Delivering smiles

“What are ya hauling?”

Drivers are asked this regularly. For most, the answer is often underwhelming. However, for OOIDA member Bret Chastain – the answer is monster trucks.

Chastain has spent nearly four decades behind the wheel. After serving six years in the U.S. Army, he was introduced to trucking by his uncle. For the Flora, Ind., native, that’s all it took, and he’s been driving ever since.

For the past 10 years, he has driven for Palmetto, Fla.-based Feld Entertainment, where he hauls trailers for Monster Jam. The company does a number of traveling shows, including Disney on Ice, Marvel Universe Live, Sesame Street Live, Jurassic World Live Tour, and Ringling Bros. Circus. According to their website, “We entertain millions of fans each year, producing more than 3,500 shows in as many as 75 countries on six continents.”

Putting on shows of that magnitude is no easy task. Chastain said he was in awe when he began his tenure at Feld.

“At first, it was like overwhelming,” he said. “I mean, just how big it is and how huge the operation is.”

The amount of planning for each event – which is coordinated down to the order the trailers should arrive at the arenas – is truly impressive. According to Chastain, some of the shows require nearly 30 trailers to transport the show from city to city. He says that each new venue can present its own unique challenges.

“It can be challenging, especially when you’re doing smaller arenas and stuff like that, where you’ve got to shuttle around trailers,” Chastain said. “They have to go in a certain way and come out a certain way. So, yeah, it can be a challenge.”

Getting to the arena is just half the battle. Chastain says that the show crew has their setup down to a science, getting the venues ready for a show in under two days.

While trucking these shows across the country takes up most of his workday, Chastain is happy to add to his to-do list. Once they arrive at the venue, he likes to pitch in and help where he can. Chastain says he’s helped as a spotter during some of the shows.

“I’ll put on a headset, and I’ll sit up in the stands and be like a spotter and watch for trucks to break,” he said. “Something goes flying off the truck or something unsafe would come along, and we’d call it out.”

For most truckers, the job can often be thankless. That’s not the case for Chastain. He says Monster Jam fans are thankful for the behind-the-scenes contributions he and many others make to putting on an event.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “A lot of people shake my hand and say, ‘Man, that’s a cool job. We really appreciate you guys doing shows.’”

Chastain says that while the gratitude of the fans is welcomed, watching spectators young and old “ooh and ahh” over the monster trucks is rewarding in and of itself.

“Being able to see the fans’ reactions is cool,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it when I did my first Monster Jam. People are just crazy about these trucks.”

It’s that fan reaction that Chastain says was missing for the last couple of years. Due to the pandemic, many of the opportunities for fan interaction went away. There has been a return to a bit of the normalcy of pre-COVID days, with drivers now interacting with fans before the events, signing autographs, and doing interviews in the stands.

While Chastain gets to drive a big truck for a living, he still has his sights set on driving one of the Monster Jam trucks. It may be a big request, but he’s not giving up.

“They’ve let me sit in one and check it all out,” he said. “I’ve tried to talk them into letting me drive one around the parking lot or something. That didn’t happen yet, but I’m still working on it!” LL

Read more by Staff Writer Ryan Witkowski.