Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.108 | Feat. Monster Jam Truck Driver, Bryce Kenny

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Good News York Featuring Bryce Kenny: Behind the Wheel at Monster Jam On this episode of Good News York, host Mike Brindisi interviews Bryce Kenny, a professional Monster Jam truck driver, as Matt is out on a unique mission testing porta-potties. Bryce shares his journey from playing Division One soccer to drag racing and eventually driving Monster Jam trucks. The conversation delves into the evolution of Monster Jam, the technicalities behind the sport, and the unique challenges drivers face. Bryce also highlights the importance of business acumen in motorsports and talks about his book, 'Geared For Life.' With the upcoming Monster Jam event in Syracuse, Bryce discusses the excitement surrounding the new Tech Deck Wreck Deck truck and what fans can expect. The episode is packed with insights into the world of Monster Jam, the drivers' backgrounds, and their unique skills, making it an engaging listen for motorsports enthusiasts. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:42 Special Guest: Bryce Kenny 01:32 Evolution of Monster Jam 04:03 The Science and Athleticism Behind Monster Jam 09:02 Transporting and Maintaining Monster Jam Trucks 12:06 Bryce Kenny's Journey to Monster Jam 17:01 Diverse Backgrounds of Monster Jam Drivers 20:50 Skills Needed for Monster Jam 23:32 Monster Jam in Syracuse: Event Overview 23:57 The Evolution of Monster Trucks and Drivers 26:06 Inside the Monster Jam League 27:29 Creating Iconic Monster Trucks 27:54 The Sparkle Smash Phenomenon 30:49 Tech Deck Wreck Deck: A New Era 34:14 Advice for Aspiring Monster Truck Drivers 36:48 Bryce Kenny: Keynote Speaker and Author 39:01 Final Thoughts and Event Details

Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them. Plus, time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley,

Newman and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises L' Week Bali to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been setting there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy. Tune into the Travels with Darley podcast on IHeart and wherever you listen to podcasts to hear about river cruising and Unirond's 50th anniversary summer specials. Hello and welcome to Good News York. A very special episode. Matt's not with me. He is out he's trying out all the porta potties in Syracuse to find the best one and we'll get back to you on that but it's me Mike Brindisi with you find me on all

socials at Mike BTV this is a very special episode I'm very excited I would say that the child in me is excited but that's bullshit because it's the adult in me is excited as well I grew up with this I went took my son of last year from Monster Jam the one and only Bryce Kelly is here remote. Bryce, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks. You got me on two things. Number one, I didn't know that I'm second to Porta Potty research with Matt. Listen. And second, my last name is Kenny, Mike. Not Kelly. But guess what? I have been called a lot worse in my life. So I'll just forgive you and Matt for both of those. No, I said, I said Kenny. Didn't I say Kenny? No, but it's fine. I promise I forgive you. I'm pretty sure I did. But

okay Bryce Kenny I promise I said Bryce Kenny All right what do I get if you said Kelly Because I'm coming down I wish I wish we had the tech to roll back the tape real quick I am 90% sure I said Kenny But either way I'm so excited you're here man So much to talk about you know

I grew up we called it Monster Trucks back then I don't know is that still a thing Is it Monster Jam or did they get away from the Monster Truck thing Well it's Monster Jam truck and as And it's for a reason because anyone can put big tires on a truck somewhere and call a monster truck. But only a Monster Jam truck is a 12,000 pound machine built in-house at Monster Jam shop out of Florida. And we've got, I don't know, maybe 60 of them in the fleet. And it's the largest motorsports fleet in the world, too.

So that's why you're right. You know, anyone can use that term, but we call them Monster Jam trucks. Yeah, because I noticed the name change. I took my son, I think last year. year and the sport has evolved so much. You know, I remember being a kid. And the first thing I think of when I think of Monster Jam Trucks is the line of cars and you ramp them and you try to jump the cars and if you're short, you smash them.

But there are so many different events that go on now. It seems like the sport has evolved so much. Do you want to speak on that a little bit? Tell us kind of what's changed over the years. Well, you're right. The evolution and the innovation of the sport has kept pace as much as possible with the actual innovation on the trucks themselves. The fact that we jump these trucks 50 feet in the air and they come down and land and they weigh 12,000 pounds. Each of the tires weigh 600 pounds. I mean, the fact that we're able to land these out of that kind of distance and height is incredible. I heard a rumor at one point that the Air Force contacted us because they could not. figure out how we weren't blowing apart the chassis every time we landed because of what they go through with landing planes on aircraft carriers. So that tells you, I mean, the stuff that we're pulling off, everything from back flips to, like I said, huge air to just all these crazy technical moves that

we've come up with. It's astounding to me and not just what we do, but where we do it. I mean, this past week, we were in Arlington, Texas, and at the same time, we had an event going on in Australia and Mexico City. And this is our off season. I mean, the fact that what we're doing is so globalized is incredible. And I'm just so pickled that I get to be a part of it. Dude, that's, you know, listen, you know you're doing something spectacular when the Air Force is contacting you for advice. Speaking of which, so it sounds like, you know, obviously there's an athleticism to it.

