The Power of E

Epinephrine and What it Means to Monster Truck Drivers
By Kyle Doyle

Is there more to saving a truck than just skill and luck?

The competitive monster truck of today really has little in common with the trucks of 15 or 20 years ago, aside from a few basic elements: loud engines, flashy paint jobs, and big tires. Those few things aside, the trucks of 2008 are a completely different creature than the trucks of 1988. Advancements in areas like suspension, driver safety equipment, seats, and chassis design have led us to trucks that are capable of feats which would have exceeded anyone’s wildest dreams not too long ago. Ten years ago when Dan Runte and Bigfoot 14 made their record-breaking leap of 202’ in Tennessee, a leap of that magnitude was nearly unheard of. Now a days it is not uncommon for trucks to achieve height nearing that indoors, and approach distances nearing the 200’ mark during a “normal” pass at an outdoor race. So what does all this mean?

Even though technology has allowed drivers to perform at a level once considered unthinkable, there is one component that has been there from day one, and will be until the very last monster truck driver sets foot on track, and has played a crucial role in the history of this sport. Coursing through a person’s bloodstream, instilling confidence and blocking out pain, epinephrine is a vital ingredient in any athlete or race driver. But what exactly is it? How does it work? Where does it come from? And what does it really mean to a person working and/or driving in the monster truck industry?

15 or 20 years ago, a leap like this would have been unimaginable.

Although “epinephrine” is the term most often preferred by US health professionals, this hormone, stored and released by the adrenal glands, is commonly knows in layman’s terms and outside of the US as “adrenaline”. For the sake of this article and in lieu of the fact that most of us (including this author) are “laymen”, I will be taking advantage of the interchangeability between these two terms.

To fully understand how adrenaline truly affects a person while driving a monster truck, a brief understanding of adrenaline is helpful. Adrenaline, as mentioned above, is produced and stored in the adrenal glands, which can be found just above the kidneys in the human body. Adrenaline is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter; a neurotransmitter is a chemical that the body uses to relay, modulate, and amplify signals between a neuron and another cell. Translation: adrenaline is considered a “fight or flight” hormone that plays a critical role in immediate, short-term stress reactions. Triggers that cause the release of adrenaline can be exciting, threatening, arousing, or environmentally stressing such as loud sounds or bright lights. When released into the bloodstream, adrenaline rapidly prepares the body for action in any of the above mentioned circumstances. Adrenaline works by boosting the supply of glucose (sugars, essentially) and oxygen to the brain and muscles while simultaneously suppressing non-essential bodily functions such as digestion. In addition to all of that, it also increases a person’s heart rate and blood-sugar level. In essence, adrenaline supercharges a person’s body for short periods of time.

But perhaps one of the most interesting effects of adrenaline is the widely accepted fact that most people feel a decreased sensitivity towards pain during an adrenaline rush, and in some cases claim to feel no pain until well after the adrenaline has “worn off”. From what I can discern from the various sources I’ve read through and with the help of some “translators”, I’ve learned that the particular nervous system that controls the release of adrenaline may be the same that modulates pain. Now, I’m a mechanical type of guy. Take an engine for example; there are only so many things that can go wrong in a motor, and there are only so many things than can cause those “wrongs”. Call me simple, but I like that sort of predictability. In researching this article, I’ve learned that the human body is exponentially more complicated than that. I mean, I’ve always understood that the human body is a biological wonder and is very complex, but….damn! My girlfriend is a biology major in her senior year, and I without her help in translating all of this, I’d be even more lost that I currently am.

George Belhan pulls off a dizzying save in St. Louis, MO. Scenes like this were once rare, but have now become commonplace.

Now, if you are still with me at this point, you are probably wondering when I’m going to tie all of this in to monster truck racing. Well, here it comes. Combining the experience I’ve gained in the small number of times I’ve driven, along with the various conversations I’ve had with veteran drivers and the hundreds of events I’ve been to personally, I’ve concluded that adrenaline is one of the most critical elements in a monster truck driver’s on-track performance. Watching in-cab footage of drivers at work is impressive on a number of levels. Under normal circumstances, if the human body were to be jerked and tossed around that violently without warning, the results would be moderately painful under the best of conditions, and would worsen from there. But for a prepared driver in the seat of a monster truck taking to the track, adrenaline becomes the mental and physiological lubricant that blocks pain and instills the confidence needed to put on a truly amazing show or win a crucial race.

