Once again, no matter where they went, Team Sudden Impact Racing made highlights. In New Orleans, Louisiana, the Redcat Racing Ground Pounder and Cult Energy Activator made their presence felt, especially in freestyle! Ben Winslow drove Ground Pounder to an exciting finish, ending up with the truck looking a little worse for wear after a rollover (photo below courtesy Jeremy Verret):

“I want to make sure the Ground Pounder name gets lived up to every weekend,” Winslow said. “It’s one tough RC, and the truck has some body damage, but you have to take risks sometimes to try and win. It felt great to place where I did, and I wish I could have gone longer for the fans and Redcat.”
Winslow also mentioned that he’s been tuning the shocks on his truck and making good progress there. The truck has some body work to be done, but will be good to go next weekend. Check out the video of Winslow’s run below, courtesy Josh Lacoste:

Sean Duhon was in Cult’s backwoods, and he had the Cult Energy Activator ready to go for the weekend as well. He had an outstanding start to finish freestyle that did everything BUT end up in carnage, however he came perilously close on the biggest jump on the floor.
“Cult gives us great support and energy, both on the track and off, so I wanted to bring that same energy to my freestyle,” said Duhon. “It felt really good in the truck, and I was glad to be able to perform so well in our and Cult’s hometown.”
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Check out Cult Energy Activator’s run below:

Team owner Brandon Lagarde even had some fun, bringing out the Cult Energy Tank to thrill the fans with a hot lap:

While Cult Energy Activator and Redcat Racing’s Ground Pounder were tearing up New Orleans, Amsoil Shock Therapy and Cult Excaliber were making waves on the west coast, Anaheim, California to be exact. While the team dealt with a bit of adversity, they continued to perform at a very high level. Jon Zimmer took Amsoil Shock Therapy to the semi-finals of racing in the brackets before a close loss.
“I was definitely a bit bummed; I felt like Amsoil and our team had the fastest truck there,” said Zimmer. “I felt like it was mine to lose, and I just caught a bit of bad luck with a steering fitting breaking on me.”

Cult Excaliber fought through a broken axle the entire night, but Carl VanHorn didn’t let it get him down, going out first for freestyle and wowing the capacity crowd at Anaheim Stadium to begin the evening (photos below courtesy Andrew Ellingwood).

“I did the best I could given the situation, and I hope the fans enjoyed what I gave them,” said VanHorn. “The truck wasn’t a hundred percent, but I gave it everything I had for Cult and the crowd.”

Zimmer went big right away in Amsoil Shock Therapy, and caught some bad luck of his own when a rear tire came off the rim. Undeterred, Zimmer whipped into a tight cyclone donut that took the tire completely off the rim, the crowd roaring in the background:

Another weekend is in the books for Sudden Impact racing, and if the first month of the season is any indication, we’re all in for a great ride the rest of the year!

February 2nd, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized by Robby Haught



Jefferson, Louisiana – Sudden Impact Racing, LLC., today reported that it has been awarded a U.S. patent on its innovative and lightweight monster truck tire.

U.S. Patent D607,401 was issued January 5, 2010, to Sudden Impact Racing, LLC, by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. CEO Brandon Lagarde commented, “We are very proud, as this marks the culmination of our efforts to bring a quality, lightweight tire to this industry.” The issuance of US Patent D607,401 complements Sudden Impact Racing’s Copyright on the tire’s design, already issued November 28, 2007. “With the patent in place, we now have cemented our rights as the exclusive producer of this effective product in America,” Lagarde continued.

Sudden Impact’s procurement of this intellectual property protection is critical, as several would-be competitors have been reported to be dumping grey market knock-off goods on the worldwide market of Monster Truck tires at cut-rate pricing since Sudden Impact’s filing for protection in 2007. “Unfortunately, the tires that we’ve seen on the market that are infringing our design are substandard, both in terms of workmanship and design. They’ve attempted to copy our look, but are far from being of the same quality,” lamented Lagarde. “Unfortunately, most people don’t even know they are purchasing illicit products, and have wound up with an inferior tire. We have real concerns about the safety of these drivers who utilize these unapproved tires, as well as the other implications this may mean for those who have purchased these tires.”