I know you played soccer, Division I soccer at Campbell University. I don't know if that translates to racing, but I know the sport as a whole, there is, there's athleticism involved in, I'm sure, inside the cockpit and everything else. But also it sounds like there's a lot of science involved. Is there, like, are there rehearsals that go on during the week? Or is it kind of, how does that work?

Man, it's totally unscripted. And everything that we do, we don't really practice during the week. We have a quick practice on Friday the day after we arrive. We usually get in on Thursday. If we've got a Saturday event, we get on on Thursday, we do media and a quick race pass on Friday. But instead of practice, we really kind of tend to call it a shakedown pass because we probably had damage from the weekend before the prior event that the guys had to fix and make the truck get it back to 100%. And so Friday, we just want to do a quick race pass to make sure everything's working the right way. And then Saturday, it's game on.

It's totally up to the driver and that team to come out and put on the best performance as well. And so, yeah, if we ever go and practice anywhere, we do have a test field up in Illinois. I've been one time in the last six or seven years. So that means when I want to try something new, I usually try it in front of 50,000 people. And you're either a hero or a zero. Yeah, man. plenty of hero moments and plenty of zero moments too in my career. I'm so glad you said that because that's part of the reason I asked because it's almost like

trying to think like tattooing. I always think of like, man, at some point a tattoo artist had to do this for the first time. You know, there's always that first time or a gymnast who does a triple flip. So a lot of this stuff you're saying you're doing their live. That is insane to me. Do you find yourself kind of coming up with different? ideas for new tricks you can do on the regular? No, I'm bad about new tricks. I've just, I've realized that, you know, know thyself. I think someone said that's important to do. And so I'm

not the creative guy, but one thing that I pride myself in is I'm the one that that wants to roll the dice in the moment. And so all my big highlights have come from not trying to plan something new, because we've got some phenomenal drivers. They live on simulators, I feel like, too, at their house and they practice that way. I'm, I guess I'm past the simulator age. I don't know. But everything I do is like trying to just be prepared in the moment to react to what the truck does and what the track is giving me. And that's where my best highlights of my career have come from. And I always say, you know, in Monster Jam, sometimes you're lucky as a driver. Sometimes you're good. But the best Monster Jam moments are when you're both. I love that. And I've had plenty of

those too. Yeah. I see, you know, with, with, NASCAR, IndyCar, I know you did drag racing for a while. You know, they're going around to different tracks and you guys are traveling to different venues, but I feel like for the most part, it's the same setup for the most part.

Do you find there's any sort of differences between venue to venue that you make adjustments for, or is it kind of like everything's the same? Well, so the dirt is different in every city. And so the one thing people don't think about is, maybe, or maybe they assume is that we take the dirt from

one city to the next, but there's 300 truckloads of dirt that are going to be right there in Syracuse this weekend. And all of that dirt comes from Syracuse, which also means that when we're not in Syracuse and they dig all that dirt and bring it out back out of the stadium, that dirt lives in Syracuse all year long until Monster Jam comes back. So I don't know how much dirt Monster Jam owns across the globe, but I can assure you it's a lot. But the dirt changes. Right. So Syracuse dirt, if I remember it right, it's, it's pretty loose in a good way. Then you go down to Georgia and it's that Georgia clay, which actually is really tacky. So when you're trying to drift a 12,000 pound truck around a corner, you've got to almost be a little bit

careful so you don't hike the truck up and roll it over accidentally. But I remember Syracuse being kind of just a good mix of both. It's still, it's not too loose where it's sandy, but it's not too grippy to where it's tacky going around corner. So I hope I'm right. If you see me this weekend, roll over in the corner accidentally, then you know I was wrong. And I'm going to blame the Syracuse dirt. You know, that's pretty cool because I'm assuming the company pays for the dirt. So you're actually injecting money into the local economy wherever you go, which is, that's fantastic, man.

