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The first time you see the Monster truck, Backwards Bob, zooming — tail-lights first — around an arena, you might imagine its driver is constantly looking over his shoulder.
After all, that’s what you do when you back your car out of the driveway, right?
But when you think about it, you realize all the designers had to do is turn around the body of the truck. Then the driver inside can face the direction he’s going while appearing to drive in reverse.
Still, it’s not altogether easy putting Backwards Bob through its paces, said driver Bryan Wright, whom you can see in action Feb. 27 through March 1 when the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township welcomes Monster Jam.
The event features appearances by trucks Grave Digger, Sonuva Digger, Thrasher, Crushstation and Stinger as well as the popular Backwards Bob, which lives up to its name by traveling rear-end-first.
“It’s a little tricky, looking out the rear window,” said Wright, whose driver’s seat is mounted facing the back of the truck so he can look out between the back fenders.
But that’s not what fans ask him about the most.
Because the 66-inch tires hold the cars so high off the ground, Wright said, “They always want to know how we get in … We get in through the bottom.”
For Wright, the best part of a Monster Jam show is the freestyle event during which each truck gets a 60 to 90-second turn to show off.
Describing this portion of the show as “a mechanical ballet of spectacularly high jumps and frenzied maneuvering,” monsterjam.com says fans can watch the trucks “smashing their way around (and often through) the obstacles on the track, including buses, cars, dirt jumps, planes, camping caravans, large recreational vehicles and more.”
Throughout the show, wheelies, donuts and other tricks or examples of skillful driving, all can earn points for the drivers — and can make their chosen career path seem like a lot of fun.
When young fans ask how they might work toward a similar goal, Wright said, “The first thing I always tell the kids is, stay in school.”
He also tells them he didn’t start out as a driver.
“I started in a crew,” he said. “Then I got into the driver’s seat.”
Monster Jam drivers take pride in being accessible to fans and you can meet them during a Party in the Pit from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 if you have a ticket for the 2 p.m. Saturday show.