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Not too many cities around the country can warrant two shows within a month of each other.įans who come to both will see a lot of different trucks and drivers this weekend than they saw in January. This weekend’s event is the second in just a few weeks in Tampa and was added because the first one sold out so fast. Tampa is known on the Monster Jam circuit for having great fans, the drivers said. Family and neighbors will be there cheering them on. They both live nearby - Saucier in Dade City and Fortune in Venice - so this is their hometown show. Saucier and Fortune both said that they’re especially looking forward to the Tampa event. “If you don’t have good equipment it doesn’t matter that you can drive.” “A lot of my success has to do with having a truck that’s 110 percent prepared every week,” he said. The preparation for each event is even more important than the driver’s performance, at least in Saucier’s opinion. If we have to work all night and into the day that’s what we do. “Sometimes we only have a couple of days, sometimes like now we have a whole week,” Saucier said. So in the days leading up to the Tampa event, Saucier and other mechanics are working hard on Mutant, repairing all that damage and getting the truck cosmetically ready for the Tampa fans. Saucier is one of only three Monster Truck drivers who is also a mechanic. “That was the worst crash I’ve ever had.” Saucier said he’s had some incidents with his Monster Jam trucks in the past, and it’s not uncommon for the trucks to be damaged in the course of a competition, but the New Orleans incident was his worst. The chassis was bent and the body torn off. One of the most badly damaged was Mutant, which driver Coty Saucier rolled end-over-end.