Diehl Wilson loves making doughnuts, but not the deep-fried kind.
His tastes run toward doughnuts sprinkled with dirt and churned out by tires the size of minivans. In 2005, he and his monster truck, Virginia Giant, captured Monster Jam's title of Doughnut Champion of the United States.
Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam is the premier monster truck series, performing for more than 4 million fans annually. Tonight and Saturday evening, Wilson and some of the most popular monster trucks and drivers on the globe will be making doughnuts and smashing cars into grease spots at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena.
Party in the Pits will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, giving fans the opportunity to see the trucks up close and meet the drivers. Free pit passes are available at participating Advance Auto Parts locations, and at the JPJ box office or through Ticketmaster for an additional fee.
Virginia Giant will be competing with the iconic Grave Digger, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The lineup also includes Monster Mutt, Eradicator, Backdraft and Rap Attack.
Watching 10,000-pound trucks dancing all over the tops of cars attracts throngs of enthusiasts to these popular exhibitions of power and destruction. Wilson needs all the skill and finesse he can muster to keep his $200,000 truck off its lid, and the 1,500 horsepower beneath the hood under control.
This is especially true when it comes to making the roaring truck spin like a Kansas twister.
"What takes the most horsepower is doing doughnuts," Wilson said recently via telephone from his home in Winchester. "The biggest thing in my career has been getting the truck to sit still.
"The truck has to sit still in one place, and once it does that, you can accelerate and pick up speed. You can actually get turning so fast you can almost get dizzy in the truck.
"The week before last we were in Wheeling [W.Va.], and I think we did 38 revolutions. What you've got to do is pick one thing out and watch for it to go by every time. That gives you a bearing as to where you're at and whether the truck is moving or not moving."
In addition to mastering the art of the dirt doughnut, Wilson also has gotten the car crunching down pat. He can make the Virginia Giant look as if it's having a full-blown temper tantrum as it jumps up and down on hapless cars.
"Crushing cars and making it look easy is a skill," said Wilson, who has been doing it for 27 years. "You run fast at the cars, but you don't want to hit them going fast, because you'd jump right over them.
"What you want to do is mash the cars. So we slow down, hit the brakes and then hit the throttle to stand it up and then let it land on the cars. Once you get them mashed down, you can go ahead and jump them.
"JPJ is an arena where you'll see all four wheels of the trucks off the ground a lot. It's amazing how agile a 10,000-pound truck can be."
Wilson was one of the first to strap himself into a truck with humongous tires and flatten cars for the enjoyment of others. The popularity of monster trucks continues to grow, as evidenced by the creation last year of the International Monster Truck Museum and Hall of Fame in Auburn, Ind.
"I started driving monster trucks in 1985," Wilson said. "As near as I can tell, we were the 10th or 12th truck in the country to have big tires and actually do car crushing.
"The sport is bigger than ever, and I would never have thought when I started that it would ever evolve into what it has. The creation of Monster Jam has had a lot to do with its growth.
"People ask me why I think monster trucks are so popular, and I don't know if I totally understand it myself. People just like destruction — seeing things get beat up.
"If you can whip those cars, and if you roll the truck over once in a while, they like that. They just like to see things tore up. It's amazing, but I'm glad they do, because this has been a great career for me."
Wilson said the biggest changes in the evolution of monster trucks through the years have been the tube chassis and the beefed-up suspension. He said that without these innovations, drivers wouldn't be able to do a fraction of the things they're doing these days.
"If we were still running the old trucks, we couldn't do one-eighth of what we're doing now," Wilson said. "Your body could not take it.
"I would say the biggest danger for us now is probably lower back problems or broken hands from getting them caught in the steering wheel when you wreck.
"I rolled the truck over two times in one day. The truck was beat up, and so was I."
With so much power turning massive wheels designed to grip and climb, it's essential that the monster trucks stay within their designated areas. To ensure they do, every competing vehicle is equipped with a remote ignition interrupter.
"If I get out of bounds, they just hit the RII button and it shuts the truck off," Wilson said. "When you've got a 10,000-pound truck doing doughnuts in a small area, you have to be fairly precise.
"The worst thing is if you're in the air and you know you're going to land in the wrong place, you've got to be on the brakes. That's the worst landing there is.
"As long as it goes straight, you can just jump and let it do its own thing. The truck is made to handle what it's doing, but it's still amazing to me the punishment they can take."
Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam will be at 7:30 tonight and Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets start at $16, $5 for children ages 2-12. Tickets are available at JPJ box office, by telephone at 1-888-JPJ-TIXS and online at www.johnpauljonesarena.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
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