The “other implications” to which Lagarde refers are the additional reality that unsuspecting customers who have purchased these illicit products may find themselves unwittingly responsible for large amounts of taxes and fees not included in the purchase price of the tires that were not paid by these surreptitious infringers and may end up the responsibility of the customer. “Our tires include all the fees and taxes, prepaid by Sudden Impact, that are required by the legal, ethical production and importation of these tires so that our customers don’t get any nasty surprises later,” explained Lagarde. “We want to ensure our customer’s interests are looked after, so we take those steps. That may mean a more expensive product, but as they say, ‘you get what you pay for.’”

In furtherance of Sudden Impact Racing’s ideology in protecting their customers, it intends to launch a complete policing effort to quash the several sources of these infringing, and potentially hazardous products. “This Patent and Copyright protection issued by the Federal Government will now also enable us to prosecute infringers in the marketplace to the fullest extent of the law, who have, for far too long now, been polluting the market with substandard products that have attempted, unsuccessfully, to mimic our original tire.” Sudden Impact Racing encourages any customers who believe they may have purchased infringing tires to contact their office, so that potentially affected customers can ensure any grey-market products are replaced with factory-fresh, authorized products for the best interests of the consumer and the drivers.

Lagarde concluded, “We are excited and encouraged that the U.S. Government has recognized our enterprising efforts in this field and awarded our innovation, and look forward to continuing to serve our customers by supplying exciting products to this industry.”

About Sudden Impact Racing, LLC – Sudden Impact Racing, LLC was formed over fifteen years ago. Sudden Impact Racing has since been competitively participating in various racing series and promotion venues. In 2004, current CEO Brandon Lagarde acquired the full rights to Sudden Impact, LLC., and was promptly named one of the top five monster truck companies in the Clear Channel Entertainment Monster Jam points series. Sudden Impact, LLC, has also been the recipient of the Monster Jam Innovation Award. Sudden Impact, LLC, has designed several products for the players and purveyors of this sport and ancillary activities, and also design, build, supply, and run their own vehicles and components in shows and races across the Country.

Download This Press Release Here

US Design Patent for Sudden Impact Racing Tire

US Copyright Registration Certificate for Sudden Impact Racing Tire

February 1st, 2010 Filed under: Press Releases, SIR Tires by admin

Check out Sean Duhon’s freestyle run in Cult Energy Activator from just a few short hours ago in New Orleans below!

January 31st, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized by Robby Haught

It was another busy and successful weekend for the Sudden Impact Racing team, as Sean Duhon’s Cult and Ben Winslow’s Redcat Racing Ground Pounder headed to Tampa, Florida for a huge stadium Monster Jam show, while Jon Zimmer’s AMSOIL Shock Therapy and Carl VanHorn’s Cult Excaliber took the challenge of running five shows in three days at the Hidalgo, Texas Thunder Nationals.

In Tampa, Duhon took Cult to the early lead in freestyle, catching some big air off of the largest obstacles the track had to offer and getting a 19 for his efforts. Winslow rebuilt Ground Pounder’s shocks again and softened them up a bit before Toronto, and was still tweaking them before Tampa’s show. He managed a 16 and got some great hits in as well.

“We have a great maintenance program and that’s the key to doing what we do and having our trucks be so reliable on such a big stage,” said Winslow. “We love having the support of Cult and Redcat Racing on this team; it makes our life easier!”
Full results can be seen by clicking HERE.

Carl’s wheelie from Hidalgo^
Meanwhile, Hidalgo is one of the most grueling stops on the monster truck tour, but Zimmer and VanHorn flourished, taking four wins apiece for a total of 8 wins combined for the weekend for AMSOIL Shock Therapy and Cult Excaliber. Monster trucks take a pounding, and there is generally always something to work on or fix, but the only thing that happened during the entire weekend was one tire coming off of Excaliber’s rim, a true testament to the hardworking group that is the Cult and AMSOIL team.
“Our crew has been great all year; we’re enjoying doing what we do and the support from AMSOIL and Cult has been great,” said Zimmer. “It was a long weekend but a good one. I feel like our equipment holds together great, and we get the job done.” Full results can be seen HERE. Zimmer’s wheelie attempts from Hidalgo can be seen below (fast forward to 2-minute mark):

More is to come from both shows; for now, check out our photo gallery from Tampa:
in addition to our full photo gallery being online!

