The Monster Jam Path of Destruction is making its first visit to New England. The event is coming to Gillette Stadium for one show on Saturday, June 21, at 7 p.m.
Some 16 Monster Trucks will be competing, including the iconic Grave Digger driven by the sport’s patriarch, Dennis Anderson. His archrival, Tom Meents, will also be competing in his Max-D truck.
Meanwhile, Anderson’s sons Adam and Ryan will drive Grave Digger the Legend and Son-uva Digger, respectively.
Grave Digger the Legend won the Monster Jam World Finals Racing Championship in Las Vegas in March. Veteran Monster Jam announcer Scott Douglass said Ryan Adams was on a roll and is currently the man to beat. The show will also feature Metal Mulisha, which won the freestyle world championshipwith driver Todd LeDuc. Morgan Kane is scheduled to drive it at Gillette.
“It’s very exciting,” Douglass said of the show at Gillette in a phone interview. Monster Truck shows will continue at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, he said, but Gillette offers a larger forum.
“It’s a grand expansion,” he said. “There are more trucks, they can go faster and go higher. It’s as big a stadium as they get, and they can fly it up 30, 40 feet in the air. The fans are really going to dig it.”
He said the show will go ahead rain or shine. “It’s one shot to lay it all out there,” he said, noting the show has often run in the rain in Florida. “It’s another level, who can handle the mud.”
To accommodate the show, Gillette Stadium is undergoing a transformation that involves laying 100,000 square feet of plastic and 6,000 sheets of plywood to provide a two-layer cover over the new turf, according to producer Feld Motor Sports. Laying it will take 500 man-hours. Thirty dump trucks will then lay 7,500 tons of dirt, or about 300 loads, on top to create the track, which will include 25 crush cars and four crush vans, and possibly two larger obstacles.
Prices start at $35, $15 for children 2-12. The “Party in the Pits” from 1:30 to 5 p.m. lets fans view the trucks up-close and meet the drivers. Pit passes are $15.
For $125, fans get the Total Access Pass that includes one ticket in the best section of seats, access to drivers with early entry to the Party in the Pits at 11:30 a.m., and access to the party.
There are also limited $200 Breakfast of Champion passes, which includes all the events in the Total Access Pass and breakfast with world-champion drivers.
Find tickets at ticketmaster.com, by calling (800) 745-3000 or at the Gillette Stadium box office. Free parking will be available.