MANSFIELD – One thing the racers and guests of Saturday night’s Monster Truck Throwdown had in common – family tradition.
This was especially true for the Donnersbach family, which had three generations of Anthony Donnersbachs at the event. The eldest Donnersbach, “Pawpaw,” started the decades-long tradition of bringing his son to monster truck events in the 90’s and has not stopped since.
What started as just a father-son duo has grown into a whole group of Donnersbachs who now sit in the stands.
“We started bringing (my son) here when he was (my grandson’s) age, so it’s just full circle,” Pawpaw said. “I’m over the moon that it’s like that.”
The middle Donnersbach said growing up with a love for cars has turned into a career at Milliron, where he now supplies some of the crush cars that the monster trucks perform with.
It was the first monster truck show for the youngest Donnersbach, who eagerly waved around a black and white race flag.
One of the five racers of the night, Rick Steffens, had a similar start with monster trucks – going to show after show as a kid.
His truck, “Samson,” was passed onto him from his wife, whose father made and raced the truck himself back in the day. Going from three racers within the same family, Steffens said it is cool to have a truck with so much history behind it.
Similar to the Donnersbachs, Steffens said the event was a full-circle moment. Going from a fan waiting in line for pictures and autographs, Steffens said it’s a great feeling to now be the person giving them out.
“It’s always fun because I was that kid when I was younger,” Steffens said.
After the 5:30 p.m. Track Party, where guests were able to meet the racers and get a glimpse of the trucks, Steffens and the four other racers revved their engines and got ready to perform.
The racers competed in three categories – best trick, speed race and freestyle.
While the air soon filled with dirt and dust from the track, fans in the stands only cheered louder as the racers continued to impress.
