MONSTER TRUCK BATTLE BECOMES A FAMILY AFFAIR
Monster Trucks have always been a part of Kaylyn Migues’ life.
Her earliest memory? It was a competition somewhere in the Midwest, and the enormous vehicles were becoming airborne as they clambered over the hills of a dirt track.
“I think the first thing I remember,” she said, “was thinking that people were going to get hurt in those huge trucks. To tell you the truth it was thinking, ‘Who would want to do this? Who would jump that high?’ ”
She is 20 years old now, and she has her answer. When the big, loud trucks roll into the Hampton Coliseum this weekend for the Monster Jam, Migues will be behind the wheel of the Monster Mutt Dalmatian truck. As usual, she will be competing against her father, Darren Migues (pronounced ME-guess), in the Dragon.
He owns the Dragon racing team that they drive for. And father and daughter enjoy the friendly rivalry.
“There’s nothing more exciting for a dad than getting to watch your kid develop into something,” Darren Migues said. “I’ve watched her mature as a young lady, and now I’ve watched her mature as a monster truck driver. I can see improvement every week, and I can see the confidence she has in herself and in her truck before every show.”
They come from Olathe, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, and most weekends they are on the road at monster truck events. Darren, 49, got involved 14 years ago, as part of the crew for the Scarlet BanditBounty Hunter team and eventually as a driver.
He traces his passion for monster trucks to a state fair in Springfield, Mo., when he was in grade school.
“Seeing Bigfoot for the first time,” he said. “Man, I couldn’t believe the size of it. I had seen pictures, but that’s not the same as seeing it up close in person. It was the coolest thing in my life that I ever saw, with the three predator carburetors sticking out of the hood.”
Kaylyn began driving a monster truck three years ago — not long after she got her driver’s license.
It took a while to get the feel for the enormous vehicles. She’s 5-foot-3 and 130 pounds, while her truck checks in at 11,600 pounds. But she said she’s safer getting air time in the Monster Mutt Dalmatian than she is driving on the interstate.
She enjoys meeting fans at monster truck events. She likes the idea that other young women can see her as a role model in the sport — and she occasionally has some very young admirers, such as at a recent event in Topeka, Kan.
“This little boy came down after the show and asked for my autograph,” she said. “He was 3 or 4 years old and he was mumbling something I couldn’t understand. Finally I heard him say: ‘You look sexier than chocolate strawberries.’ ”
Both father and daughter said they look forward to the moments when they compete headto-head. They respect each other’s abilities and enjoy the challenge.
Does she remember the first time she ever beat her father in a monster truck event? Kaylyn demurs.
“That’s hard to say,” she says with a laugh. “Maybe I’ve beaten him so many times that they all run together.”
Does Dad remember the first time he lost to his daughter?
“Boy, you know, I can’t answer that either,” he says. “Because you know, they’re so few and far between.”
All through her teens, Kaylyn was a dancer, training that helped instill her with a strong work ethic and a competitive spirit. Today she is a college student studying to become a cosmetologist
Except on weekends, when she is behind the wheel of her big truck.
“It’s two totally different lives,” she said. “People find it surprising that I’m a full-time college student learning how to make people pretty, and then on the weekends I’m driving in the dirt and getting all greasy. But you get what you put into it.
“Monster trucks are not a typical 8-to-5 office job. Sometimes we’ll put in 80 hours in a week. We take a lot of pride in our trucks. I learned how to drive from him, and our trucks are both in great shape. People have said that when we race against each other it’s like seeing the exact same person driving two trucks at the same time.”