Expect tons of big-truck action at Monster Jam World Finals

For fans of very big trucks that can do amazing things, the Monster Jam World Finals are a high-octane combination of the Super Bowl and a big-time wrestling extravaganza.

And nobody would appreciate that description more than Chad Fortune, whose pre-monster truck resume includes careers in both the National Football League and World Championship Wrestling.

This weekend, Fortune and the monster truck world's other top drivers will compete for racing and freestyle titles during the 2011 Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The championship event takes place Saturday evening, with practice and qualifying events scheduled for Friday. Both days also are scheduled to include a roster of such fan-friendly events as meet-and-greets with drivers.

Fortune, 43, has been driving monster trucks professionally since 2000. Since then, he has seen the sport grow dramatically, developing a healthy fan base made up of both adults and kids.

That's true outside of the United States, too. This weekend's world finals will, Fortune notes, "be attended by a lot of the fans from all over the country as well as all over the world."

Fortune has joined other drivers on tours of such locales as Europe and Central and South America, and will head back out again this spring and summer for similar jaunts.

What's behind the sport's popularity? Fortune suspects much of the answer lies in the attention it pays to fans. For example, he notes, drivers make it a point to participate in -- and uniformly enjoy participating in -- pre-race pit parties, and it's not unusual to see drivers hang around after an event until every autograph is signed.

"It's always been family friendly," Fortune adds. "It's not like football or basketball or things like that, where you can't get close to the competitors."

Then, of course, there's the hardly routine sight of massive trucks doing things that you don't want to see on your drive to work. Fortune suspects not-yet-fans sometimes come to their first monster truck event harboring a "stereotype" of the sport, "that (it's) the typical monster truck stuff that you see, just riding over cars."

But, he continues, newbies quickly discover the excitement inherent in the sport and come to appreciate the skill involved in participating in it. In fact, Fortune says his previous athletic careers "trained me for what I'm doing now."

From football, Fortune took the importance of physical conditioning. Driving a monster truck is "very physical," he says, given that the vehicles can leap 30 feet into the air and jostle a driver in every direction imaginable.

It's "like riding a horse," Fortune says. "You've got to keep your wits about you."

Then, from his career as a pro wrestler, Fortune brings to monster truck competitions an instinct for knowing how to entertain a crowd.

"The second part of our show is called freestyle, where we get a chance to show off," he says. "We have 90 seconds to go out there and hit van stacks, buses, whatever they're trying to trick us with, to wow the crowd and show off."

It turns out that Fortune always is a particular crowd favorite, in part because of his truck, which bears the iconic likeness of Superman.

"How could it be any better?" he says. "I've got a sponsorship with DC (Comics) and Warner Brothers. It's every kid's dream to be Superman, and that's what I get to do."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.