January 26th, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized by Robby Haught

Team SIR continued pushing all of their trucks to the limit this past weekend, with CVH and Zimmer heading to San Antonio for one of the biggest shows of the year. Another of the biggest shows of the year is Toronto, and Duhon and Bobo were present there. With the trucks performing all over the place, it is sometimes hard to keep track of everything as a fan, but we have you covered! Read below, and thanks to all of our sponsors!

Jon Zimmer was a madman during freestyle. The Vermont native gave San Antonio a big air assault that will not soon be forgotten, including an awesome set of donuts on the tabletop! Video below:

Carl VanHorn took a trip to the racing finals once again, losing in another photo finish. In freestyle, few can do what VanHorn does, and he showed why he is such a highly-regarded talent behind the wheel. Angle 1 of Carl’s San Antonio Freestyle in the Cult Excaliber:

Angle 2:

In Toronto, another great weekend was had by Ben Winslow (Ground Pounder) and Sean Duhon (Cult Energy Activator). Duhon had a photo finish with Randy Brown’s Grave Digger in racing and also gave Brown all he could handle in freestyle, resulting in another second-place finish in the huge field. Winslow put it all on the line for Redcat Racing and the Ground Pounder team, and had solid efforts in both competitions as well. Full results are at .
Photos from Toronto:

Video from Toronto:

We thank all of our sponsors for their support, and will check in with some more special news soon!

January 18th, 2010 Filed under: Event Recaps, Team News by Robby Haught

All four trucks in Sudden Impact Racing’s stable began 2010 on a good note, challenging the best of the best for victories during the first full weekend of racing in the 2010 Monster Jam season. Ben Winslow (Ground Pounder) and Sean Duhon (Cult Energy Activator) made the trip to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a grueling four-show, three-day weekend.
“It’s always a little harder running so many shows in such a short amount of time, but luckily, we’ve got a lot of great sponsors behind us, and it showed this weekend,” said Duhon.
Duhon would make two trips to the final round of racing, and finish in second place in freestyle four times.

“Anyone can tear a truck up or roll it over, but that’s not what I try to do in freestyle,” said Duhon. “I ran hard all weekend and we had minimal breakage, so I was pleased.”
Winslow had an exciting weekend as well, debuting the hot new Ground Pounder look from Redcat Racing. Being an R/C monster truck addict already, Winslow thinks he’s found the perfect identity courtesy of Redcat.
“I am very excited to get the opportunity to drive for a great team with an identity I can get behind,” he said. “I am excited to show people that the monster truck version of Ground Pounder can do the same stuff the R/C one can!”
Winslow also made all of his passes in each show despite a broken axle at the beginning of one of his freestyle runs. As it turns out, Winslow and Ground Pounder are both as tough as they come.
“I always want to please the fans and every sponsor we have,” said Ben. “We have the truck set up to take some abuse, and we hang in there even if things don’t go according to plan sometimes.”

