‘There are three things to being an American’

Jordan Rager poses with Grave Digger driver Dennis Anderson as his father, Danny Rager, gets ready to take their picture backstage at Monster Jam.

Five years ago, Jordan and Jacob Rager of little Loganville, Ga., told their pastor-dad they wanted to come to Monster Jam.

Pastor Rager told them to pray.

"Ask God if it's possible if he could work it out," pastor Danny Rager of Woodland Hills Assembly of God said, and quoted the part of the Bible that says, "God will give us the desires of our heart."

Then, over this past winter, Jordan, the older son at 14, borrowed a friend's Wii and qualified as a quarter-finalist in the Monster Jam video game championships. The Monster Truck people flew the whole fam to Vegas -- dad, mom, three sons.

And on Saturday, Jordan won the finals right there on the jumbo screen in Sam Boyd Stadium, before the trucks revved up.

How did Jordan win?

"God made it possible," pastor Rager said, wearing a shirt bearing words from the Declaration of Independence and little American flags.

Pastor Rager said Monster Jam is bigger than people think:

"These guys have struck marketing gold. You can never take the redneck out of this, but it's expanded beyond that, and it's just fun."

Jordan agreed, wearing holey jeans, a cross necklace, a backward-facing Georgia Bulldogs cap, braces and black Monster Jam T-shirt rolled up to the shoulders. I asked Jordan what he thought about people who think Monster Trucks are rednecky.

"I get picked on all the time, like, ‘Why do you want to go to that Monster Truck thing?' I'm not redneck. I love it," Jordan said, as happy as could be. But Jordan does have a redneck friend who said to him, "There are three things to being an American: NASCAR, Monster Trucks and football."

Jordan couldn't say he disagreed with that.