Monster Truck driver from Corryton wins national event, and he's just 22

Dalton Widner made his debut as a member of Team Throttle Monster at Monster Jam in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Feb. 19. “I had an awesome time racing against some drivers I’ve looked up to for a while now,” Widner said. “It felt good to hold my own up against them.”

The 22-year-old is trusted with a machine worth close to a quarter of a million dollars.

“It is a sport and a business. We compete mostly for pride and for cash every now and again,” Widner said while he washed his truck before loading it onto a trailer for his next event in Pennsylvania.

“I was about 4 years old and was watching TV when I first saw them (monster trucks),” he said. “That was the moment I thought that was cool, I wanted to do that one day.”

Widner said he comes from a family that is passionate about drag racing. “I have always had a thing for cars or anything with a motor in it,” he said. “My dad and I built a 1973 Camaro together; I’ve always been obsessed with riding four wheelers.”

At 14, Widner would leave his Gibbs High School football workouts and travel across town to volunteer for a local monster truck driver’s team.

“For a while I wasn’t doing anything important, but that’s how I got started and got my name out there,” he said. “I dedicated everything I had and eventually landed a paying job.”

The trick, according to Widner, is learning how to handle a truck in small spaces. “In a monster truck, when you strap in, you’re in a 7-point harness — with a head and neck restraint,” he said. “You can’t turn your head. I see what I can see, but I drive mostly by feel. I feel like the truck is an extension of me.”

A lot of people don’t realize how big monster trucks are, Widner said.

“They think they are big trucks that are jacked up, but they are not, they are purpose built,” he said. “They are not toys, they are instruments. My truck is a 12,000-pound behemoth. It is a racing machine.”

Monster trucks have around 1,500 horsepower, are 10-11 feet wide, 12 feet tall and 15 feet long. “They are not easy to stop or dance around,” he added.

The former Division I athlete studied at University of North Carolina for a year and a half before making monster truck racing his full-time job. “I saw sport as a means to an end, but with monster trucks you have to learn it by doing it,” Widner said. “The trucks are intricate and require mathematical skills to repair chassis damage.”

Widner has been on the road since the beginning of January. “I have dedicated every waking moment thinking about it, wanting to do it; it’s a really big passion,” he said. “You have to love monster trucks. Sometimes I stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. to get ready.”

Widner participates in up to four or five shows in a weekend and says that Monster Jam is the NFL for monster trucks.

During Monster Jam events, the truck may race one-on-one against another driver on flat dirt and slide around corners in a big circle. In other events, they jump stuff that is bigger than cars, Widner said. “I have only rolled once in my career, I did fall sideways off a giant freestyle obstacle; other than that, I have kept her on all fours.

“I got some validation that I had made it,” Widner said of the win against household name Grave Digger on Feb. 19. “I’m not just some kid trying to make it, I know what I’m doing, I’m good enough to hang out with the best. I have had a lot of people say I’m … too young. I took it upon myself to make a statement.”

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox Monster Truck from Knoxville driver wins national event