‘Monster Jam’ to fly high at Myrtle Beach Speedway

The tonnage will fly later next week when the second annual “Monster Jam” rolls into town with 5 1/2-foot-tall tires.

Myrtle Beach Speedway, 455 Hospitality Lane, off U.S. 501, about three miles north of Myrtle Beach, will host all the horsepower from eight trucks at 7:30 p.m. June 9-10.

Gary Porter, who sits atop Carolina Crusher, has spent more than three decades driving in “Monster Jam” shows across the continent.

In a call last month from Florida while helping his younger daughter move out of her college dorm for the summer, Porter said since his first year, in 1985, “things have changed so much, with all the improvements, for riders and spectators.”

As safety upgrades have developed through the years, drivers have remained immersed in maintenance of their vehicles. Porter said although he typically has a crew of two helping on site at each show, he shares the credit with “many” colleagues “in the shop,” each applying their specialty in keeping Carolina Crusher humming with the typical upkeep, such as with the oil, chassis, body and engine.

Porter said he also has a daughter in Texas going to “Monster Truck University” for more testing.

He said that when he joined “Monster Jam” in 1985, “building a truck was pretty simple and doing shows was pretty simple.” Although costs have escalated since then, the art of putting together these vehicles and putting the pedal to the metal has evolved as well.

Besides the two or three generations who might turn up at a show now, Porter said, his older daughter is part of a circuit with “so many good, young, up-and-coming drivers.”

“That’s going to be her challenge,” the father of two and grandfather of four said. “She’ll have to do something to stand out to show she can get the job done.”

At age 54, Porter called seeing the moxie for this heavy motoring passed down “bitter sweet,” but also something the excites the spectator in him, knowing of the mass interest in this pastime with which he has made a full-time career.

“It’s nice to know that fans are going to have something to look forward to for years to come,” he said.

Porter counts four vehicles in all in his own fleet at home, in his native Wadesboro, N.C. about 10 miles north of the S.C. state line and west of Rockingham.

He said he was glad that “Monster Jam” returned to the Grand Strand in 2015 “for the first time in a number of years,” so close to his homestead, about a three-hour drive northwest from Myrtle Beach.

When hopping down from Carolina Crusher, and hopping into an ordinary vehicle, Porter downplays any different feeling or sensation going from a giant set of wheels, “flying high and getting more air than ever” in a show, to a much smaller ride in a pickup truck, on a more down-to-earth level.

He compared the shift to a construction worker used to tackling situations with heights and extra safety awareness just “going home” for the night.

“For me,” Porter said,” it’s just going from one machine to another.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘Monster Jam’ to fly high at Myrtle Beach Speedway."