That's a good way to look at it. Think about all the dump trucks, too. I mean, like I said, 300 truck loads of dirt. So it's all those drivers, all the guys locally, they help us out. pulled off. Now, where are the, how are you transporting these trucks? Inside other trucks on flatbeds? I wish you guys just drove them across the, I think that would be the greatest thing ever if you're just driving the tech deck, what is it, tech deck, wreck deck? Did I say that? You got it, man. We'll talk about that in a second. If I was on the through way and I looked over and saw, I mean,

that would be the way to go. But how do you get these insane machines across country? Yeah, each of those trucks, like I said before, they weigh 600 pounds, but they're about 60 inches tall. So they're about five and a half feet tall. We have to take each of those off of our Monster Jam trucks. And we put kind of smaller loader tires, we call them, like tractor tires. It's always funny to me, anytime I see a Monster Jam truck on the smaller travel tires, is probably the better word to use it. It looks like a mussely guy that skip leg there or something like that. So what we shove them in the back of our race rigs, and we usually get two trucks in each of our trailers. And then the huge tires that I just talked about, we put all eight of those, because we have two trucks per trailer,

in the very front of that rig. So Monster Jam owns, usually on tour, I think this weekend out of 12 trucks, there's six Monster Jam trucks. The other six trucks are independently owned, but that means out of the six trucks, we usually have three race rigs that take the trucks from one city to the next. We usually have an additional parts trailer. So there's usually about five or six rigs just. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman and Univorl Boutique River Cruises L'ouique Bali to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been sailing there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy.

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the wear and tear you're putting them on at each event, but it sounds like you don't really have a home base because you're traveling so much. Where do you guys work on these trucks and where do you find the time for that? Man, it's incredible what our technicians are able to pull off of. Our shop is out of Sarasota or I guess technically Palmetto, Florida. So just south of Tampa. I believe right now it was the second largest building in the whole state of Florida. I think I heard recently maybe it's third.

But the point is it's huge. It's owned, Monster Jam is owned by a parent company called Feld Entertainment, F-E-L-D. They own the Ringling Brothers Circus. Oh, wow. Disney on Ice. I mean, they are the pros. They own Supercross. They are the pros when it comes to touring.

So everything is housed and based out of Florida and then goes. out from there. We do have a kind of a second shop where a test facility is out of Illinois, but primarily everything's run out of Florida. And it is a huge operation. The stuff that happens out of there is really incredible what Feld Entertainment has done over, you know, a hundred years, let alone just having Monster Jam for the last 20 or 25 years. I mean, they've taken it to a global scale that I don't think any of us could have imagined. Man, Bryce Kenny, Monster Jam, truck driver. He drives the tech deck, wreck deck. We're going to talk about that. You started off, you played Division I soccer. That career got cut short because of injury. And then you got into

drag racing and then you made your way into the Monster Jam Truck. Can we just talk about that? Tell us a little bit about the drag racing, how that started and then how you got involved in the Monster Jam Truck series. And I'm always wondering, is there, if you do one, does it translate to the other. It's funny because in professional drag racing, right, I was driving a top field dragster. So I was going 300 miles an hour and four seconds. If anyone out there seen those long, skinny cars that do that. That's what I was driving. And, but I grew up kind of going to just a small local drag strip. My grandfather owned it. So at eight years old, I was driving a little junior dragster thinking I was going a thousand miles an hour. And then all week long, I'm weed eating the

fence line to like get ready for the upcoming race. So, That's how I really grew up with that blood flowing through my veins for motor sports. And that was the goal was to do that professionally. And before I got to race our top fuel car professionally, I was in college playing soccer and got hurt at the end of my sophomore season. And I kind of talked to my team and my grandfather who owned the team. And I said, well, why don't we give this a shot with me driving it? It was the last big recession, 2008, 2009.

So it really became difficult. I had three years of running that top fuel car. I had seven streams of income trying to make that dream happen. And I don't regret that effort. All seven were legal, by the way. Good. I was going to check that out. Yeah, good.

Yeah, you can fact check me. I'm going to fact check that. But it was fun just being able to pour your heart and soul into a dream like that, but it didn't work. And so I felt like I was a huge failure. And you'll love the next step. was after we sold off everything in drag racing in 2010, I actually became an executive recruiter. So I spent all day placing CEOs and CFOs into private equity back portfolio companies. So I know, I know that's exactly what you were guessing.

I knew something told me private equity is where you were at. I knew it. But it was cool. I loved it. I felt like I got an MBA while I was working there. And about four years into that, Monster Jam called me. and they said, hey, look, you know, we've actually had your information for four years. Timing is really good for us.

Would you want to go to Monster Jam University and learn how to drive a Monster Jam truck? And I went, well, first of all, there's no way that's a real place. And then my second question, it was, how much is this going to cost me? Because I had just come out of my dream pursuing professional drag racing. And, I mean, it costs a lot to be able to do that. And I failed. So I'm like, I don't know, we just got, my wife and I just got married. We bought a house, started a family.

