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 21 | Mike and Wendy Christensen
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Scott Jordan catches up with Mike and Wendy Christensen.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast. I'm Scott Jordan. This week I am joined by Mike and Wendy Christensen from Team Throttle Monster. Welcome to Inside Monster Jam. Great to have you both here.
SPEAKER_00Hey.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for having us. It's good to be back.
SPEAKER_01Of course, man. Last time I had you on, it was the uh the vendetta list where you got to come face to face with Adam uh Intignat, my my broadcast partner for prime time after those you know wonderful equipment comments that he made. So it's it's nice that it's nice that you two are best friends now. I I love that. I appreciate that that that episode helped that friendship grow.
SPEAKER_02Sure. I mean, I haven't seen him since.
SPEAKER_00So uh no, we've seen him in SEMO.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I guess I ran into him one time. So you you did. You called me on Easter and told me that you were with him.
SPEAKER_01You talked you called me. Yeah, all right. Well, listen, uh, you know, this time we bring Wendy in, uh, your your wife, your crew chief, the uh UNOH co-technician of the year. So let's uh let's dive into Team Throttle Monster and what's going on in your shop in Utah uh about 2027. So you and Tim Hall Jr. will be uh representing Stadium Championship Series E. So it'll be Shellshocked Vendetta. What was uh what went into the decision to bring Tim uh into the stadium folk?
SPEAKER_02Um well like as everybody obviously has realized, you know, Dalton is no longer here. Um he uh took his talents to Indiana, so we kind of had the open spot on our stadium tour. Um Tim was the next guy in line to uh kind of get that bump up to uh you know stretch his legs a little bit and come see what he can do out on a stadium show. So Tim uh got the call. He's uh gonna pilot Shellshocked for uh the 2027 season and you know hopefully he can pick up right where he left off um in Jurassic and he can kind of shut his stuff and prove that he belongs there on stadiums.
SPEAKER_01Do you uh did you give him any type of advice? I mean, we saw him compete at World Finals, so he's at least had some experience uh on a on a bigger track, but did you give him any type of advice to sort of prep him? Because I I've talked about this before. I know that the transition from arenas to stadiums and likewise, it's not the same for everybody, and it's not always easy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, he's done bigger shows um at you know, obviously non-uh Monster Jam events that we that we normally do every year. Um, and those he excels pretty well in. Uh, he just got back from Calgary um what, two days ago? Yesterday. Yesterday. And I mean, he won two out of the three overalls up in Calgary. So I think he's pretty comfortable in uh bigger floor, bigger stadiums. Um, I really don't give my guys a whole lot of advice because when I do, they really don't listen to it anyways. And they all kind of have their own type of driving style. So he's gonna go out there and kind of do what fits Tim Hall. So he's gonna, you know, he's gonna know what he can push himself to um regardless of what size floor he's on.
SPEAKER_00I mean, Tim's been around enough to where like he doesn't Tim's gonna do Tim, he's just gonna have a bigger stage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think Tim deserves a spotlight. I've I've you know I've done my research on him, I've written a few articles about him on the website. I've had him on the podcast before. I mean, he is uh uh a stand-up guy who knows what he's doing, and uh, you know, obviously in skills, I think he's one of the the top 10 in the sport right now. Yeah, uh, and that's a heck of a list to be on. So uh let's talk, Wendy, let's talk about UNOH co-technician of the year because we presented that award to you at World Finals in Salt Lake City. What does it mean uh to you not only to be a supporting wife uh to Mike and a part of the team, but also to be uh his his crew chief and to be recognized as one of the top in the sport?
SPEAKER_00You know, so Mike and I have been together for going on 14 years, and we started Team Throttle eight years ago. So for eight years I've been by a side through it all. I mean, like in never did I ever imagine that I was gonna grow up and I was gonna be a mechanic on a monster truck. Like that was never in my future. I have you know, degrees and other stuff that I don't use because here I am. But you're welcome, excuse me, to win an award. I mean, and I think there was only one female before me, and she was a body person. So, like being a female in the industry is is challenging enough, excuse me, from the female drivers, you know, trying to prove that they belong here to the female technicians trying to prove that they belong here. And to win it, like I was I was overcome by feelings and emotions to say the least, walking up on stage to receive that from you. Like it was just unexpected, and there's so many deserving people. It's like every tech deserves the recognition for that, honestly.
