Inside Monster Jam
This official Monster Jam podcast offers exclusive inside access to Monster Jam Operations, including drivers, safety, track design and the Monster Jam Garage.
Inside Monster Jam
Season 5 Episode 14 | Love and Monster Jam
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Shell Shock’ed driver Dalton Widner and his crew chief Kennedy Bailey discuss their relationship on and off the track in Monster Jam.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast. I'm Scott Jordan. Love is in the air in Monster Jam. We have very talented drivers and crew chiefs, and sometimes the relationships off the track are more important or just as important as the relationships on the track. So right now we're going to fire up the Zenny Hotline and go to Dalton Wagner and Kennedy Bailey. Welcome to Inside Monster Jam. Thanks for being here, guys.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having me. Thank you for having us. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So obviously on the surface, very talented driver, very talented crew chief. You're coming off a fourth place finish in freestyle at world finals. But before we get to that, um, I want to go sort of behind the camera. I love Inside Monster Jam because it's a way for fans to get to know uh drivers and technicians sort of away from the spotlight. So let's talk about when you guys first met and and where this mutual interest of monster trucks came from.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I mean, I'll I was home from college in Nashville, and that's where Dalton started his arena tour in what 2033. 23, maybe?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and that's how we met. So Monster Jam from the beginning was in the picture. Um, he got me tickets to his show. Of course, he won the overall. And so, you know, love at first sight. Um, and from there I went to every show I possibly could, flew out from college. Um, and I told Dalton, I was like, I I have a semester left and I love this. Like, I have fallen in love with the industry, with the people, with the sport, all of it. He was like, Well, let's ask Mike if you can crew. I said, Absolutely. So, I mean, they took a huge shot, and well, I took a huge shot. They, you know, put trust in me. Um, and I went on the road with them. So I think we were only dating three months before I fully went on the road with him. I know, crazy, I crazy. My parents and his parents were, you know, what are we doing here? But it was amazing. Um, and obviously it's been three years now, and we've had a lot of success in our relationship and on the field and on the track. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did you know anything about monster trucks before you started?
SPEAKER_00No, to put to be completely honest, I did not even know wrench sizes. Like, I was so green, did not know, did not come from anything motorsport related. You know, if we had to change our oil in our cars at home, we went to Valvine, like it was like, you know, we did nothing ourselves. Um, and not to say that I was never interested in it because I was, I just never had that outlet. And so meeting him, I was like, this is crazy. Like, this is everything I've always wanted to know about.
SPEAKER_01So, Dalton, you meet this girl in Nashville, and there's no better way to impress somebody than to go on and win the event championship. So, was that did you did you have to run extra hard that night knowing that she was in the audience, or did it just all sort of work organically?
SPEAKER_02Uh honestly, I mean, uh, yeah, honestly, because she's way out of my league. So, you know, I had to do something to impress her, but uh, I don't know. Uh, that was the first ever overall I ever won in Monster Jam. So that was pretty cool that she was there to see it. But uh, I don't know. I was just, you know, it was me and Hunter and Mason, and we were all young, trying to figure it out, whole thing. So like everything was already stressful beforehand, and then I meet her and she's coming to the event and everything, and uh I might have put a little bit extra on it, but you know, just uh just out there having fun, trying to do our best. And uh I you know I impressed her enough to get her to follow me around for three years, so must be a good one.
SPEAKER_01Obviously, it worked out, it's worked out very well for you for both of you. Um Kennedy, what were you majoring in at school?
SPEAKER_00So I went to Loyola, Chicago, I majored in political science, business administration, and I was on a pre-law track. So I I wanted to keep going, I wanted to be in school forever, right? I I just I wanted to to be a scholar. Um, and I hit my last semester of college and I was like, I I can't be in an office anymore. I can't be in an office, I can't be in a schoolroom, I can't, I can't sit in a room and look at a laptop. Um, so this was fantastic, right? We we do none of that here. Um, so just being on the road, I think, is like open my eyes in so many different ways that that being in a classroom can't teach you, right? You know, you see so many different cities learning wrench sizes, learning much more than that about trucks. So um it's opened my eyes in more ways than one.
SPEAKER_01Did your parents object at all to uh any of this? Uh I know my my parents uh met on a random uh date like 50 plus years ago and are still happily married. They took a chance on each other. So, what did your parents say about this uh budding relationship between you and Dalton?