Winslow took three trips to the semifinals in racing and put on a nice run during the final show in freestyle, catching some big air and waving to the fans, who were on their feet cheering for the hot new Ground Pounder.
In Houston, Texas, Carl VanHorn and Jon Zimmer took the Cult Excaliber and Amsoil Shock Therapy to Reliant Stadium with hopes of building on their momentum from their show the previous week in Alabama. They achieved that goal and more, wowing the huge crowd in Houston with great driving and spectacular moves as well. VanHorn took Excaliber all the way to the racing finals in a 16-truck field, losing narrowly. Zimmer and Amsoil Shock Therapy took out the Rob Ryan radio truck in the first round, then was defeated in the second round, but not before pulling off an incredible save to keep the truck from rolling over.
“I had a bit of an issue keeping the truck under control in racing, but freestyle-wise that plays to your advantage,” said Zimmer. “We love the big air, and it showed this weekend there.”
Indeed it did, as VanHorn went out first and was just getting started in the Cult Excaliber when an entire housing came apart on a sky wheelie, something Zimmer simply chalks up to bad luck.
“Carl was ready to put on a great show and we worked hard to have everything ready, but sometimes it’s just a matter of us putting such a beating on the trucks,” he said. “Week in and week out, we hammer these things all over the place, and we’ll have the truck fresh for next week.”
Zimmer was ready in Shock Therapy, nailing three huge hits before succumbing to a broken spindle. Still, the crowd loved the spectacular, go-hard-or-go-home attitude that both drivers put on.
“We have great sponsors like Cult and Amsoil behind us, so we aim to please every time out,” said VanHorn. “We believe you need to be aggressive, and if the truck will hold up, we’ll make everyone happy.”

With all four trucks in action, Brandon Lagarde didn’t have any time to check them out, as he was piloting the Cult Energy Tank in Huntsville, Alabama. Brandon competed against the rest of the monster truck field and won the wheelie contest and freestyle, proving that good energy always wins.
With a whirlwind weekend for the SIR team and great support from our sponsors, we got the job done. Much more is to come next weekend. Stay tuned!

January 13th, 2010 Filed under: Event Recaps by Robby Haught

Sudden Impact Racing and Redcat Racing have been busy preparing the Ground Pounder truck for its debut in Council Bluffs this weekend. Ben Winslow, Sean Duhon, and Nesiah Terrebonne were kind enough to send us some photos:



MadMonstwerWraps was a big part of the process, and with Nesiah’s help, the truck is looking great and ready to go!

Be sure to check out our Store section for YOUR version of Ground Pounder today!
We will be in Council Bluffs with all the coverage, and Zimmer and CVH also have a big show in Houston, Texas this weekend. We will keep you posted!

In addition, Carl VanHorn’s Excaliber truck will now feature Cult graphics in addition to the “throwback” scheme that has been a big hit with fans across the world. We thank Redcat Racing and Cult Energy for their support. Be sure to check out Houston, Texas and Council Bluffs, Iowa this weekend!

January 6th, 2010 Filed under: Team News by Robby Haught

Mad-Trax will be performing this weekend with Brandon Lagarde driving! Show information is below:

Outlaw Monster Trucks
Outlaw Monster Truck Spectacular
Huntsville, AL 35811
The Agribition Center
January 8-9, 2010
Web site-OUTLAW MONSTER TRUCKS

January 6th, 2010 Filed under: Team News by Robby Haught

Jon Zimmer, Carl VanHorn, and Chris Ryan headed to Montgomery, Alabama with fresh trucks after a long, hard December of testing and tuning Amsoil Shock Therapy and Excaliber with one goal in mind-WIN! Below are photos of Excaliber preparing its new “retro” paint job for the public, then doing so:





(Thanks to Tim Bush and Kevin Darden for the photos)

The crowd loved the new-look Excaliber, and Zimmer and CVH set to work, with VanHorn taking second place in Saturday’s freestyle, followed by planting the truck on the tailgate in the wheelie contest and getting to the racing finals on Sunday.
“It felt good to be behind the wheel again, and the truck is great,” said VanHorn. “We worked out a few minor issues on both trucks; we’re sticking with what works, and Houston will be a good show for us next weekend too!”
For Zimmer’s part, he skied and wheelied Amsoil Shock Therapy all over the course, leaving the crowd on their feet screaming for more, and fell just short of the freestyle victory in a contest that could have gone either way. Full results can be seen at http://www.monsterjam.com/results/result.2009-12-21.5577887281.
Overall, both drivers were happy with their performances and Chris “Panda” Ryan helped keep the trucks in working order, and as week one of the 2010 season is in the books, the team will look to improve on a spectacular start. Houston is next!

January 4th, 2010 Filed under: Event Recaps by Robby Haught

December 21st, 2009 Filed under: Team News by Robby Haught