I mean, life was good. I was making really good money doing private equity recruiting and just enjoying it. And they said, well, no, we, I mean, we've got everything that you need. And so my response then was, so just a flight and a hotel? In my mind, I'm going for a thousand bucks. I might do something like this just for 10 years to go by and be in a Buffalo Wildwing somewhere and get to nudge a buddy and go, dude, I drove one of those monster jam trucks 10 years ago. That's how far I thought it would go.

And Monster Jam said, no, we'll buy you a flight in a hotel. Can you just be off work for a couple days in April to come up and test one of these? And I went, well, of course I could. Who would say no to that opportunity? So again, I didn't expect it to become a career. I didn't expect it to be something I would leave corporate America to go and do. But that was 10 years ago. I've been full time now, did decide to leave my corporate job for Monster Jam, been doing

this for 10 years. And I think this is a good time for everybody listening to go write a strongly worded email to their high school guidance counselor, as I did, who did not tell me that Monster Jam was a viable career opportunity. You know what, man? I love that because first of all, you're proving a point that I always like to tell my own kids, which is when you want something, go get it. But when you kind of get it to a place in life where you're in between and you're a little unsure, maybe you're comfortable doing something. It's not your passion, but hey, it's paying the bills. That's usually when opportunities will just come when you least expect it.

And that is a perfect example. Speaking on that, this is so interesting. Because one of my questions was, how does one get in to monster? You know, this is a pretty exclusive niche thing. I'm starting to get the feeling that maybe do they somewhat scout? in other racing leagues because you were in drag racing. How do you get on their radar? Man, that's a great question.

And I think everyone's path into Monster Jam as a driver is very different. I like to joke that we're, as drivers, we're the land of misfit toys. Like we all kind of have different backgrounds. This guy over here came from ATV. This girl over here, she's going to be in Syracuse. Her name's Caleb Lud, driving Sparkle Smash. Hugely popular truck. It's been insane what's going on with that truck.

to a giant unicorn truck. It's amazing. Oh, that's awesome. But her background is in MMA, right? So it's like, that's not motorsports, but she has some ATV riding background too. I'm coming out of drag racing. Another competitor this weekend is still kind of pursuing NASCAR stuff while he's just absolutely crushed it. No pun intended in Monster Jam. Camden Murphy, he's going to be in classroom crusher. So, I mean, there's just so many of us. But then you've got Tyler Meninga, who's driving Gravedigger. Yes. In Syracuse.

And Tyler came from, I mean, we'll call it rock crawling, but I think he's got the most relevant experience in his childhood for Monster Jam trucks. Like, that's the closest you're going to get because you can't really drive Monster Jam trucks when you're 10, obviously. So, I mean, he does have the closest and, you know, most applicable experience where I came from, you know, going 300 miles an hour on concrete. He actually has an understanding of how these trucks can. operate and feel. And I think that's why he's one of the best in the sport as well. So we all have different backgrounds. And I think we apply it differently. You can see our backgrounds play out as well successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully out there on that monster jam track when we hit a jump

or do a backflip or keep pushing the limits. We all kind of approach things a little differently. See, I love this because I don't know how old you are. I'm in my 40s. So I remember when MMA came out, it was or UFC. I think it was called Ultimate Fighting back then. And one of the great things about it was you would see back then they would do a karate specialist versus a wrestler or a, you know, and then this sport is kind of evolved to where everybody's a hybrid of all sorts of different fighting styles. And I feel like what you're saying is within the drivers, the roster of drivers, everybody has kind of their own style and their own background. And is that fair to say? Very much so. I mean, came to Murphy, the NASCAR guy, how

call him. He is so fast in racing. I mean, he was a half a second faster than all of us last weekend in Arlington at the Cowboys Stadium, even though we're not going to let that happen this weekend. We're going to kick Camden's butt. But he just has that feel about him when he's racing. I'm the big air guy. I don't know how that translates to drag racing because if I was ever in the air in drag racing, that was a really bad day. Yeah, that work. But at Monster Jam, that's just another day in the office now. But that's just kind of what, and I think it comes from rolling the dice. I'm comfortable at high speeds because I've been 300 miles an hour before. So I understand how that works and feels.