SPEAKER_01It's uh it's been an amazing ride for you guys, and and um you now have six trucks currently competing in Monster Jam. Your other four will be going to the Freestyle Mania Championship series presented by Spinmaster. It's a little different from years past because you guys have been on Arena Championship Series West, which will now be Freestyle Mania. Um, uh so talk about any anything different going into that now that it's a team format, now that they're gonna share uh that that likeness with a freestyle motocross rider, uh, anything that goes into prepping for 2027 that's different than in the past?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, um, not one of my guys have to worry about body damage. And the the cool thing about freestyle mania is it's no longer required. I mean, it's still required, obviously, but it's it's no longer up to just them alone. So if Trav goes out there in zombie and he has uh a bad racing, you know, loses first round and you know, uh a horrible two-wheel attempt, and like his points just aren't there, he can then rely on the freestyle guy to actually back him up and help kind of you know bring the points up to have a fighting chance once freestyle comes around. So that is something that I've noticed uh the last couple of years uh being a part of um or seeing freestyle mania, is you could have you could start the show off, you know, not so hot, but then your freestyle guy can you know kind of change the game going into freestyle to uh to give everybody kind of a fair shot to win it.
SPEAKER_00Just remember to turn it around, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you've you've had uh Alex Barden uh now on your team, who I I admire greatly. I think he's one of the best racers on the arena circuit right now. He is uh currently my my like white whale on inside monster team. I have tried to have him on this podcast, I can't even tell you how many times. Every time he calls in, he's got bad Wi-Fi, and we can't make it work. Um, but he got the opportunity of a lifetime in Salt Lake City to compete in the main field at World Finals. What are your takeaways from Alex and that opportunity he got?
SPEAKER_02You know, it was funny. Uh um Keith and Lindsay come walking up to me during post-show on Thursday, and uh they're like, hey, you know, can we can we chat? And I'm thinking something happened, you know, like there's a problem, there's an accident, like someone got hurt. And you know, once Lindsay started explaining it to me, and I was like, All right, well, yeah, let's, you know, what you just did to me, let's go do to Alex. Like, you know, let's go and kind of you know get him a little scared first. And so the three of us walked right up to him and you know, told him that we kind of need to have a chat. Let's you know, go to the side real quick, and then you could just see like pure panic just come out of his face, all white, like uh-oh, like oh man, what did I do?
SPEAKER_00What did I do?
SPEAKER_02And then once like you know, they started explaining to it, um, you know, it was more of a like a an it was something that at first he didn't believe, you know, because like what could have happened to create this spot for him, and you know, obviously some people know what happened, um, but he was at the right place at the right time. He fell short just a little bit behind uh Triton, and you know, he earned that spot to be able to take the the you know another position in the world finals main show. So it was cool for him to earn that spot to be there. Um it was literally gonna be Alex, me, or Tim. I mean, it was us three in the semifinals, and Alex was able to get past Tim, and I fell short to Triton. So, you know, it was uh it was good for him to get to get himself in that position. I know he was kind of a nervous wreck and wasn't quite sure, you know, if if if it was gonna work out for him. So him being able to be there and to go and compete, he had his family there, he had his girlfriend there, so it was almost like almost like a Cinderella story for him. Not to win the the LCQ, but to at least get a shot.
SPEAKER_00It's very emotional for I mean the drivers and even for like our whole team. I mean, emotional, but like good way, like pride. And I mean, world finals is something that every driver worked so hard to just try to be compete in. And so for the opportunity to be there, I mean, when he thought that he lost it, I mean, it was very emotional for him, and emotional for us to watch and you know pride.
SPEAKER_01Do you have somebody there working on a truck right now? Because I I hear I feel like I hear somebody welding, I hear somebody banging on a chassis or something. Are you guys yeah, are you guys just beating something up right now back there?
SPEAKER_02Uh well, it's someone moving a truck. I mean, I told them to kind of keep it down and they No, you're fine.
SPEAKER_01Listen, man, we're doing this in real time. We're doing this in real time. You already said that you already said they don't listen to you. So um Wendy, Wendy, talk about your dynamic with Mike on the road. Um, obviously, you have responsibility to be there for him as as his wife and partner, but you have responsibility also to be there uh as a technician and as a crew chief. Talk about how how you're able to balance that out.
