Channel and competes with Checkered Flag.

In 1989, Checkered Flag was organizing 20 shows a year and by 2007 that number swelled to 60. He spends about $50,000 to put on each show, which brings in about $100,000 to $200,000 in gross revenue. To break even, he needs to sell half the seats in an arena with a capacity of 8,000. Insurance costs him about $3,000 per show and ticket prices are $15 a piece. He hasn’t considered buying his own monster truck, since it would cost him about $100,000 and it would take a long time before it garnered any profits.

Monster truck start-up costs
Some hard-core trucking fans might be thinking about getting into the game, but earning a living in the sport isn’t quite as simple as rounding up some big-ass tires and slapping them on your pickup. Like any other business venture, you have to spend money to make money. Here’s a look at some bare numbers:

The trucks are usually 11 feet tall, weigh at least 9,000 pounds (some as much as 12,000 pounds) and cost about $150,000.

Monster trucks have super-charged, custom-built engines that cost $35,000 and burn as much as 2.5 gallons of methanol per 250-foot run.

Each year, a team uses eight tires that must be 66 inches high and 43 inches wide. One tire costs $2,600.

The fiberglass body has an upfront cost of $50,000, while remakes are $3,000.
It’ll also cost you $3,500 to paint the rough fiberglass body.

Each wheel has at least one nitrogen-gas shock, but you have to buy a $1,250 kit that includes a coil-over-shock kit and spring.

A race team’s budget -- including maintenance, uniforms, fuel, and travel expenses -- can easily run $250,000 a year.

mighty monster truckin’Some might argue that monster trucking is more of a show than an actual sport because it doesn’t require any “true” athletic ability. However, this form of showmanship has been successful in making a great deal of money based on its “wow” factor. Fans, young and old, enjoy seeing trucks taken to the extreme as the super-charged engines blast over anything in their path.

Question: Name the rapper who used a monster truck in his recently-produced music video.

Answer: Jibbs’ video for “King Kong” featured a monster truck.

< < Previous