After a successful 2013 campaign for the Hooked Monster Truck team, with plenty of stellar performances and gaining the support of many great new sponsors along the way, the 2014 season has been met with great anticipation and high expectations. The first stop for Steven Sims and the Hooked Monster Truck team would be Houston, Texas’ Reliant Park. The usual home of the NFL’s Texans would be transformed into a massive monster truck course for 24 trucks in total to compete on. On Friday the Texans ushered in a new era with the announcing of their new head coach, on Saturday Sims would begin a new chapter in his career as well with his first major stadium Monster Jam event. Thousands of fans took to the floor of Reliant Park to meet their favorite drivers during the pit party prior to the event Saturday. After hours of hanging out with so many great fans it was time to get down to business and gear up for a grueling night of competition.
The night got off to a rough start for Steven Sims and Hooked. During introductions the truck encountered problems with the rear brakes, shooting sparks everywhere from underneath the truck. While it looked spectacular it wasn’t what the team wanted to open up the event with. The truck returned to the pits following introductions where the thrash was on to find the problem and get it fixed. Crew chief Tommy Powers and company worked feverishly to change out the master cylinder and get the truck back in competition. Unfortunately they wouldn’t be able to return in time for racing but would be back for freestyle.
With the truck repaired and ready for action it was time for Steven Sims and Hooked to rock the house in freestyle, and they did just that. Sims would be the first to take to the freestyle course and kicked off the competition with a bang, putting on a great freestyle run. Hooked stormed out of the tunnel, leaping over the funboxes and pulling off a nice sky wheelie over the bus stack. Shortly after Sims lined up for a crossthread in the middle of the triple, getting some nice air before hitting the backside of the first jump of the triple, walking the truck into a spectacular wheelie. He then followed that up with a huge jump over the center of the floor and proceeded to bring the landing into a tailgate dragging wheelie. Sims wasn’t done yet as he continued to wow the crowd with more big air and big wheelies, before pulling of a stellar save on another crossthread of the triple.
The score of 21 was good enough to hold the lead throughout half of the freestyle competition and 7th place overall at the end of the night. It was a great opening performance for the Young Gun and a great start to the new season. The next stop for the Hooked Monster Truck team takes them to San Antonio, Texas for two more major stadium Monster Jam events this weekend. Be sure to check us out on Facebook by liking our page. Thanks to all of our great sponsors, crew, and of course the fans for all your support!
(Photo Courtesy of Eric Stern – MonsterJam.com)
