Monster Jam rumbles into TWC Arena

The similarities between motorcycles and monster trucks may seem limited to rubber tires and a motor, but for Monster Jam driver Alex Blackwell, racing motocross and piloting Captain’s Curse aren’t so different.

“A motorcycle weighs 350 pounds and a truck weighs 10,000 pounds,” says Blackwell, who started his career as a competitive motocross racer but switched to monster trucks after knee surgery.

“The jumping part is almost identical. Timing is crucial. If you watch when guys jump on their motorcycles, you’ve got the throttle rhythm. They hit the brakes. It reacts not as fast on a truck, but it does the exact thing. You’re stopping your rear wheel momentum, it drags and it drops the front end.”

While jumping may boil down to the theory of rotating mass and wind, Blackwell is seemingly safer behind the wheel of the truck.

“In the truck I wear seven seat belts and on the motorcycle I didn’t wear any,” he says.

Blackwell will drive Captain’s Curse Friday and Saturday when Monster Jam returns to Time Warner Cable Arena.

Blackwell was 6 when his father bought him his first motorcycle. It was 1979. He started doing motocross before he was old enough to drive himself to competitions and turned pro in 1991. He was at the top of his game in 2001 right before his career hit the brakes after doctors told him he’d have only a 50 percent chance of walking after the age of 50 if he continued to compete.

During nine months off following surgery, Andy Slifko, who owned the former Monster Jam truck the Eradicator, invited Blackwell to do a test run in the truck.

“I had no interest in it at all,” recalls Blackwell, who was immediately blown away by the vehicle’s horsepower. The experience changed his life. “I had worked at my job for 14 years and I went back home and put in my two weeks’ notice. At the end of 2004 I moved from Pennsylvania to (the Outer Banks of) North Carolina.”

After a stint on the crew, he started out racing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle truck but had no connection to the ’80s cartoon. He began driving Captain’s Curse in 2008 after his boss saw the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.

The motif fit. “Pirates are angry and people say I’m angry,” says Blackwell with a laugh. “I even got a pirate tattoo over this whole thing.”

He’s visited 25 countries with Monster Jam and marvels at the devotion of fans who sometimes opt to attend events instead of taking a family vacation.

It’s become a worldwide phenomenon, with shows in South America, Europe and Australia. Monster Jam did six weeks of sold-out shows in Australia. Blackwell has visited Holland 12 times and will add Tokyo and Brazil to his list.

“I say it’s crazy,” he says, “but in a good way.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Monster Jam rumbles into TWC Arena."