Big and brutish, yet Raminator is surprisingly swift

Mark Hall saw firsthand at an early age the thrill of coming in first place. He grew up and lives in downstate Champaign, where his dad was a motorcycle race announcer.

"I grew up going to the races," Hall said. "That's how I caught the motor sports bug."

His mom provided encouragement for her son's budding interest but mandated one condition. "She said I could race but I'd have to do it with something other than motorcycles."

Since then, Hall has been more than content to forego throwing a leg over a high-whining two-wheeler. When he turned 16, he purchased his first vehicle, a Jeep, and ever since has been drawn to serious off-road machines.

Today, he competes with Raminator, a large-and-in-charge monster truck.

This latest version of the 4X4 was built last year and is modeled after a modern Ram pickup truck. It features a 565-cubic-inch V-8 engine producing more than 2,000 horsepower.

Big four-wheeled brutes like this are almost always associated with ground pounding, car-crunching capabilities - and the Raminator is readily up for those crowd-thrilling activities. But Hall's inner need for speed led him to put his truck to another all-out extreme.

On Dec. 15, Hall broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest speed by a monster truck. The timed, straight-track event took place at the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, where the truck charged from a full stop to 99.1 miles per hour. Put into perspective, Hall explained that even at outdoor show venues where space is plentiful, the truck usually won't exceed 50 or 60 mph.

Despite the accomplishment Hall is already planning another pass, confident his four-wheeled machine has can go even faster. During off-site preparation and testing prior to the run, Hall achieved a speed of 104 mph.

"The official track (length) was just a little shorter than what we had used. I have my eyes set on breaking the century mark," Hall said.

In a testament to the technology under the hood, the powertrain wasn't heavily modified for the accomplishment. "Other than switching the gearing, which we do regularly, the engine tuning remained the same," Hall said. "We set the record and could have driven off and immediately crushed cars."

Rest assured, he does plenty of that, just recently competing at the Monster Truck Nationals event earlier this month at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates. Even after many years in the business, Hall is still set on being the best, racing to win and also having a ton of fun.

"Even if you aren't into motor sports, it's hard to not be fascinated by the massive tires, the noise and the extreme stunts," he said. "I'm certain I have the best job in the world."