And I don't get intimidated by having to hit these jumps at 60 miles an hour to get at 50 feet in the air either. So I think that plays out. But yes, I mean, each of our styles, our experiences, you can see how we approach things a little bit differently. And then you got Tyler Mininga, who is just a wild man. I've called him the cheat code to Monster Jam. If it was a video game, he would be the cheat code, I feel like, because he's so technical, but he just gets stuff out of the truck that could only come from being so comfortable in it because he grew up around some of this stuff. So yeah, you see the styles play

out. And that's a lot of fun for the fans because it's not cookie cutter. Nothing's rehearsed. Nothing is as big as it gets. And it starts right there with every time a driver hits that throttle pedal a little different way. You know, as you're explaining all that, I'm sitting here thinking, you know, what would be the most important skill to possess as a monster jam driver? Because, you know, obviously speed is important for you to get enough speed to make these jumps, but it's not really a race at all times. It's a gentle cruising.

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You can buy Liquid Death Sparkling Energy at fine retailers like 7-Eleven or learn more at LiquidDeft.com. Okay, maybe you need to know how to get air, but I know that there has to be something that's more about control. Is it, what is the number one thing when driving these things? What's the number one skill to have? Well, I think that's a great way to ask that question. think one of the things, it's not that you have to have an understanding of physics,

but the physics behind these trucks are incredible. When we do a backflip, and obviously the truck is upside down 20 feet off the ground, you're wanting that truck to rotate a certain way. And if you hit that container wrong incorrectly, too fast, too slow, if you're too much on the throttle, if you hit the brakes too soon, right, you can under rotate the truck. If you hit it too fast and give it too much throttle, you can overrotate the truck. And I promise you, unless you land on the tires, it can hurt. Yeah, sure. If you land on anything else. So the physics behind this stuff is incredible. But here's what I've learned. To answer your question specifically, I believe, and I'm trying to think about this, like if my son was saying,

dad, teach me how to drive this thing. And I'd say, okay, this is what you got to do. You've got to learn how to turn your mind off. And you have to trust your muscle memory and almost your subconscious to go out there and do what you're capable of doing. To get to that point, it does require a lot of seat time and experience, but at some point in your career, you have to almost stop thinking. I can tell when a driver's out there in a two-minute freestyle and they're thinking too much. Wow. You almost just have to flow with the truck and let the run come to you because we do have different competitions. We do have our racing competition. We're going to do all three of these in Syracuse. Racing competition. We've got our skills competition, which is a technical move.

We balance the truck on the front tires and you feel you, the fans, everybody in the stands, they judge off of their phone, the one that they like the most on a scale of 1 to 10. That's the winner. And then freestyle is the two minutes where we just, you know, get to go out there and create control chaos as much as we can. That's where the backflips happen. Usually a lot of the crashes happen there, not that we plan them, but they happen. But yeah, I mean, for us to be able to shut our minds off, trust the equipment,

trust ourselves to be able to react in that moment. you almost have to turn that your mind off a little bit and just go out there and let muscle memory take over. I do think that's the number one skill that the greatest drivers in the sport are able to do. What a great answer. Yeah, Bryce Kenny, Monster Jam coming this weekend to Syracuse this Saturday. We're going to talk about that. On the trucks, I have so many questions. I'm sorry.

It's a fascinating sport, man. You're asking great ones for the record. Thanks, man. I don't think my, I don't think that your co-host would have asked this good. I'm just saying. Oh, I agree. Especially if he's prioritizing. Port-a-potties, exactly.

So, you know, one thing I've noticed is that the trucks change a lot. There's some mainstays like everybody knows, Gravedigger and Bigfoot since I was a kid in the 80s. But you do see different drivers and different trucks. How often is the league rotating drivers and drivers? or trucks? I would say it depends. So, for instance, you talk about a staple of the sport, Grave Digger.

Tyler Meninga has been in Grave Digger, I want to say eight years. I might be off on that. So he has been in Grave Digger and only Grave Digger. But he's one of the best in the sport. Caleb Blood has been in a couple, several different ones. Camden has. I have now. I was in a truck called Mohawk Warrior for eight years.

And just this past season, our sponsor rolled off of that. and I was in Monster Mutt for just this past season, the 2025 season, because we were trying to get to this point of coming out with the Tech Deck, rec deck truck. But I think that drivers, it all depends on what the company as a whole is trying to accomplish and how drivers fit that IP. You know, we've got Megalodon. That's a hugely popular truck with the kids and with families and stuff like that.

And I've seen a lot of different drivers go through that. But the staple is that Megalodon's going to be on that. tour, except for, I guess, this fall tour. We don't have one here, but they'll have a Megalodon, I want to say, on probably every tour when we kick off the season again in January. So they do. They roll off drivers in different trucks depending on the fit and what they're trying to accomplish.

We might have some different sponsors that come in and get involved. But, you know, the ideal for any driver is to stay with one IP and one brand ourselves. That's kind of what we love to do, because then you become known and associated with that. Just like with Mohawk Warrior, you know, I had a Mohawk for the last nine or ten years my life. I've been getting the flow hawk going. I like it.

