ObsessionRacing.com

(Article By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen) – Monster trucks have been a staple at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar for years. But in 2012, fairgoers got more than they bargained for when they saw what Rick Swanson of nearby Menifee, California, was driving in this year’s arena shows. After running their traditional Obsession and Obsessed trucks for the past few years the Swanson family decided to surprise the Del Mar fans with something…that’s going completely the wrong way. Rick Swanson debuted “Wrongway Rick” at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California.

The new body, which was called WrongWay Rick, has been turned around 180 degrees to make the impression that the truck is always going where the name says – The WrongWay. Rick wanted to debut it earlier in the month, but instead saved the debut for the fans at the San Diego County Fair. The body has a yellow paint job with black trim. Rick runs Ford F-150 extended cab bodies on all his trucks, and on the extension part of the cab is a green head with wild hair and a purple tongue with lots of drool. The head somewhat resembles a wild-eyed Frankenstein monster. Wrongway Rick clears the bar during the monster truck high jump contest.

Needless to say, both kids and adults pointed fingers and took notice right away when the truck came out for introductions. Questions were asked by young and old alike as to why that truck was “Going the Wrong Way”!! By the end of the first day of monster truck competitions, the first of the four days at the Del Mar fair this year, fans were already asking Rick about novelties for him to sign. Fans love the new Wrongway Rick truck, watch for it at a show near you!

The first performance of a new identity for a monster truck is very rarely also the last performance. We at “The Allen Report” are confident that “WrongWay Rick” is no exception. This reporter looked around at the crowd at each introduction of the world’s only wrong way monster truck. Every time, there were children pointing and adults staring. A monster truck body with that kind of recognition and reaction from the crowd doesn’t just fade away into obscurity

MENIFEE, CA – On May >> >, Justin Cluster and Rick started their way to Monterey Mexico. They had to be to the border by 8 am by the night of the 23rd. This was 1,500 miles of non-stop driving for them. The show was on Saturday night to a sold out stadium crowd. This was the first time that Justin Cluster would be driving for us. Rick drove Obsessed and Justin drove Obsession. In racing the Monterey crowd saw Justin make it to the third round of racing and Rick made it to the finals. Obsession Racing has always been fortunate to do well in racing in Mexico. Justin was very comfortable in the truck driving for the first time in Obsession. Justin put on a solid freestyle run. Rick was one of the last four trucks to go out for freestyle. Until Rick’s turn nobody had gone off of the big jump. This really brought the crowd to their feet cheering for Obsessed. This run put Rick into a cheer off to determine the freestyle winner. I am very pleased to say that they had no problems crossing the borders and made it back safe and sound.

Our next event in June started out in St. George Utah for Outlaw Monster Truck Events. This was a one night show that both Eric and Rick performed. Eric still had another week of school after the Utah event so Eric and I drove our F150 and met Rick at this event. This was once again three rounds of freestyle. Utah fans loved Eric’s performance and he was a crowd favorite. It was also nice visiting with my Sister and her family that live in St. George. After this show Eric and I headed home so Eric could finish up his last week of school. Rick headed out to our next event in Missoula, Montana.

Eric and his friend Damon flew up to Montana to meet Rick for the WHR Event on June 8th and 9th. Both shows were racing and freestyle. This event was a four truck show with Obsession, Obsessed , The E3 Spark Plug’s Bigfoot and Bigfoot Betsy. Rick made it to the finals on Friday night and in freestyle Eric wooed the crowd when he was the first one to clear the five van stack jump that was on top of a table top! He was the youngster that proved to the veterans that it was possible to clear! On Saturday Obsession had an electrical issue with the remote ignition interrupter and because of safety he was unable to perform. Since Rick couldn’t perform he helped the announcer call the show. Eric had a great race and freestyle that pleased Dad and the crowd! Rick broke his record for the longest distance of driving in the hauler by traveling 1,200 miles with only stopping twice for fuel and I was happy to have my boys back in California with me again!

MENIFEE, CA – Obsession Racing has been extremely busy the past couple of months. This spring season started out in Fresno California for Monster Jam. This was a single truck event with Rick piloting Eric’s truck Obsessed. Rick had a great time as usual being with his dedicated fans and coworkers. At Fridays show Rick won his first round of racing but unfortunately the ring & pinion broke and this ended his night of racing. On Saturday night during his wheelie completion he broke a spindle but he got it back up and running and put on a great freestyle show. On Sunday morning Rick fell and severely bruised his ribs and kidneys. We were fortunate enough that Jimmy Lehnertz was available and willing to drive for Rick on Sunday. This was Jimmy’s first time driving Obsessed and his accustomed to it very well and did a great job of racing and freestyle. We want to give a big thanks to Jimmy, Tom, and Michael Lehnertz for everything they did to help out Obsession Racing in troubled times.

Mothers Day weekend was once again spent at the track for Outlaw Monster Truck Events in San Bernardino California. Both Rick and Eric did this event. It was a four truck show that included our two and the 2 Extreme Monster Trucks. This was a freestyle show only. Out of three competitions of freestyle, Rick and Eric each won a round and Bounty won one round. This was a nice Mothers Day gift to me in seeing how well our son handles and performs professionally in his Monster Truck. It was a nice weekend in all.

Our next event was held in Salinas California for Monster Jam. They start off with displaying the trucks on Wednesday through Saturday and the freestyle and racing show is on Sunday. On Sunday it just wasn’t Rick’s day for racing but he made up for it in freestyle. He set the bar higher than the first five trucks that competed and made the following truck work for their points! Rick did great even though he was still feeling sore from his injury a month before.

Our next event Obsession Racing is headed to Mexico for Monster Truck Show Down. We will be leaving California for the rest of this spring season.