Two Days Of Ozark 4-Wheel Jamboree Goodness

There were nine monster trucks at the Ozark Jambo. In addition to bracket racing there was freestyle, where the drivers are free to throw down some crazy moves. Freestyle is a crowd favorite for obvious reasons. If you haven’t had the chance to check out the technology in a modern monster truck you should take a look. For example, the suspension systems are built beefy to handle the incredible amount of air these trucks get and they’re tuned to settle the trucks down in short order.

There were nine monster trucks at the Ozark Jambo. In addition to bracket racing there was

It was all four-wheel drive all the time at the 15th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Ozark 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals, which took place this past May at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield, Missouri.

A 4-Wheel Jamboree, for those of you who don’t know, is a four-wheel-drive-only event that features almost all disciplines of four-wheel drive in one place. You’ll see shiny show rigs, daily-driven rigs, classic rigs, trail rigs, obstacle course-shredding Tough Trucks, screaming monster trucks, and slime-flinging mud trucks. There’s also a burnout competition, monster truck rides, a Family Fun Zone, and Performance Marketplace, among many other things. The content of each “Jambo” can change slightly depending on the size of the fairgrounds at which it’s held. The Ozark Jambo also included the Youngblood Auto Jeep Ride and Drive, where you could get behind the wheel of a new Jeep on a closed course.

As time passes it’s harder to find old International Scouts, so it was cool to see Dave Nekula’s ’80 Scout II. It’s still International powered too, with a 345ci V-8.

As time passes it’s harder to find old International Scouts, so it was cool to see Dave Ne

The Ozark Jambo is the smallest in terms of participants, spectators, and number of days when compared to the other three Jamborees in the 2012 schedule, but it had a great intensity and vibe. This year’s Ozark Jambo was blessed with warm weather and lots of sunshine. We trolled the grounds and had a great time meeting fellow 4x4 owners. We were fascinated by the wide range of rigs in the Show-N-Shine area and we saw some truly unique rigs and many had a cool history, too. Out in the competition area we were entertained by the various types racing, and it’s worth noting that the stands were packed with spectators for all the competition events.

By the time you read this there will be one 4-Wheel Jamboree remaining in the 2012 season. It’s called the O’Reilly Auto Parts Fall 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals, and it’s the largest of the series in terms of participants and spectators. It will be held September 14-16 in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more info, go to www.familyevents.com.

Monster Truck With a Monster Cummins
One of the monster trucks at the Ozark Jamboree belonged to Dave Radzierez and its one of the most unusual monster trucks you’ll see because it’s powered by a 12-valve 5.9L Cummins turbodiesel engine. We had a chance to chat with Radzierez and he told us the twin-turbo mill makes 1,538 horsepower and a whopping 2,800 lb-ft of torque. However, that horsepower figure doesn’t include the optional 500hp Ny-Trex nitrous shot and the torque number could be higher because that’s as high as the dyno would register. The engine sports a number of Scheid Diesel products as well as ARP, BD Diesel, and MBRP components. Power is sent through a Profab Machine transmission and Overtime Performance transfer case to Patrick Enterprises-built axles that use Rockwell centersections, 20-ton Clark planetaries, and SCS axleshafts.

Radzierez says, “I built this truck because of my love of diesel engines and liked the idea of the challenge to make a diesel competitive with alky-injected engines. When XDP approached me to build this truck I knew I had the backing to make this idea a reality and with their support my idea is now becoming a reality.”