It's not flowing today. No, I like it. That's just part of the identity. And we want to kind of attach that too. So the fans associate us with that brand as well. That's amazing. I always wondered if you can peel the curtain back a little bit. You know, obviously it's pretty widely known in like football, hockey.

You know, the four major sports, people talk about contracts and, you know, trades and things of that nature. In your sport, are you contracted to a certain truck? Do they give you a certain amount of years in the league? Because I feel like once they have you, why would they want to let you go? Yeah. How does that work? How does the turnover work?

I'll say Feld Entertainment as a whole in Monster Jam. I think they hold everything, I think they hold their cars pretty close to their chest, as I would, if I was an organization that large. And so every driver has a different setup. up. They operate a lot more like a corporation than they do a league, in my opinion. And that's okay, right, right? I mean, when you've got a family, a wife and three kids, I mean, I love that I can kind of operate a little bit from a corporate standpoint. And, but they also love the opportunity to be able to change as, as the, the, the market changes as well. So every driver

operates a little bit differently. Some drivers are on a full-time deal. Some are just on a kind of a weekly pay set up. And a lot of times it has to do with, yes, what's the company trying to accomplish? And then other times it's what does that driver want? You know, some drivers are just think of it more as a part-time thing and not necessarily a full-time setup. And that's okay, too. So, yeah, everyone's on different setups. That's awesome. And you guys, who comes up with the names for the trucks? Because that's got to be, I want that job. I want to be like bone crusher, metal eater, you know, like, who used to do that? I want to say, I don't know if bone crusher is a truck, but metal eater would be a good.

Metal eater, yeah. We're going to hire you. Let's go. I don't know if you're for hire, but there you go. But Feld Entertainment does. So Monster Jam, of course, like we said earlier, owned by Feld Entertainment, it's remarkable what they come up with. Take for instance, the Sparkle Smash truck, this unicorn truck, it started off as just a toy.

So they have toys and names and brands that are, they just start off as toys. They sold so many Sparkle. smashed trucks. They all looked at each other like, I think we got to make this a real thing. That's amazing. And they did. And it's, it's, they're celebrating. I'm, I should say we are celebrating, but I'm like, it's a cool truck, but I'm not celebrating it because I have to kick her butt this weekend. But the company is celebrating its one year birthday from realization, kind of turning into a real truck this fall. So here in Syracuse, it is the Sparkle Smash Bash. It is a unicorn monster jam truck birthday party. That's kind of

of how they have set this up approaching it this weekend, but it's because of how wildly popular it's been globally and it all started with it becoming a toy. So Monster Jam, in my opinion, I think that's why there's so much better than any other motorsport. And I'll say that confidently because

they understand not just how to connect a fan with the experience, even though I think they're the best in the world doing that. They also understand how to connect a personality, both in the drive, and the trucks themselves with that fan. See, I love that.

That's a remarkable connection. And then that fan wants to go and buy the toy version of that experience and of that truck and of that driver, buy the toy off of a Walmart or a Target shelf. I mean, it's just one of those life cycles that they have, in my, they've not perfected it. Nobody has a perfect business. But I'm very thankful they operate the way they do because like I said, it's on a global scale.

they're a profitable organization, and that means that they're going to be here for years to come. That also means I get to go out and run my tech deck wreck deck truck as hard as I can and get less pushback when I have a little too much damage. That's right. We can pay for it. I'll tell you what. Every question seems to come back to Feld Entertainment. They sound like they're killing it.

And what a brilliant move. You sell it as a toy. It's almost like a built-in focus group. You sell it as a toy, and then the toy sells so well, you go, well, yes, we got to make it a truck. I mean, I think that's just absolutely brilliant. Bryce Kenny, this weekend, this Saturday, it is Monster Truck Jam. Monster, did I say that right?

Monster Truck. Almost. Monster Jam truck. That's good. You are riding in the tech deck, wreck, deck. That is a mouthful. This is a brand new truck. I know you did, you drove the Mohawk Warrior.

I think you drove another truck after that. Monster mud, big dog themed truck, yep. So you've got a brand new truck. Tell us about this weekend. What can we expect? Give us all the info. Well, it's going to be a blast because tech deck, if you remember about 25 years ago, the finger skateboards were really huge.

I mean, they just popped. They came out of nowhere. And really the last several years, they've had this massive resurgence in the brand. Well, our largest partner, I want to say, is a company called Spin Master. So they own Paul Patrol. they own some really huge brands. They also own tech deck. They make all of our die cast trucks.

