Monster trucks return to Ardmore at Southern Oklahoma Speedway

ARDMORE, OK -- The smell of gasoline filled the air at the Southern Oklahoma Speedway, where mod car racers and monster trucks hit the dirt Friday and Saturday nights.

The mod car races kicked off the events. Then the monster truck started into several different events before closing out with some freestyle rally.

"Freestyle, you pretty much go out there, do whatever you want. You got a big bus out there, you can hit that, donuts, crash into just about anything you want, and just basically tear it down," said Larry Quick, driver of the Ghost Rider truck. "You never know what's going to happen, I mean, monster trucks are capable of so many things. We jump high, we crash big, one might roll over, one might do a back flip, you just never know. So come out, it's always a good time, always fun, loud, exciting, it'll be a great time," he added.

After building a new Ghost Rider truck, Quick asked long time mechanic Corey Schlicher if he would be interested in taking the wheel of the old truck, renamed the El Loco Hombre, which means the crazy man in Spanish.

"He built that brand new truck for the Ghost Rider, and he offered me the job to sit in this one and give her a go. And I absolutely took that. I wouldn't take nothing else, you know," Schlicher said.

Schlicher said that being a driver is hard work and requires many other skills than just driving. But he also said hard work pays off, and after years of working in the pit, his childhood dream of being a driver came true. He said it's all worth it to be involved with such a fan-centered sport.

"To be a monster truck driver, you've got to be a people person, you got to be a mechanic, you got to be... It's a little bit of everything! We drive the tractor trailer. We do body work, fabrication, welding, engines, trannies, I mean, we got to do it all, and I like to have it different in work all the time, so it keeps me busy," he said.