SPEAKER_00Well, like with Mike and I, we spend almost every waking moment together, whether we're here at home or I mean, obviously on the road, but like even here at home, like we work together, we live together. I mean, and I feel like that we're very lucky because you could stuff me in his pocket, and I mean, and I would prefer that. Like we're together all the time. But very early on, we learned and decided that we have to separate work from our relationship. So at work, we're at work, we work together. I mean, and so like we keep our relationship at home. I mean, and so to be here, I mean, during the day, I am his crew chief. I I mean, I still get to tell him what to do. Like on the headset, I'm still telling him what to do. Sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn't, but I mean, I'm always in his ear, whether it's like this or on the headset, you know, and just trying to make sure that everything is ready and set and good to go for him. I mean, he's got enough to carry. I mean, and so when you climb in that truck, he's needs to make sure that it's safe, it's sound, and everything is good.
SPEAKER_01100%. We have six trucks competing in Monster GM. How many trucks do you uh I know at one point we talked about you guys moving to eight? Do you have eight right now? Is that what you have?
SPEAKER_02Yep, we got eight. We're actually currently building our ninth. Um, we actually we we have 10 chassis sitting here. Two chassis are bare. We're building a ninth truck right now, and then we're replacing a chassis on our fourth team. Um, it's one of the older trucks that older chassis that we've had. It's probably seven years old now. Um, the new truck we're building, we were just going to replace uh Tutal's original CRD. So that one was seven years old as well, which is what Carson's been in. And now for some reason, Paul decided to, yeah, no, let's just build a whole complete turnkey truck. So that's what we're doing. So, and I think we're gonna build a truck and like have we we want to have nine that way we have one truck that sits here at the shop that has Paul's seat in it, which I don't know why, because every time I have Paul lined up to drive, he you know, something comes up, or you know, an emergency trip to Disneyland comes up, or you know, he gets sick or something happens. And um, you know, but it would be nice for him to have something of his own. Um I don't want to say it's really a pain for him, but it it kind of sucks for him to have all this money dumped into a team and not have his own personal truck. You know, he's jumped in every truck that we have at some point, and as most drivers know, every single truck's different. Every truck's gonna react different, every truck's gonna land different, gonna run different. And so for him to be more comfortable in a piece, you know, he would like to at least have one truck that is solely his that sits here. So if he you know gets a wild hair up, you know, this decision and wants to go and drive, we can just load his truck up, send it, it can go do a couple shows and come back.
SPEAKER_01Well, fans that have followed you guys on the road, obviously they they know that the Christensen team is a is a three-person team because you have Bam there with you as well. And you were telling me some very fun stuff off the air. So if you like the opportunity uh to tell the fans now that uh what Bam's next step is, it might be a good chance for uh us to shine some light on her.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she uh she started driving full time in May. So she drove my truck at one of our own shows that we do here in Utah. Um I was kind of surprised that she didn't like my truck. She says that it just works too well and the steering's too fast, and it just not like the other trucks that she's driven in the past. So we kind of, you know, and she just wanted to drive my truck just to have that on her, you know, on her agenda of driving dad's truck. So she did that, and then she started um full time after world finals every single weekend. She was in a truck. Um, I try to keep her in the same truck, but she's been driving for heck now, seven, eight. Hell no, it's probably longer than that. It's probably nine, ten weeks straight. Um, she's progressed really, really well. Um, the sucker has already figured out these poppers and stoppies a lot sooner than I did. So I think that you know, the more she does it, the more practice she gets. She's gonna be really, really good in a truck. And she leaves today or tomorrow to go to Indiana for uh for an event, and then the following Monday, she will be arriving in Paxton, Illinois and going to Monster Jam University.
SPEAKER_01That's incredible. Um, I'm sure that well, uh obviously as a parent, I'm sure you guys are so proud of her, but uh any any nervousness for her because this is a this is a big opportunity and and a big chance for her to really cement herself as as maybe a future star in Monster Jam.
SPEAKER_00I'm not nervous. Are you nervous?
SPEAKER_02No, uh I Bam's biggest problem is she is her she's her biggest critic.
SPEAKER_00100%.