SPEAKER_00I mean, they were way supportive than I honestly thought. Um, they're like, you're young, do it while you're young, you know, you don't have any ties, you don't own a home, you don't have a dog, you know, like go where you can when you can. Do it, do the thing. Um, and so we did. And if it didn't work out, I always had home to come back to. I had a degree to fall back on, you know, but it's worked out and I couldn't be happier.
SPEAKER_01So all right, Dalton. So you you have to have a conversation, obviously, with Mike Christensen, and you tell him that, hey man, I met this great lady in Nashville, she's way out in my league, but she seems to like me, and I like her, and I really would like for her to come on the road with me. So, what was that conversation like for you?
SPEAKER_02Uh, it was good. I mean, I just kind of you know presented it to him as like, you know, she would she had been at a bunch of events and stuff and hung out and whatnot. So everybody kind of got to know her a little bit. And I was like, hey, like, you know, she wants to do this, she has she has no experience, no nothing, but she wants to come on and learn about it because she loves the sport and everything. And, you know, I don't, you know, she doesn't want to be treated any differently. You know, I don't want her, and she doesn't want to be just treated like she's my girlfriend, she's more than that. She wants to be just like any of the other boys and learn how to do this stuff and you know, work for maybe the chance to drive one day and you know, come on the road and do the whole thing. So, you know, if you say no, I get it, but is there an option? And he was like, Yeah, I mean, why not? Let's try it. And you know, here she is three years later.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. So, Kennedy, you go from uh, you know, this girlfriend who knows nothing about trucks to nominee for UNOH technician of the year. What did that nomination mean to you?
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely everything. Like, I was not expecting it just to be nominated was an absolute honor. Um Wendy rightfully deserved it. Um, she's only the second ever female to get that award, which is crazy. Like, that's to be a woman in this industry, more than one woman was nominated, and for a woman to win it, props to her. Um, it it like I don't even have the words. Like, even after Freestyle Um Friday night, like I said, like I don't I don't have the words yet to comprehend what this weekend has encompassed. It has truly been like a dream come true. So that's all I have to say about that.
SPEAKER_01Don, what is the dynamic like for you two to be on the road? Are you are you both driving the the semlis up and down the road? Is that how it works? Or are you meeting her, she meeting you? How does that work? I'm I'm curious.
SPEAKER_02So she's in the rig with me all the time. Uh I am the one with the CDL, so I do all the rig driving and everything. But she uh, you know, she does she does a whole lot more than a lot of people see. I mean, she takes care of all kinds of stuff. While I'm driving, she's helping, you know, keep our home away from home, you know, cleaned up when I don't have the opportunity to. She's keeping stuff organized, you know. You know, uh, I I honestly would probably forget one of my legs if it wasn't attached to me. So she's usually finding stuff that I forget, you know, when we're just driving around. But then when we get to the events, you know, she hops out of the rig and she's the one who's helping me unload the trailer and put the tires on, and you know, the anything and everything that goes on with that truck, she's there doing it, you know, changing transmissions, changing motors, changing axles, doing corners, running valves on motors, wiring, whatever. I mean, usually we kind of just split it up, and like if there's something that's uh, you know, like, for example, going through corners or whatever, like, you know, if there's anything else that's going on with the truck, I'll go work on that stuff. She'll pull all the corners apart and you know, put them back together and check everything and fix whatever it is that I might have broken. And you know, I I credit her for a large part of why my truck missed zero elements this year, missed nothing. Every single time it was pointed to and told to fire up and go do something, it did it. And I credit her a lot for it. You know, we didn't break a whole lot, and just because we didn't break a lot doesn't mean that you know we we got lucky or anything. Like she put a lot, a lot, a lot of hard work into that truck to make sure that it stays together when I go out there and beat it up. And you know, I think it's uh, you know, the everything all of it is awesome. You know, when we're in the rig, you know, we're hanging out, just spending time together, talking, looking at the scenery, all the places that we've been, you know. We've been to almost every every single state in America, other than maybe like Hawaii and Alaska. So, you know, we've crossed country, you know, cross countries together, literally like you know, went across country lines into Canada and done events there and all kinds of stuff. So, you know, it's uh we're together 24-7 and we wouldn't have it any other way.