They manufacture them and all that stuff. So it's a great partnership. And Spin Master came to Monster Jam and said, hey, we want to create a tech deck truck, but it has to look like a skateboard. And so Monster Jam worked on designing this. And I remember having the first conversations with them thinking and saying to them, guys, how in the world is that going to look cool?

Well, they pulled it off. It looks awesome. It's kind of an old school style skateboard deck with the back lip only. And man, it's just so cool because you're going out there and you're doing these moves in a 12,000 pound monster jam truck that looks like a skateboard. And now it's not a corkscrew or a twist move. It's a kickflip. You know, it's not a nose wheelie. You know, and when I go out there and pull that stuff off, it's no longer a nose wheel. It's a knolley. So we're we're kind of able to have these two worlds of skateboarding and monster jam and this big extreme sports world collide into this one truck. And the fans have. absolutely loved this truck and the skin underneath. I mean, we've got so many ways to partner together doing that. But it's exciting to get to Syracuse. It's going to be only the third competition weekend that we've had with the Tech Deck

Rec Deck truck. And we want to make sure that we come out there and earn everybody's respect. That's our tagline and our theme song, by the way. It's Respect the Deck. Yes. And I'm like, all right, well, respect is earned. So we've got to come out there and earn it for everybody in Syracuse. But it's going to be fun.

We got a pit party. I believe it starts at 10.30. And we love that. I mean, we just love the chance to meet everybody and autographs stuff for fans and give people high fives and let the fans see the trucks up close. I believe the doors open at 2 o'clock for trackside. And 3 o'clock is when the actual event starts. So it's a little bit earlier this year on Saturday starting at 3 p.m.

But come on. We've got DJ Malski going to be throwing a huge party going on throughout the whole event, but specifically at half time. Sparkle Smash is going to come out there and smash something. The first weekend it was a motor home. Last weekend it was a little two-seater airplane that she came through and destroyed. I don't even know what they've got planned for this weekend, but it's going to be an exciting time. And make sure you get there because Tech Deck, Rec Deck, we're coming for you, Syracuse. I love the fans in Syracuse and always got to hit some barbecue while I'm in town too. Man, we love you. I should end it there, but this is too exciting. I got a couple more question.

Actually, one I just thought of, when the Sparkle Unicorn truck, when it smashes stuff, do you have it set so that glitter bursts out everywhere? Man, I'm telling you, you're about to be hired, okay? I'll let him know. I'll let Matt know. I think that would be the shit, you know, if this thing comes down, smash, glitter goes everywhere. So instead of glitter, it is confetti. Oh, okay, that works. Yeah, there's a horn on the truck, and she hits a button and confetti comes shooting out of a cannon.

inside that horn. So yes, you're all over it. You're all over it. Dude, you're all over it. One thing that caught my, I have to ask this before we go. I know I want to be respectful of your time. But, you know, we talked about how you get started in racing. Something I read in your bio that was interesting is you said if you were giving advice

to people who wanted to go down this path and possibly drive in a monster jam truck, you said they should possibly look for a degree. And was it business management? Can you talk about that a little bit? I thought that was really interesting. We've got an amazing partnership with University of Northwestern Ohio, and they have a motorsports marketing program, like a business degree in motorsports.

And I think that's the best pathway for anyone to go down that wants to get in motorsports and specifically go to UNOH. It's an amazing program. I might feel that way because I wrote a book that got published, geared for life. That's part of their curriculum, Mike. But anyway, So, yeah, you have to, if we go down that pathway, great.

But if not, that's okay. But University of Northwestern Ohio does an amazing job at this. The business side of motorsports is so difficult that that's why I go back to. I think Monster Jam is kind of a unicorn in and of itself, but it's specific. It's not by chance. I mean, they are very strategic and they understand how to make a profit in motorsports. I don't see NASCAR doing that. I don't see F1 doing that, NHRA doing that.

I don't see that. I mean, they might have a resurgence. I mean, the F-1, you know, they had a great, that great documentary series that came out on Netflix. They needed that badly because they were losing the fan experience. And I feel like all other motorsports are losing touch with the fan that's sitting in the seats. But I think Monster Jam does such a remarkable job at pulling that together while still getting that return on investment for sponsors, but then getting creative through things like licensing deals and all the stuff that Monster Jam is the best in the world of doing. And so that's why I tell people, if you're going to get into motorsports, yes, you can and should learn how to turn wrenches, fix trucks, fix cars, whatever, and go fast. But if you can understand and wrap your mind around how to make a dollar in motorsports, because like I said, I had seven different jobs trying to make my last dream work and I couldn't make it work. So how do I create enough value today in 2025 and to make it something that attracts people, not just fans, but also sponsors? That's why I think of a business degree specifically related to motorsports would be such a great pathway for people. Such great advice. Bryce Kenny, you're the man. Last question. You said you do some keynote speaking. I didn't want to leave the interview without talking about this because I think this is fantastic. You're a keynote speaker and you're also the author of a book. Why don't we talk about that a little bit?

