Ask Roger Stidell why he got into monster truck racing and he flashes a mischievous grin.

    “I have a low I.Q.,” he says.

    The 42-year-old veteran driver has been behind the wheel of the powerful machines since 1987, but the monster truck circuit this year is different. Stidell now owns The Destroyer, a monster truck that belonged to Dan Evans until Stidell bought it as a Christmas present to himself.

    In the dust of the Bannock County Fairgrounds arena, Stidell was taking the beast on four wheels through the paces as he competed against Heart Breaker driven by Kaila Savage and Malicious driven by Gabe Montoya.

    First up for all three monster trucks was the “wheelie” competition where drivers jump their big rigs over a pile of crushed cars and attempt to gain maximum air with the front wheels without flipping the truck.

    “You watch for things that don't feel right,” Stidell said about the events that pound the vehicles and test the strength of both the drivers and their engines. While the motors roar and the crowd screams in support, drivers like Stidell are wrestling with the steering wheel and watching for signs of trouble.

    On the second pile of crushed vehicles Saturday night, Stidell had The Destroyer's front end dancing in the fading light of early evening, but when the truck landed, he knew something just “didn't feel right.”

    His had performed the last wheelie of the competition, so he roared over to his black semi-trailer rig and immediately climbed down from the cab. Grabbing a hydraulic jack, Stidell lifted the massive rear wheels off the ground.

    “We'll jack it up and take a look to see if we can duplicate it,” he says about the strange shift in the rear end of the truck he experienced flying over the hunks of metal that were once passenger cars.

    As Stidell scrambled to troubleshoot the problem before the next event, the pit boss from the Malicious crew ran over and asked him if everything was alright.

    “That's what's cool about the sport,” Stidell said. “It really is like a big family.”

    Competitors know they are a long way from home and parts if anything goes wrong so they all work together to keep a show rolling, according to Stidell.

    Now that he is the owner of The Destroyer and racing his own rig, he knows the responsibility to keep it running falls on his shoulders alone.

    “You've got to fix everything and pay all the bills,” he says with a smile.

    But, despite the $200,000 investment, Stidell said he loves being an owner/racer.

    A native of Spokane, Wash., he remembers the challenge of keeping his first vehicle running as a kid. It was a 1971 Ford F250 and with the skills he learned from his father, the truck stayed on the road.

    Saturday at the fairgrounds this much larger truck also kept running. After a quick check of the rear wheels and suspension, The Destroyer was back on the track. Stidell was smiling.

    “I love going to the fairs,” he said before climbing back in the cab. “I love meeting people.”

    To follow Stidell and The Destroyer go to: www.thedestroyermonstertruck.com.