MENIFEE, CA – In six weekends the redesigned Obsession has been seen at six different venues and four different states. The first two events were held in Anaheim and San Diego California. They were also the first two events for the mini Obsession (trophy kart) with our son Eric Swanson racing behind the wheel.
The next weekend we headed down to Phoenix Arizona for the televised Monster Jam event. Eric in the mini Obsession won both rounds of racing having all of the Monster Truck drivers and excited parents cheering him on around the side lines. Rick lead a hard charging qualifying run and first round that put him up against one of the best in the business, Maximum Destruction. Rick ended up sliding out in the corner and Maximum Destruction took the win. In freestyle Rick was the first one to hit every obstacle including the big air freestyle ramp. Unfortunately in doing this, it broke off his left front tire. But this didn’t stop Rick for his freestyle. He ended the show doing some awesome three wheel donuts.
From Arizona we went on to Oakland California and made it to the semi finals. It was a total mud bath. It was all you could do just to get around the track. The drivers were having trouble even seeing out their windshields and even the crowds had a hard time identifying the trucks as they were totally covered in mud. A huge thank you goes out to Jeff Jones for trucking through the mud by foot and spending 5 & ½ hours of pressure washing, just to be able de-tire and load the truck!
The next weekend Rick and Eric traveled together to Portland Oregon for the next Monster Jam event. It was a weekend totaling three events. All three events had Eric in the mini Obsession doing the track explanation hamming it up to the crowd. He had no problems being in the spotlight. This weekend Rick was in the final round on Saturday night and the semi finals on Sunday.
From Oregon we traveled to Salt Lake City Utah through sleet and snow. This was another three event weekend. Eric also got to do the track explanation. Rick had the pressure on him for this weekend as Live Nation booked the Obsession as a head liner truck. Rick didn’t let them down as he went to the finals on Friday night and placed third in freestyle. He won both final rounds on Saturday and won second place in freestyle.
Our next event will be in Fresno California on March 14th and 15th and following that we will be doing a display for our sponsor Norman Vineyards.