SPEAKER_01Did you guys both uh build your new truck Shell Shock together? Was that uh a mutual collaboration between the two of you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so when Shell Shock first debuted, it was on my uh old chassis that I had been driving for five years or four, however many it was. That's the one that Alex has now. And then uh while everybody else was gone doing a bunch of the freestyle mania stuff, and everybody was busy doing a bunch of shows elsewhere. We had some that were closer to the shop. And me and her went around and we put 99.9% of that truck together ourselves. You know, Mike obviously was there helping us. He helped me, you know, with a little bit of the wiring and a bunch of stuff like that. You know, we had here and there people coming in and helping us, but uh, we're pretty proud of it. That brand new truck, you know, it's still not been upside down, and uh, you know, there's it's stayed together, it's done great, and uh, you know, it's got our fingerprints all over it.
SPEAKER_01Kennedy, what was the learning process like for you to uh you know just sort of start at the bottom and work your way up to crew chief and learning all the ins and outs of these uh 12,000 pound machines?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a process. I mean, I looking back three years ago at what I knew then, like it's crazy, it's life-changing. I'm a different person, right? Um, but I had great mentors along the way that helped me. Obviously, Dalton, like, he has a wealth of knowledge, he could do it himself, he could do everything himself. He'd be tired, but he knows everything. Um, and then Mason Paul, of course, he taught me everything I know. Um, so just people along the way who truly took their time to explain everything to me and really teach me the ways. And um, this industry is it's kind of crazy, right? Like, we don't get practices per se. It's all in front of fans at a show. You know, a breakage happens, a thrash happens, you gotta do it right then and there. There's no time to like ask questions necessarily. So um it was super stressful at times, right? You don't ever want to be in a situation where you can't get the truck back. Um, so having mentors along the way who really taught me everything is is everything. I I appreciate everything that they did for me, and I credit my career to all of them.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about your season uh before we get into world finals talk because Don, you came into the stadium series last year uh with a bang. I mean, it was uh it was an unbelievable year for you. And then this year with Shell Shock, you had some flashes of brilliance, I'd call it. Uh, but there was a no racing win for you, no freestyle win for you. Uh so talk about the the tribulations that you had with Shell Shock and trying to break this new truck in.
SPEAKER_02Um, I mean, the truck itself did really, really well. Um, I didn't really have that many issues with it. I had a couple random, you know, wiring issues, not even really wiring issues, just sensors going out, stuff happening, you know, taking me out of a race or whatever. Um but it's quite the difference from Jurassic. Uh, if I uh it's to say the least. I mean, it's a whole different truck, whole new truck. It's got, I mean, it's technically it's the same thing. It's it's an Eddie chassis, all that stuff, but it's got different shocks on it that I put together that have a different package in them. It handles different, it jumps different, it steers different. I cannot see nearly anything out of it. I mean, I can see out of it a little bit, but uh it's it's different. Jurassic, when you know, when I was sitting above the truck, I'm a really tall guy, I'm six foot four, so no matter where you put the seat in the truck, I'm high up in the cage. So, like where my eyesight is with Jurassic, I never looked through the floor. I could see over the hood, the only like you could see like a you know two inches of the windshield frame and then the horn, and that's it. Everything else was open. I could see everything, I could see turnpoles coming up in front of me. I could see you know anything that I'm looking for in a race or in freestyle or anything like that. Shell shock is completely different. The windshield is probably half the height that Jurassic was. The windshield frame comes really far down and it's about eyebrow level with me, so I can't see anything above me. Um, the hood goes straight out, straight down, and then I've got eyeballs on the sides. Now, obviously, I'm not complaining about the truck, it looks sweet. I love it. It's just an adjustment that I had to make. It's like I tried to I tried to give an analogy for somebody that was asking how it was, and it's kind of like looking over the hood of a Peterbilt with horse blinders on the side. I can't see anything to the left and right, and normally like I wish I could show you know an example of like what my eyesight sees. Usually when I'm coming into the corner, I come around the first corner on a racing track, I'm hard on the gas, and I can see the very tops of the freestyle obstacles, and I can't see in front of me, like I can see directly in front of the tire, but that's not really helpful because I'm you know traveling at 40-50 miles an hour. And when I come into the corner and I hit the brakes, I get a flash of where the turnbox is, and then I kind of guess from there, and I'm like, uh, you know, I use references around the track. You know, I know that if I'm looking at this banner, I'm heading straight towards the uh the racing lane, and I can see the side of the the big hill that's next to the racing lane, stuff like that. So I feel like I've adjusted to it finally, you know. Uh freestyle in in uh at World Finals was awesome. You know, I I feel like I've gotten more and more and more comfortable, and not just the body as well. I actually switched to some different wheels as well. I've got zero offset wheels, so it makes the truck about four inches wider than it was. I had two inch offset wheels, now they're four, but it kind of takes a little bit of the steering away from it, like it it you know, it reduces the steering angle just a tiny bit. So in the arenas, it's hard to get this thing to turn and it wants to push and push and push. So it's just an adjustment that I had to make.