I doubt that many, if any drivers are consciously aware of the adrenaline hormone speeding through their arteries while they are on-track doing their thing. Without adrenaline, I think it is safe to say that their thinking might not be as quick, their reflexes not quite as crisp, and their bodies’ tolerance of the beating they are taking would be greatly reduced. I’ve watched some drivers put on an amazing freestyle on a Friday night, and then complain of stiffness, pain, and soreness the following day. But if you were to ask them immediately following their run, they probably would tell you they felt like a champ.

If you watch footage from the early days of monster truck racing, when the most advanced trucks had less than 12” of suspension travel, you’ll find that the drivers are taking a horrendous beating in the cab. But thanks to the effects of adrenaline, including the reduced influence of pain, it becomes easier to understand how they were able to put up with that kind of a beating. I think the same is true today; I don’t see how it is possible for a driver to launch a truck two or three stories into the air, and then drive away from the landing and claim that they “didn’t feel anything”, at least not without some help from our good friend adrenaline. Of course, all of this makes me wonder how bad the pain must be for a driver who has to stop a run or get helped out of a truck after being stung by a bad hit or crash. Further more, how bad would that pain be without adrenaline being in the driver’s system? Please note that I’m not suggesting every driver wakes up the morning after with bad pains; rather, I’m trying to highlight the more spectacular (and more violent?) maneuvers that are occurring these days, and the role that the adrenaline hormone is playing in helping make those maneuvers possible. If I was putting on a freestyle and I made a respectable jump and it didn’t hurt, I would probably be more inclined to try a bigger one, and so on. If that same jump hurt, then I wouldn’t be as likely to try a bigger one. So while the truck itself is a key part in keeping the driver as comfortable as possible, I do feel that the adrenaline in the driver’s system is also playing a key role in masking up and/or eliminating pain that the driver may otherwise feel.

Mark Hall launches Raminator to a distance nearing 150' on a relatively short straight-line track.

So what about crew members? Well, that’s an interesting question to me. In my five years or so as a crew member, I too enjoyed adrenaline rushes during a race that one of the trucks I was working on was at. When fixing a problem hurriedly between rounds or jump starting a truck on the starting line or changing out a faulty RII box while on the three-minute clock, I could feel the adrenaline in me…a sort of tight, sickly feeling in my gut, arms that seemed to move without effort, and a complete disregard for personal safety. I recall noticing a nasty burn on the inside of my forearms at the end of the night in Madison, WI one year. The pain didn’t become noticeable till well after the show ended, and it took a minute for me to realize that the burns were from the smolderingly hot transmission I had removed from one of the trucks during the show in a hurry.

Grave Digger has almost become synonymous with big-air shots like this.

We’ve all heard of “adrenaline junkies”, and it’s quite apparent what their motives are. But is that why monster truck drivers do what they do? I think it goes deeper than that. Many experts agree that extreme sports athletes and race drivers aren’t just motivated by the feeling and the thrill that incurring an adrenaline rush gives them; its also about goals, competition, and perhaps most importantly of all, respect. Few things can equal the feeling a person can get when they have the respect of their peers, and of their fans. And if getting an adrenaline rush along the way is part of it, then so much the better. In a recent WebMD article regarding adrenaline in extreme sports, PsyD Justin Anderson states:

“Extreme athletes say that it’s the law of diminishing returns. Reaching the
same goal over and over doesn’t bring the same amount of excitement as it
did the first time, so they want to push the envelope and go for the next
big goal.”

To me, that sums up the motivations behind many of the industry’s leading drivers and team owners. As the sport progresses and knocks down bigger and bigger barriers and hurdles, one thing is for certain: adrenaline will be riding shotgun.

-kd
kyledms@hotmail.com

PS: What do you think? Are you a fan, driver, or crew member? Share your thoughts and experiences on adrenaline at the races for possible future discussion here on the Exhaust Fumes blog!

Sources:
1.) WebMD Health & Fitness – Extreme Sports – What’s the appeal? – by Heather Hatfield –
2.) WebMD Health & Balance – Anger, Hostility, and Violent Behavior – Topic Overview
3.) WebMD Health & Fitness – Adrenaline on Tap – WebMD feature from Women’s Health Magazine – additional reporting by Amanda Tust
4.) Ohio University Perspectives, Autumn/Winter 1998 – The Mechanics of Pain – by Kelli Whitlock
5.) Wikipedia – Epinephrine