SPEAKER_02Um, you know, and and I think most drivers are you know, like we beat up our ourselves more than anybody else. Um, but she just wants to be really, really good, really like right now. And yeah, no matter how many times I tell her, like it's it's a progression, you know, like I'm not the same driver I was four years ago. Um, but our team has also completely changed from four years ago to now. Um, I couldn't really drive as hard as I wanted to when you have a teammate like Paul who you know rolls over 77 times in 19 weekends, like it's hard to have two destroyed trucks, and so you know, you you just gotta pick uh you gotta pick your battles of what you want to do. And Bam is so eager and so ready to just be a superstar, where I think that will come with time, and you know, she's gonna she's gonna get her lickings, she's gonna get the butt whoopins, and you know, she's gonna make the mistakes, and she's gonna have rollovers and have the accidents, and the you know, all of us drivers go through it. And I think no, there's not, but I I think she just doesn't want that to happen, but it's the inevitable. I mean, it's gonna happen, and so she just needs to uh keep her head straight and focus on herself, don't worry about what the other person's doing in the other lane, don't worry about what the people do in front of you, just go out there and do bam things.
SPEAKER_00I mean, and I think the thing with bam is she's always really worried about disappointing dad. So she would go out there. I mean, she's always pushing it, you know. Like Mike's always told her, okay, you know, like when it comes to racing, like you're racing yourself, you're not racing anybody else. So, you know, like focus on yourself. I mean, and so like there's like these little things like that he's always been trying to imprint in her mind, and it's like, okay, like now you're comfortable, now push yourself harder. I mean, and so like she has, but like he had to break her into that because it's like, well, I don't want to break anything, and so like Mike's explaining, okay, well, like things are gonna break, like you can't go out and do what you do without things breaking. I mean, and she's so eager for his approval, but she's had so many good role models between you know, like Mike and the other boys, like it's it's a family here, like those are her brothers, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, and so and each driver gives her a different point of view, correct? Whether it's myself, Paul, Tim, Travis, Alex, um, you know, everybody has a different point of view of what they can see that would help her and what for her not to do again.
SPEAKER_00I mean, and Bam is one of the hardest working kids I've ever seen. Like, we've always told her, I mean, she's always wanted to drive a truck, so we've always told her, okay, like if you want to drive them, you also have to know how to fix them. Like you have to be able to drive it and be like, okay, well, you can't just say, well, something's vibrating, like something's wrong. Like, you need to know, okay, well, this is this isn't right. I mean, and so for the last, well, since she was about 14, like she busts her butt in the shop day in and day out, even before she was on the payroll, just trying to prove herself. I mean, and so like she has so many role models. I mean, and she has those relationships with other drivers inside of Jam, too. Like, very close with a lot of them. Like, Camden means a lot to her. She they call each other siblings, you know, joking around.
SPEAKER_02But Cam calls us his parents, which I I don't like. I'm not old enough to be thinking.
SPEAKER_00But one time, I mean, the story behind that is Camden said something. I told him, knock it off, or you're grounded. So he started calling mom and dad. But yeah, I mean, so she's she's got a lot of great role models that are at her fingertips for advice and you know, like the do's and don'ts, and she has so many different perspectives because, like Mike was saying, every person is different, and every driver drives a different way.
SPEAKER_01So you know, I had a I had a friend who once uh because it's all a growing process, right? You as you said, you you you it's okay to break something, you can't fix it uh unless you break it first, and you can't get better unless you fail. Like you can't succeed unless you fail. And I I once had somebody gave me some really good advice, and he said uh that if you don't think things are going right, you should just reevaluate your equipment. And I know that you don't want those words of me. With those words. Yeah, uh, and you guys, again, I always say, I always tell the fans to go in the archives, go to the archives season three, watch the vendetta list with Mike uh and Adam Eggnappic uh and Tiknapp it is pure entertainment. Uh let's talk about Christmas Chaos, Mike, because you and Tim will be heading to Anaheim uh in December to compete in a team format, Team Green versus Team Red. We had a lot of fun in Salt Lake City filming that commercial. I talked to Bari about this already, but Bari kept calling you fan favorite mic when he was handing out the uh the presents. What's the story behind fan favorite mike?