SPEAKER_01Are you guys gonna make any other changes to the truck to sort of help you with your vision points for next season?
SPEAKER_02Uh, I'm hoping that I can rake the body a little bit, you know, rake it up from the back and bring the hood down. If I can bring the hood down, because it doesn't sit directly on top of the shop towers, it's kind of up above it. If I can bring it down, it'll be a game changer.
SPEAKER_01I'll actually be able to see really, really well then. All right, Kenny, let's go inside the cab with Dalton. What are you telling him on the radio? What kind of communication do you have with him?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, two-wheel, obviously, there's rules and regulations around what how long a stopy can be held and whatnot, and what's in front of him, what's behind him. If he's lined up straight for a combination move to go back, so telling him, you know, you're straight, you're crooked, you're you're pointed at a jump. Like, don't go any further. Um, how much time he has left in stoppy before he needs to move to the next move. Um, racing, he's really got it under control. You know, that's all him in the truck. Uh, freestyle, it's a little different for world finals versus a normal track, right? For a normal show, I tell him what 45 seconds about. Um, try and go head towards the backflip ramp. Um, for world finals, we wanted to hit two backflips. Like that's really what we wanted. We've been world finals for three years now. We've only done one backflip at each of those freestyles. So this year we were like two backflips, you know, if nothing else, two backflips. Um, so I told him 60 seconds, go go hit the first one. He did, and then 45, go hit the next one, and he did. And then at 20 seconds, I said go roll it, and he didn't, but that's okay. Um, so really just telling him, you know, being his eyes and his ears where he can't himself, if he's looking straight down at the dirt, just telling him how much time he's got left, where he's at on the track, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Well, Dalton, you did tell me that you were doing everything in your power to roll the truck and it just would not turn over at that point. So that must be one heck of a strong truck that you built if that sucker can't go down.
SPEAKER_02I tried, man. I tried. I uh, you know, not to brag on myself, but I have worked on the shock package that's in that truck for about four years. So I think I've made it land a little too good. I can't get it upset, like it just takes everything, and it's it's great for me because I don't get beat up in the truck, but it doesn't look all that impressive. I hit jumps, I feel like just as hard as everybody else, and it doesn't turn into the crazy rollover or on two wheels or whatever, because it just goes and just takes it. So, like, you know, during the run, I couldn't get it to get upset. I got it to get upset once, actually. Like I jumped, I think, the backside of the berm and landed on the racing lane and kind of came up on two wheels and I saved it because you know I didn't want to end the run at that point, but then at the end of the run, I was just I did the backflip moonwalk and I was kind of hoping that it would catch something and roll over backwards, and it didn't. So then I just hit the side of the race lane and it turned into a wheelie, and then it got up on one tire, and I thought I was heading towards the side of the step up, and I was like, this is gonna be gnarly, and then it didn't hit it, and I'm like, I don't know what to do at this point. I'm just holding the can do it.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to get it to do something. Yeah, so you come out of your Friday night brackets um as the leader in freestyle. What was Friday night like for you knowing that you had that lead, that you stepped out, and you were in a group of some incredible freestyle competitors, former world champions in there. So, what was Friday night like for you after you left the stadium?
