Linsey Read poses in front of her 2020 Monster Jam Monster Truck competitor on display at the 2019 SEMA Show.
What you’re looking at is a 1,500-hp truck with all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering and enough suspension travel to absorb 40-foot leaps in the air. You are also looking at Scooby-Doo. More specifically, Scooby-Doo Two, a truck that 2019 World Finals Freestyle Champion Linsey Read will drive in the 2020 Monster Jam season.
On this occasion, the 12-foot-tall and -wide truck quietly rests on its 5.5-foot-tall tires, so folks at SEMA can take a close look. We stopped by and talked with Read to learn a little more about the truck and how she got into the world of monster trucks.
Autoweek: How did you become a freestyle champion? You’re doing endos, wheelies, flips, all that kind of stuff. How do you practice for something like that?
Linsey Read: I went to Monster Jam University. Tom Meents, the driver of Maximum Destruction and 12-time world champion, is the head instructor. He teaches everything from the ground up — how to start it, how to use the rear steer, which is the most complicated part of these, I think.
AW: Rear steer and front steer are independent of each other?
LR: It’s independent, yes. The steering wheel steers the front and a toggle switch steers the rear. It’s really cool. But, yeah, you get out there and learn to drive. You start with figure eights; that’s how you learn rear steer. You do holeshots just to find the power — 1,500 hp in these things. And then jumps. From there, we start doing tricks and then we’re prepared to go out for a show.
AW: What got you interested in monster truck school in the first place?
LR: I was a huge fan growing up. I’m from El Paso, Texas, and we have a really big show there. I’d go watch all the time. Then they let locals take their trucks out on the track — it’s called the Tough Truck Challenge. And we just did Chicago-style racing. I did it two years in a row, and the second year, I had some drivers come up and they said, “Dang, girl, you can drive pretty good!” And they’re always looking for new, fresh faces. That’s when I started going out and training and I made the cut.
A profile of the Scooby-Doo monster truck that will run in the 2020 Monster Jam
The front three-quarters of the Scooby-Doo monster truck that will run in the 2020 Monster Jam
Check out the massive rear axle and protected driveshaft of the Scooby-Doo monster truck.
Check out the massive front axle and protected driveshaft of the Scooby-Doo monster truck.
That massive 9.4-liter V8 makes 1,500 hp.
Both the front and rear suspension use long, heavy-duty springs and shock absorbers.
Both the front and rear suspension use long, heavy-duty springs and shock absorbers.
Underneath the back of Scooby-Doo is all heavy-duty business: thick steel and massive components to withstand all the gnarly tricks drivers throw at it.
Underneath the back of Scooby-Doo is all heavy-duty business: thick steel and massive components to withstand all the gnarly tricks drivers throw at it.
AW: Did you have a role in choosing the styling for the truck?
LR: I did not. Nicole Johnson was the original driver of Scooby-Doo — she debuted it. And then they brought in more and more Scoobys, and they wanted them to be all over at one time, so now I’m the driver of the two.
AW: Are the trucks underneath the bodies pretty similar or is every truck unique?
LR: They’re all similar. We have all the same safety equipment. It makes it an even playing field for us. But tuning the shocks and everything does play a huge part if you have a good crew guy and you start learning about yourself and driving techniques. Everybody is different. Somebody might want more pressure or less, just depending on what they are going to do. We change it between racing, our two-wheel skill and our freestyle.
AW: Two-wheel skill?
LR: In a stadium, you get two hits. In an arena, you get three hits. You go out there and try to get the truck to stand up on its nose and you can walk it back and forth or on the back end. Or what we call bicycle, where we get on the side two tires and go around. It’s really neat the things we can do with these now.
Linsey Read will be driving the truck you see here in the 2020 Monster Jam series, starting in Albany, New York, on Jan. 11.
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