Renegade's Monster Truck Show Tears It Up In Marietta

MARIETTA, OH —If you live in Marietta and were one of the few who didn’t go to the Renegade Monster Truck show, you probably heard the monster sounds. A half dozen monster trucks fired up their engines at the Washington County Fairgrounds at 7:00 yesterday evening, and the roar could be heard for miles.

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Lindsey Rettew is one of the owners of the Renegade Monster Truck Tour. She says they have six monster trucks, three mini trucks, a bunch of renegade road rippers and the idea was to come out and tear it up in Marietta. “They come out, do two-wheel skills, stoppies, sky wheelies, donuts, side by side racing. The rippers come out and also do side by side racing.” She said they ended with monster trucks doing freestyle.

It was raining lightly, but the enormous crowd didn’t seem to mind. Families lined up and waited for hours to see the colossal trucks perform fantastic aerial feats. It’s hard to get an exact headcount as the owner refused to release them, but there were at least a few hundred people there. The bleachers were packed to the point that some had to stand at the fence to get a good view. Rettew says it’s normal for them to get crowds like this.

They had some serious trucks tearing up the fairgrounds. “Samson and Stinger are both big-name trucks.” Barely Tame and Master of Disaster were both names brought back from the 90s. “So they’re 90s trucks that now have been revamped. So the names have been brought back and put on brand new chassis to run.”

But these big-name trucks don’t “tear it up” all by themselves, the Renegade Monster Truck Tour has some top-notch drivers working for them. Rick Steffens, Leon Hosttetter, and Joe Lockhart are just a few of the drivers they have, Lindsey Rettew herself is one of the drivers. She says all of their drivers are very good and they’ve never had an incident. “They’re all stunt drivers. It takes a lot to get in one of these trucks and do what they do.” Some have been driving these trucks for 10+ years others have just started this year. “So you have the rookies and the veterans out there.”

Safety is number one for the Renegade Monster Truck Tour. They had fire trucks and ambulances on hand in case they were needed. “We have a safety crew that checks all the trucks to make sure they were safe. There are fire extinguishers everywhere.” The entire event wrapped up without any serious problems.

The tour heads to Clear Brook, VA next, after that they’re doubling back to Beckley, WV. The tour plans on returning to Ohio one more time this year, they’ll be at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on June 26. This was their first year coming to Marietta, but Rettew says they had a blast and they plan on coming back.

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