08/17/2026
2026 R/C Monster Truck Challenge World Finals is now complete! Been looking forward to this event all year long. We enjoy racing against so many different racers at one event. Thoroughly enjoyed pitting with our fellow competitors and friends, Sonny Santucci, Matt Mortillio and Mike Iacono. During this race, my daughter also graduated from her first year at Bible college so I missed some of the racing to be with her and celebrate her accomplishments. JJ was in good hands with these good friends and he was able to hold his own without his old man during qualifying 🙂
JJ had a great weekend. He placed 3rd in retro, TQ and 3rd in 2.2 and also earned 3rd in challenger. 3/4 podiums is a good weekend! While he didn’t podium in ProMod, he performed very well in the class too. For the most part all the trucks performed as expected and JJ is really starting to nail down his tuning. In ProMod we lost a drive pin within the rear axle diff housing of his new truck. This was surprising considering these particular axles are from a new LMT. We were able to quickly swap the rear axle with a spare we had and will be able to make the fix here soon enough at home.
Racing was tight and competitive all weekend between Sonny, Jayden and JJ. Sonny and Jayden have been fast for a while now, JJ looks up to them, and it was encouraging to see them working and helping JJ throughout the weekend. Huge shoutout to Sean Benfer, he’s someone that JJ regularly competes with throughout the year and he had a great weekend too. I can see Sean and JJ pushing each other locally so that they can both come back next year earning that gold on this big stage.
We cannot state this enough, but we appreciate Dan and Kyle Defalco. They put a lot into these races and this event particularly has become the premier big event of the year for us. The whole experience is top notch and their passion and hard work is evident!
JConcepts is another staple in the industry that we depend on. They are the leading manufacturer when it comes to the RCMT scene. Jason Ruona is consistently one of the first people to comment and respond to our posts and we have full confidence that if we ever need ANYTHING he will go out of his way to help. His products ooze from all our truck builds. From wheels/tires, bodies, motors and even chassis to awesome pit gear. They have it all.
Hobbywing provides the brainpower and speed to our builds. We utilize their electronic speed controls and motors to move these monsters. Highly adjustable and consistent power delivery. Everything you need for drivetrain.
Horizon Hobby, Team Losi Racing are the foundation to our truck builds. The release of the Losi LMT helped stabilize and provided a durable platform to build these trucks. It’s their transmissions and axles that make up the majority of RCMT’s on the track today.
Team Exalt and their x-***ed batteries! We pound those things all season long. Before and during races we punch as much power into them that we can so that we can quickly recharge our batteries and get the most performance out of them. They have handled all the ABUSE we have tossed at them and they are still standing, performing and being there when we need them. We highly recommend these batteries for monster truck duties.
Finally, ZRP Racing and good friend Jon Zyck. He’s basically our head crew chief. He’s the architect behind all the chassis we run. He knows the different setups and tuning aides. He gets us to the track and ready to be competitive. We cannot thank him enough for his support and wisdom behind the scenes.
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