Dairy Queen Blog

When it comes to the topic of monster trucks, there are some extremely avid fans out there. Many years ago when one of my nephews turned four years old, I took him to a monster truck rally because it was what he wanted more than anything in life.

I will never forget that day. He was a young boy stocked with ear plugs and his eyes were as wide as saucers. He stared unblinkingly at the action. The noise was deafening, but the more noise the crowd of thousands made, the more noise the trucks made. I wondered about him becoming scared of the screeching and booming chaos all around us, but his smile never once left his face.

During a break nearly half-way through the event, I purchased a poster of Grave Digger for him to take home for his bedroom wall. Grave Digger, the world’s best-known monster truck, weighs 10,000 pounds, costs nearly $250,000, can jump 100 feet and crushes cars like ants with its 66-inch tires. My nephew held that rolled up poster like it was pure gold worth millions of dollars.

I couldn’t help but remember that day when I first heard about the Monster Jam event held in Tampa, Fla., last year that was a tie-in with DQ^® restaurants in the Tampa market , the Children’s Miracle Network and all Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. The best part of all is that in addition to Grave Digger, there was a truck included in the Monster Jam owned by local residents Bill and Vicki McShane that is styled in Dairy Queen^® colors. The McShane’s escorted Curly Top^® the DQ mascot, as well as Miracle Families around the infield of each event. The kids got to meet the drivers and get autographs, and kicked off the event with a lap around the stadium.

Those kids must have had a blast! I can only imagine it would be quite similar to the reaction my nephew had many years ago. I’m sure it was the creation of a memory they will have for the rest of their lives, and it’s another example of how the DQ system makes a difference.