The rumble of four revving monster trucks filled the Show Me Center at Southeast Missouri State University Feb. 10 and 11 as the Monster Truck Winter Nationals and Thrill Show announcer Mike Fonder shouted, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

According to the Show Me Center marketing manager Josh Hanlon, the monster truck show has been taking place at the Show Me Center since 1997. Aside from the trucks, ATVs, quad racers, and pit bikes are raced.

The four trucks that ran included Monkey N' Around driven by Steven Hill, Clydesdale driven by Bennett Clark, Strait Jacket driven by Kevin King and Bigfoot driven by Larry Swim. VIP ticket holders met with the drivers in the pit between 6:30 - 7 p.m. before the show.

Brothers Alexander Gremare, 7, Xzavier Gremare, 9, and Payton Daniels, 10, had their shirts signed by the truck drivers.

"My favorite part was when that monster truck driver did I love you (hand signal)," Alexander Gremare said.

The four trucks participated in the challenges that included the truck race, the wheelie competition and the freestyle. The ATVs, quad racers and pit bikes raced on the slick track.

"The trucks are just side by side popping wheelies," Hanlon said about the wheelie competition. "But most of it is the car crushing."

The crushed cars are placed on top of old tires that are chained to plywood boards in the middle of the arena to keep them from moving as they are run over.

"My favorite part last year was the dirt bikes," Southeast junior Alycia Davis said. "But I liked it better with the dirt."

Last year's events took place on a dirt course set up and paid for by show's promoter. According to Hanlon, it took between 50-60 dump truck loads to create the course. Instead of dirt, this year's show took place on a slick track (concrete floor) shaped into a standard oval leaving out the jumps and stunts.

While the slick track eliminates the cost and time to bring in dirt, it creates a traction problem for the sports vehicles.

"To gain traction for the trucks on the slick concrete, we cover the floor with Dr. Pepper syrup," Hanlon said. "The sugar mixed with the heat of the tires provides traction."

Each monster truck was given time to race around the arena before the show started to warm up their tires and heat up the syrup mixture.

The first monster truck event was the races, followed by the wheelie competition, and finished off with the freestyle.

In the monster truck races, the competitors began at the start line and ran over a line of junkyard cars. Whoever reaches the end of the line first is the winner. In the first heat, Clydesdale raced and won against Strait Jacket. Bigfoot Bad Boy raced and won against Monkey N' Around. Clydesdale raced and won against Bigfoot Bad Boy in the third heat for first place. Strait Jacket raced and won against Monkey N' Around to decide third and fourth place.

Friday night's final winners included Clydesdale first in the racing contest and Bigfoot Bad Boy first in the wheelie and freestyle contests. Winners received trophies from Checkered Flag Productions, the event sponsor.

"We come here racin' and this is absolutely the toughest guy to beat," Clark said after winning the race against Bigfoot Bad Boy. "I remember comin' here when there were only ten monster trucks in the world to beat.".

Even though he didn't walk away with first place in the races, Swim went on to win first place in both the wheelie and freestyle contests on Feb. 10.

"You can't win 'em all, but it sure is nice," Swim said.

The truck show continued Saturday with Clydesdale winning first in the races, Bigfoot winning first in the wheelie contest and Monkey N' Around won first in the freestyle. The Saturday night's final attendance count was 2,440 people.