SPEAKER_02Uh crazy. Uh, I didn't think that I I mean you know me. I'm kind of more of a racer. I've never really been known for freestyle all that much. I've got a couple second place finishes this year, so you know, I tried to turn it up a little bit and do a little bit better, and um I didn't think I was really gonna be up there for freestyle. All I was really I I I said it in my interview, genuinely the only thing I was thinking about doing was trying to put on the best of the best show I possibly could for freestyle and roll that thing over because that's all I've heard about all year is when I'm gonna roll it over. Um, and I thought World Finals was the place to do it, but it didn't happen. But uh, I don't know, it was crazy. Like I I feel like I dodged a couple bullets, to be honest with you. I mean, I you know, I'm very aware that Tyler and Weston and a bunch of those guys could have taken it away from me, and uh, you know, they uh it but it's it's part of the game, you know. We were the first group of freestylers, so we kind of showed the second guys what could and couldn't be done, and you know, all kinds of crazy stuff happened on our first night. So, you know, it's part of the game. So I I finished my run, did the two backflips, had a pretty good, solid run, got a really good score for it, and um I was just sitting there waiting. I was waiting on Weston or Tyler or you know, I I expected Mike Pag to do some crazy stuff, which he did. Um a bunch of guys that were in my group. I was kind of sitting on the edge of my seat, and then you know, I I was cheering them on. I didn't want them to like, I mean, we're all a family here at Monster Jam. Like, as much as we are competitors, I also want my friends to do well. So sitting there watching them, I'm like on pins and needles, cheering them on, and then they'd roll over and I'd be like, I don't know if I feel good or bad. Like, you know, I'm obviously happy that I'm still in the lead, but I really wanted that guy to do well, so it was a crazy dynamic, crazy, you know, crazy that I was in the lead and I let it and I finished fourth. So it's I mean, it's pretty sweet.
SPEAKER_01Kennedy, I was uh above you at the host desk, so I had a bird's eye view of your reaction when the score came in. You looked there was a combination of being elated and also an absolute shock um when the score came in, and there was a number one by his name. So what what was your what was your actual initial feelings when you saw that oh my god, he hit the two backflips and he has the freestyle lead going into tomorrow night?
SPEAKER_00Just pride. So much pride, pride in the truck, pride in Dalton, pride in in what we've built. Um I really while I knew that it was a great run, I didn't know if it was enough. You know, Chris had a gnarly run just before him. Um, and so I I really didn't know which way it would go. I didn't know if it was gonna be a first place finish or a second place finish, or or if down the line other people would take it. Um, so just just pride in that moment, like everything was worth it, you know, all the late nights, all the hard work, all the long drives, everything right then was worth it. And it's always been worth it just being with him, being with the truck, uh doing what we're doing. It's always worth it. But but in that moment, it was like this is real, and this is this is everything we've worked forward, worked towards.
SPEAKER_01So, what's next for you guys? We're we're post-world finals, we're heading into the uh late summer season, early fall. What do you have on deck?
SPEAKER_02Uh just you know, getting everything ready to go and uh continuing on with our season, really, you know, going out and trying to, you know, you just I don't know, I just more events, more stuff, you know, just hanging out, keeping doing our thing and uh moving it up and down the road.
SPEAKER_00Getting a little rest. Yeah, a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's important. What about driving for you, Kennedy? Is that on your radar?
SPEAKER_00It absolutely is. I I really hope one day that I can get there. Um, I don't know when it's gonna happen. There's no plans as of now. I've driven once before, and I had the time of my life my life. Um I I really hope. I hope that I can represent women in the industry well, and I hope that I can be on both sides of it. I I truly look up to Becky so much for being um one of those girls that made the transition from technician to driver. Um, I think it gives it gives you a step up when you drive. Uh, I mean, just ask Dalton, right? So I um I really hope one day that that's what I can work towards. But as of now, I I'm happy just being a crew chief and being nominated for technician of the year and stuff like that and making a name for myself on the technician side of it.
SPEAKER_01Well, you guys have a great story. Uh, and I'm happy that we're able to tell the fans how you met and where this relationship developed. Dalton, I thank the world of you. I think you're an amazing driver. Uh, and Kennedy, so much respect. So thank you guys for being here. I do appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having us. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01All right, Kennedy Bailey, Dalton Widener, uh shell shocked, formerly Jurassic Attack, fourth at World Finals Freestyle. Best of luck to you guys, and that is all the time we have. I will see each and every one of you right here next week on Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast.