Spectators are used to seeing cars get smashed and crushed during monster truck rallies, but typically it is the cars in the rally arena that face getting smashed, not the cars of passive spectators who show up hoping to have a good time watching a bit of destruction. Not so during a Sunday, July 20 event in Washington, during which a monster, 800-pound wheel flew off a truck, out of the arena, and into the parking lot outside.
The incident occurred at the Malicious Monster Truck Tour event at the Thunderbird Arena in Bremerton, Washington. During the fun show, a truck in it called “Veteran” landed hard with a smash after jumping off of a relatively small ramp, and the shock sent the front left wheel flying off the rest of the monster rig.
That was very dangerous, as the momentum from the incident carried the tire forward. The behemoth mass of rubber raced forward, bouncing along as it did so, though fortunately it smashed out of the arena and over the containment wall in a section of the facility that was not full of spectators, and so no one was injured.
However, though no people were injured, a spectator’s car was destroyed. When the 800-pound wheel bounced and smashed its way out of the stadium and over the containment wall, it headed straight into the parking lot that was directly adjacent to the facility, where it plowed through a specator’s personal vehicle.
Based on what pictures of the aftermath came out, it appears that a Kia Spectra sitting in the parking lot took the brunt of the damage, with the wheel smashing straight through it and leaving it looking entirely totaled. Other cars in the lot appeared to be partially damaged, but nowhere near as smashed up as the Kia.
Watch the incident here:
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Commenting on the incident in a post on Facebook, The Monsters Are Coming Facebook page noted that these sorts of things can’t help but happen, though it is doing what it can to prevent like incidents in the future. It began by noting that no one was injured, saying, “Hi Everyone! You may have heard that we had an incident during our Sunday performance in Bremerton. One truck had a tire separate, which ended up in the parking lot beyond the end of the track. First, the fantastic news that no one was injured. That is the most important thing. Multiple cars were damaged. We want to get out in front of this so you hear it from us & not any uninformed or sensationalized source on TV or online.”
Continuing, it described its response to the incident, saying, “Motorsports are unpredictable. The truck involved was running industry-standard wheel restraints. Fact is, there is no piece of metal in existence that will always stand up to the forces involved in monster truck competition. We were quickly in contact with both the Kitsap County Fair Board & a fencing company to collaborate on a plan of action to help reduce the risk of similar incidents in the future.”
Concluding, it noted that it is adding what safety measures it can though unexpected incidents have a way of happening, writing, “Accidents happen, even unprecedented incidents such as this & we will always do everything we can to help further the safety of this great sport we all love. Our backflip ramp Camera captured the most dramatic angle of the incident. We wanted to prove we are hiding from nothing & want to be as transparent & open about it as possible.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video