SPEAKER_02Uh the the story behind it is there is uh there's a fan in California that kept making posts every single day to try to get me to win the fan favorite award. And the joke behind it is is you know, like we know there's no way that I would ever be voted as the fan favorite.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, let as far as Christmas Chaos goes, though you you at least got your your face on a Christmas sweater, which I assume uh you'll be wearing somewhere uh during the holiday season. Uh but uh excited to be a part, yeah. Are you excited? Are you excited to be a part of this, man? Because I mean it does look kind of fun. I've I've been a part of the the all-star challenge, the superstar challenge, and I I'm I'm personally looking forward to uh Christmas Chaos to see what's in store.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it's gonna be cool. Um I've I've never been a part of an all-star thing or any uh extra event that they've done. So being a part of Christmas Chaos is gonna be kind of sweet for us because you know who doesn't want to be in Southern California in December? I don't want to be in Utah, it's gonna be cold. Well, the then Paul can go to Disneyland, right? So he can just have an emergency trip to Disneyland. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he will just randomly show up and be like, Oh yeah, man, I I'm here in Anaheim. I might as well go to Disneyland. Yeah, um, you know, but it it's gonna be all it's gonna be pretty fun, it's gonna be Cool. It's gonna be uh a new experience. Um, I'm hoping you know, with being on uh team red, we can go in there and just you know convert team green to like team purple and kind of destroy them this week or uh and that weekend. And uh you know, we're pretty pumped, we're excited. We got some uh different alters that we got to make on the trucks to uh yeah, make sure we're ready for Christmas Chaos, but we're uh we're ready. I was gonna ask about the paint out for vendetta for Christmas Chaos. What is that gonna look like? Um, I mean it's it's gonna look somewhat similar to what it is, but it's gonna be different. So it's it's gonna be excited. It's gonna be Christmas themed. Yeah, um, all right. Same thing with uh with Jurassic. Uh Jurassic's gonna be there and uh it's gonna be cool. We're gonna we're excited for it.
SPEAKER_01Uh last question for you guys before I let you go. What are you most excited about uh the 2027 season? Any uh any cities that you see on the schedule that you haven't been to before? Uh any competitors that you're going up against that you haven't seen in a while?
SPEAKER_00I'm stoked to be on the east again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's uh it's fun to always go on the east. I wish we were doing Baltimore because uh me and Lindsay Wink, we always had a really good record there in Baltimore, and uh it's unfortunate it's on the west. But uh, of course, man, I'm excited to go back to Mini. You kidding me? Home of the Vikings?
SPEAKER_01It's gonna be you won there too, man. You had you had a nice win there in Minneapolis. So um I'm looking forward to Baltimore too. I don't I don't wanna like I don't want to toot my own horn, but on the 150th episode of Inside Monster Jam, a fan asked me where I wanted to see Monster Jam go. I said MNT Banks Stadium, and then the next week it's announced that we're going back to MNT Bank Stadium. I don't want to say anything, I don't know, but um, I will. I will tell you. It's definitely not, it's definitely not. Yeah, well, uh, hopefully, uh, hopefully we can continue to go back because that's a good one. Oh, you you'll be in Orlando, though, right? That's on the east. So I'll see you in Orlando. Yeah, yep. All right, great.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh Eastport's gonna be a lot colder for us this year, but yeah, I mean the east is different because we spend the majority of our time on the west. Yeah, so we love going back east to the new, you know, like the cities. I mean, even like the repeat ones, like Detroit, Mini.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, she's never been to Miami. Um, okay, she's been to Tampa, but I mean, obviously, being in Florida in January, February is gonna be most of the time it's beautiful. So it's gonna be nice to go back down there and go back to Philly and East Ratherfu. I mean, a lot of those places are are fun places that we enjoy going to, just because we don't go there that often, so we're always there. You know, we'll we'll just go from stadium to stadium, and yeah, it'll be nice to uh you know take a day or two and just actually be a tourist again, you know, just go and sightsee and go see the things that we never got to see before.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh hopefully I'll see you uh in Anaheim for Christmas Chaos. I'm hoping that Santa makes uh a grand return at some point during that event. Otherwise, uh I'll definitely see you in Orlando, but looking forward to catching up with you. And uh, for you fans that want to see Mike and Wendy and Tim Hall Jr., check out MonsterJam.com Stadium Championship Series East, and for the rest of Team Throttle Monster, that will be on the Freestyle Mania Championship series presented by Spin Master. Get your tickets now. Uh, I appreciate you guys being here. Any last words uh for the wonderful uh vendetta fans that voted for you for fan favorite driver of the year?
SPEAKER_02I'm pretty sure it was only like three Wendy, California, and probably bam.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right. Well, you got three votes. Uh just about hey, as long as you're Wendy's fan favorite driver of the year, that's what matters, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're my favorite driver.
SPEAKER_01That's all I care about. There you go. That's all you need, my friend. All right, guys. Well, thanks so much. Looking forward to catching up with you down the road. That is all the time we have. I'll see you right here next week on Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast.