Preview: Monster Jam To Rampage Through Angel Stadium on Jan. 18-19 & Feb. 15-16!

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If you love giant-sized cars fueled with attitude, a mean streak, and the fullest intention to entertain, then Monster Jam is the larger-than-life spectacle that children, adults, and families will not only stare at in awe, but react to with the utmost fervor.

After coming through Orange County on the weekend of January 4th and 5th, the Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series is returning with a vengeance to Angel Stadium in Anaheim on January 18th and 19th, only to circle back to the Los Angeles Angels’ home a month later on February 15th and 16th.

The “Megalodon” ascends through the air at a past Monster Jam event. Photo courtesy of Monster Jam

Six tons of colossal steel and rubber — customized with unique color schemes, fittings, and designs — will traverse foreboding mounds of dirt, hurtling through the air, doing front and backflips, and landing every which way in a display where the only guarantee is the unpredictability of what will transpire. While the prime agenda to win doubtlessly exists for the 12 professional male and female drivers who are jockeying to secure a berth in the Monster Jam World Finals in Salt Lake City on 4th of July weekend, the finer details are largely unforeseeable unlike most entertainment or sporting events — because, let’s face it, it’s gravity that ultimately calls the shots here.

Attendees of Angel Stadium can, however, expect three competitions to play out on Jan. 18/19 and Feb. 15/16. The first will test the driving prowess of the participants who will vie to see who can navigate the uneven earthly terrain the fastest, the second will see who is the most technically skilled on two wheels, and the third will blend the aforementioned into a freestyle where the drivers will have two minutes individually to tempt fate and physics to bedazzle with the most jaw-dropping aerial maneuvers (an analog to this would be the NBA Slam Dunk challenge). Fans are more than just spectators, too; they will use their smartphones to vote on the stunts of the last two competitions, with the tabulated results heavily playing into who is awarded the title of event champion.

“El Toro Loco” conquers its course at a previous Monster Jam event. Photo courtesy of Monster Jam

As deservedly spotlighted as the drivers are, the juggernaut vehicles themselves are the stars of the show, each one a character drawing on the imaginations of observers. For instance, there is the notorious “Grave Digger,” “Megalodon,” ”Zombie,” ”Mayhem,” “El Toro Loco,” “Monster Mutt,” “Wild Side,” “Kraken,” “Lucas Stabilizer,” “Black Pearl,” “Vendetta,” “Jurassic Attack,” and so on. (The Stadium Championship Series East events on Jan. 18th and 19th will be comprised of a fresh driver lineup, featuring the accomplished Tyler Menninga, hometown favorite Armando Castro, Cynthia Gauthier, and more.)

Those who make the trek to Angel Stadium on Jan. 18 and 19th will also experience the long-awaited debut of a new personality on two-meter-high BKT tires that is primed to perform the most extraordinary of feats: the “Classroom Crusher,” a 2025 season truck that hopes to score the best grades.

The “Kraken” hovers above the pit at a past Monster Jam event. Photo courtesy of Monster Jam

There is lots to visually and aurally take in and, fortunately, the festivities aren’t relegated to gametime, either. At the Monster Jam Pit Party, visitors can get up close and personal with the mammoth machines, take pictures, meet with the esteemed humans behind the steering wheels, and get myriad autographs. At roughly an hour before the show, the Monster Jam Trackside Experience will hype fans even more as they become further acquainted with the drivers, pit crew, and, to top it off, have the opportunity to win prizes.

With two more Anaheim-hosted weekends in its path of delightful destruction, Monster Jam at Angel Stadium, overall, promises a boisterously enjoyable bedlam where must-be-seen-to-be-believed trucks, akin to dinosaurs or Transformers, dominate the motorsports milieu to the raucous cheers of an audience who will be witnessing the unreal before their very eyes.

Cover image caption: The “Jester” clears a tall mound of dirt at a previous Monster Jam event. Photo courtesy of Monster Jam

For more information and to purchase tickets to Monster Jam at Angel Stadium on January 18th and 19th, click here. For information and tickets to the February 15th and 16th shows, go here

Imaan Jalali
Imaan Jalali
Imaan has been the Arts & Culture Editor of LAexcites since the digital magazine went live in 2015.

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