How much does a monster truck driver make a year

#How much does a monster truck driver make a year drivers#

The Outback is huge and so the importance of Australian road trains and the knowledge and skill of the drivers is so very important too. The Outback of Australia is a beautiful place but it can so quickly turn deadly too. If ever you come to the Outback and plan a road trip, itвЂ™s always a good idea to ask the locals for any advice.

They were not the first and I can tell you right now, they wonвЂ™t be the last. Just recently, 2 tourists died after their car broke down and one tried to walk for help while the other stayed with the car.Д«ut because they were not properly equipped, they soon ran out of water and the hot searing sun showed them no mercy and they perished. It can fool a lot of tourists who look at a map of Australia and think it does not look very big and then they get themselves into all sorts of trouble out there, as they are not prepared. The Outback is a very vast huge land mass. What Are the Dangers of Traveling By Truck Through AustraliaвЂ™s Outback? Very remote areas completely depend on these huge loads of goods, and it werenвЂ™t for the trains, it could be months in some places before the road train could get back to them, so a normal semi trailer load, would just not be enough. The Aboriginal communities rely totally on the road trains. They are the only possible way to get the freight through to small outback towns. When the driver looks back in their mirror, well letвЂ™s just say, вЂitвЂ™s a long way to look backвЂ™!ДЇrom the driverвЂ™s cabin, Australian road trains are a crucial link in the Outback. The longest road train can be up to 53 metres in length and up to 80-120 tonnes in weight.

There are no freeways or super highways here. Roads in the Outback are mostly one lane roads. On a normal road, IF there IS such a thing, special permits are needed to run a train. This type of setup isnвЂ™t allowed in North America, due to the length and weight. There are many forms of combinations, the most common being the three trailer or two trailer combination. They are hooked up by whatвЂ™s called converter dollies. These trains are huge long trucks, consisting of multiple trailers. 'The little kids, of course, they love them.Road trains are known to be the worldвЂ™s longest trucks, used in heavy hauling trucking.Д«ecause theВ OutbackВ is very barren and huge, most freight travels by road and the Australian road trains are designed as the best way to move the freight. To him, it's worth every penny and possible stiffness to see the faces in the crowd when he stands his station wagon up on end or crushes cars. 'You'll slip and twist an ankle (getting out of the truck) more than anything,' he said. With a Hans device to stabilize his head and neck, safety harnesses and a roll cage, the worst injury he might sustain is a sore neck and back. 'We're basically crashing every time we go out there.'Д«etween shows, Hoffman repairs whatever damage has been done, changes the fluid once a week and washes it up for the next show.Дon't worry about his safety while he's bouncing around the arena. 'We torture and abuse the truck every time we do something,' Hoffman said. (But in the unlikely event he took a truck out for a spin, it would take five gallons to make it go one mile.)Дrivers aren't gentle on these overgrown Tonka toys, either. He'll use eight to 10 gallons of diesel fuel per evening. 'If we break something on Friday night, we can fix it for Saturday,' he said. He also carries a couple of spare transmissions, some drive shafts and other parts. The motor alone costs more than $30,000 and he keeps at least one spare with him while he's on the road. Hoffman said it takes about four months and $100,000 to $150,000 to build one. He's since added the War Wagon and Nitecrawler to his fleet of gigantic trucks and is building a new one. That was in 1995 and he hasn't looked back. Six months later, he bought Nitemare and a new career was born. He used to do truck and tractor pulls, but after driving a monster truck for a friend who needed a driver, he was hooked on the adrenaline rush monster trucks gave him.

It takes a while to get the feel for a vehicle that big, but Hoffman's been doing it for 18 years. 'It's tricky to get the rear wheels to steer like the front,' he said. It's all in back wheels that can turn as easily as the front ones. both nights.ДЄndy Hoffman, The War Wagon's owner and driver, said his is one of maybe two monster trucks in the country that can drive over cars backward. It's one of five monster trucks that will shake its struts in a variety of big-wheeled stunts, from freestyle to wheelies, at James Brown Arena on Friday and Saturday. Twelve feet wide and sporting yellow flames, this buggy will make mincemeat of a row of junk cars in Augusta this weekend. The War Wagon might be a 1955 Nomad station wagon, but it ain't your granny's grocery go-getter.

How much does a monster truck driver make a year