ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
THE DRIVERS of these, er, trucks sport a lot of daredevil in their (oft- broken) bones.
Why in the world was Tony Kelley taking the time to paint four junk cars that monster trucks would later smash into the dirt?
"You've got to make them look good," said Kelley, of Salem, with a chuckle Friday afternoon. He has helped set up monster truck shows for the past four years and is happy to do it.
"Ever seen it before?" he asked. "They do wheelies off these cars."
Yes, there's more than eardrum-busting noise and methanol fumes when it comes to the Monster Truck Thrill Show Spectacular that's rumbling inside the Salem Civic Center this weekend.
For starters, there's a cast of characters. You've got to have a little Evil Kneivel in you to be a part of the monster truck circuit.
Take promoter Ed Beckley.
Beckley was born and raised in a Wild West kind of place - Dodge City, Kan.
"Yeah, Wyatt Earp and all that stuff," he said.
At age 23, he decided he wanted to be a motorcycle daredevil. He jumped cars in arenas across the country, including the Salem Civic Center.
He broke a lot of bones, too.
"See this," he said, pulling up his pants leg to reveal a large scar and discolored skin on one shin. "I crashed into a wall in Odessa, Texas, and the handlebar penetrated my leg. They had to pull it out like a knife out of butter."
Beckley, now 46, later turned to promoting monster truck shows. He's an outlaw Picasso.
This weekend in Salem, for the first time indoors, the huge, 2,000-horsepower trucks are racing on a motocross course that includes two jumps on each side. The two highest ones are just a few yards from the wall of the building.
The idea was Beckley's. Workers hauled in 200 dump truck loads of mud Wednesday and Thursday and shaped it into the course on the civic center's floor.
The drivers said they would be racing the course for their first time Friday night during the event. Because of the expense of maintaining a monster truck, and the travel from show to show, there are not a lot of practice sessions, said Bob Holman, who drives "Beast."
Asked what he thinks of the course, Holman said: "I don't know what to think. I guess we'll find out."
Monster truck regulars have a language all their own. They talk about relief valves and gear ratios and fuel mixtures.
Bill Ehlers owns "Fire Eagle," which, in layman's terms, is a jet engine mounted on an old army truck that looks like a golf cart.
Like the monster truck characters, the equipment is unique. The engine can spit a stream of fire out the back with such force that you can feel the heat hundreds of feet away.
Ehlers never finished high school, but he can tear down a jet engine and put it back together.
On-the-job training, he said.
Ehlers and a man he calls his "silent partner" bought a turbine engine surplus from the military a few years ago. "I didn't even know what the hell it was," Ehlers said. "But we got the specs on it and I said, 'Yeah, I can do this.'''
Holman, Ehlers and others - including local truck owners in a time trial - will fire up their engines tonight and Sunday afternoon.
Said Beckley, the promoter: "We've got something old and something new. But there isn't anything blue. This isn't the wedding thing."
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. 1. Larry Birch (left in above photo)by CNBof Pigeon Forge, Tenn., owner of ``Devils Dodge,'' the truck that
dwarfs him, has a word behind the Salem Civic Center with Courtney
Sparks of Dayton, Ohio, who runs Holman's ``Beast'' (the tire in the
foreground). 2. Bill Ehlers (left photo) quite literally fires up
his X-15 ``Fire Eagle,'' a rocket car based in Las Vegas. color. 3.
Tony Kelley of Salem paints old cars white to make them look newer
for their smashing spectacular at Friday night's show. color.