Yeah, I never thought I would have written a book, by the way, let alone have anybody actually pick it up and read it. So that was not a bucket list item. I did always love doing keynote speaking, though. That's just something I've had fun doing. I think Motorsports has. such a fun platform as well that creates that. And so now it's it's really cool. I get to travel all over the country and keynote speak for some really large conferences, pretty much everyone from about 500 people up to maybe 5,000 people. So it's just really fun to watch that platform continue to grow. And then the opportunity to hear people talk about geared for life. You know, the whole idea of the book is there's no formula to life.

The people that are most successful, in my opinion, The people that make it are the ones who spend more time outside of their comfort zones than everybody else. I really think that's it. And so the way to do that is I believe that there are gears in life that we have to find. And it's about finding, a lot of times about finding just our next gear. So it's about trying to say, look, here's where I'm at. Maybe you've been stuck for six or seven years. Maybe you've been a neutral doing nothing.

But maybe you've been trying to make first gear work for too long. We've got to help you find second. And then third. and then fourth. So it's one gear at a time, but the whole idea is not to give you the answers to life. It's to say, how can I just get outside of that comfort zone longer than the person I'm competing with? And if you do that, you end up making it. And everybody that I've watched make it in life in their specific jobs or careers or even as like a dad or a mom. They are the ones that are somehow they spend the most time outside their comfort zones. And that's what I want to be. I want to live outside of my comfort zones because that means I'm,

I'm always pressing forward and creating and doing. And that's something I think that I can stand on. Man, Bryce, you are inspiring, man. And much respect to you. We're going to get to the plugs. But I do want, what was the name of the book? Geared for Life. Geared for Life.

Okay. One of the last things I want to do before the plugs is I know you love nachos. Yes. Okay. So I, Danny or Amanda, do you have any suggestions for nachos in Syracuse. I don't live in Syracuse. I live close. I commute every day. I could tell you Ithaca, but you're not going to be there. Off the top of your head, do we have any suggestions for nachos? If not, in the comments below, folks, give Bryce Kenny your recommendations for the best

nachos in Syracuse. This man loves nachos. Love. And that's, oh, what is it? Guadalajara. Okay. Okay. Not the country, right? The restaurant. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. Yeah, we're not going to send you there. Copper Top is another one. Okay. They're different than normal nachos.

That's what I think he's looking for. Yeah. Because he's different than most drivers. Listen, Bryce, it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you. I could ask you a hundred more questions. But I wish you the best of luck. Bryce Kenny, he drives the tech deck deck at the JMA Wireless Dome this Saturday for Monster Jammy.

truck series or what's the actual name of the event so I plug it properly? Just Monster Jam. Just Monster Jam is great. At the JMA Wireless Stone this Saturday starts at 3 p.m. The VIP meet and greet and all that stuff is in the morning. So get your tickets for that. Any other plugs, websites, social media handles? No, you guys are great, man.

I always try to hit dinosaur barbecue when I come home to town. I always try to do that. So the nacho recommendations are perfect. I appreciate that. I think you said Copper Town, right? Copper top. Copper top. They're an Italian nacho.

So that's something different. All right. That's what I'm after. You got to, you know what? You're going to be outside of your comfort zone, Bryce. That's right. That's what you want. And that's why I'm going to make it.

Dude, I'm a fan now for life. And I have to work this weekend. We have an event. Otherwise, I would be there. But I will be at the next one. We are so thankful you came on. Bryce Kenny. You can see him at the JMA Wireless Dome this Saturday.

3 p.m. Monster Jam. Bryce, thank you so much for your time, man, and good luck. Hey, I appreciate that. Thank you, guys. And we'll catch you at the next one. And I hope the Port-a-Pottie surveillance went well.

And I just hope everyone in Syracuse comes out to Monster Jam. We love the fans there. They always pack it out and they're loud. So we're going to come out there. We're going to earn some respect in the tech deck wreck deck truck. And we're going to have a blast. But I appreciate you guys having me on. Bryce, we love you, man.

Thank you. And with that, that is another episode of Good News York. We will see you tomorrow. Actually, I think we have another guest today. We've got Cam's Pizza coming. So we have a double bill today. So either we'll see you tomorrow or we'll be back on good news. You're sponsored by Ads on the Go, get ads on the go.com.

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