2008 NEWS

 

 Big Dawg/TailGator Team Receives 6 Awards at MTRA Banquet!! The 22nd Annual MTRA Award Banquet was held in St. Louis, MO on December 6. The Big Dawg/TailGator Team received six awards!! TailGator was voted “2008 Truck of the Year”, Doug Noelke received the “2008 Driver of the Year”, “2008 Jr. Associate Driver of the Year” and “2008 Monster Nationals Racing Champion” honors. The Big Dawg/TailGator team received "Most Improved Team" for the fourth year since being involved in the industry. Ray “Pops” Novel was also voted the “2008 Sportsman of the Year”. Special thanks to all of our family, friends and sponsors. We could not do this without you!!! We are looking forward to 2009!!

Miami, OK - May 9 & 10, 2008 - Doug Noelke piloted the TailGator monster truck to a victory on both nights of the O’Reilly’s Outlaw National’s Motor Spectacular held at Miami, Fairgrounds in Miami, OK!! Noelke defeated eight top monster trucks in the country, including Iron Outlaw, Bounty Hunter, Barbarian, War Wagon, Big Dawg, Ballistic and Brute Force, to sweep the weekend racing bracket. It was a Big Dawg – TailGator final Saturday night. Dale Gerding looked to give Noelke a run for his money off the starting line, but the Big Dawg lost power over the first set of cars, giving Noelke an easy win. The Dawg was fixed and returned for the wheelie contest and freestyle.


Erie, PA - April 25 & 26, 2008 - Doug Noelke dominated the racing brackets in TailGator all year long on the Monster Nationals Tour and clinched the championship in Erie, PA!! Doug won both races in Erie, giving him the championship win with one weekend left on the tour!! Special thanks to all of our friends, family and sponsors for making this possible!!


Columbus, OH - March 29, 2008 - The Monster National's Tour put on a great show in the nearly sold-out Valu-City arena. Dale Gerding in Big Dawg defeated Holman's Beast in round one, while Doug Noelke in TailGator took out Lil Miss Dangerous. Dawg and Gator faced-off in the semi-finals with the Gator taking the win in a close race. The finals came down to the two trucks that have advanced into the final race most of the winter season on the Monster National's Tour - TailGator and Samson. TailGator left Samson sitting on the line and never looked back, taking the win by a tire.

 

The show was exciting, but even better was getting to spend some time with our good friends, the Aldriches!! Jared, Debi and Jerome made the trip from Mantua, OH and even got to share in some "festivities" during our annual turkey fry in Columbus Saturday afternoon.

 

Chicago, IL - March 15 & 16 - Friday night, TailGator took the number one qualifying position. He then worked his way through the racing bracket into the final round, narrowly losing to Samson. Saturday night, TailGator took the win in the freestyle competition. Doug took the number one qualifying spot once again, with the fastest time of the 2008 Monster Nationals Series of 1.86 seconds. Dale was right behind him with a 1.97 second pass, for third position in Big Dawg. Round one, Big Dawg took out Holman's Beast, while TailGator defeated Ironman. Round two saw Big Dawg defeat Samson, and TailGator take the win over Lil Miss Dangerous. The two teammates went head-to-head, with TailGator narrowly taking the win over Big Dawg!!

 

Battle Creek, MI - March 7 & 8 - Friday night's competition started with TailGator taking the win over Holman's Beast and Lil Miss Dangerous respectively. Doug lost to Samson in the final round. Saturday afternoon, TailGator made his way through the racing bracket to take the win over Samson in the finals. Saturday evening, TailGator and Samson met in the finals for the third time of the weekend, with Samson taking the win.

 

Beaumont, TX - February 29, March 1 & 2 - Friday night, TailGator was defeated by Raminator in the first round of racing, but came back for the second round as fast loser. Doug went on to defeat War Wagon in the semi-finals, only to lose a close race to Raminator in the finals. Saturday night, Doug started off by winning the wheelie competition. The racing bracket saw TailGator beat War Wagon in round one; Rammunition in round two, to advance into the finals for the second time of the weekend. TailGator vs. Bigfoot in the finals with Bigfoot taking the win. Sunday afternoon, TailGator took the win in the wheelie contest once again. TailGator started the racing bracket with a bye run. He then went on to defeat War Wagon in the semi-finals. The finals round saw TailGator take out Rammunition in a close one. Doug went on to win freestyle on Sunday afternoon with a high-intensity run that repositioned the tailgate.

 

Waco, TX - February 22 & 23 - Saturday night, Doug took the racing victory in TailGator with wins over Brute Force and War Wagon. Doug also took the wheelie competition and freestyle wins with solid runs.

 

Sioux City, IA - February 15 & 16 -  Friday night, round one saw TailGator defeat Ironman; and Samson defeat Big Dawg. Big Dawg came back as fast loser to face-off against TailGator in the semi-finals, with TailGator taking the win to advance to the final round against Samson. TailGator takes the win!! Saturday afternoon, Doug took the top qualifying position in TailGator. He defeated Dale Gerding in Big Dawg in round one; and Jocelyn Perrrin in Lil Miss Dangerous in round two. TailGator went on to win his second racing bracket of the weekend over Dan Patrick's Samson. Saturday night, Big Dawg took out Holman's Beast in round one; while TailGator defeated Lil Miss Dangerous in the first round. TailGator took the win over Big Dawg in the semi-finals to move into the finals once again against Samson. TailGator narrowly loses a close race; this being his first loss this year on the Monster Nationals Tour.

 

Champaign, IL - February 9 - TailGator and Samson started off the night by tying in the wheelie contest. Doug also won freestyle with great momentum, high flying wheelies and tail-whipping donuts in the smallest building on the Monster Nationals Tour. TailGator took the top qualifier position, giving him a bye in the first round. Round two, saw TailGator take the win over Lil Miss Dangerous. The racing finals came down to the two competitors who have faced off numerous times this year - TailGator and Samson. TailGator edged out Samson for the win. Doug is undefeated in racing on the Monster Nationals Tour and in all the shows he has competed in thus far in 2008!!

 

East Lansing, MI - February 2 - TailGator started off the one night show in East Lansing with a win over Shane Smith in Ironman in the wheelie contest. The Gator defeated Ironman in round one of racing and Lil Miss Dangerous in round two to advance to the finals. TailGator pulled off a narrow victory over Dan Patrick in Samson in a photo finish.

 

Madison, WI -  January 25, 26 & 27 - Friday night, "Big Dawg" Dale Gerding began the evening with a ridiculous wheelie and great save in the wheelie contest, giving him the win. Unfortunately, during the course of the wheelie, he cut a rear brake line and was out for the night. Doug had an awesome run in TailGator and took the freestyle win. Doug took the Gator all the way to the finals and claimed his first racing victory of the weekend. Saturday night saw Doug take the win over Bobby Holman's Beast in the wheelie contest. Doug stood the Gator straight up and down on the first car, powered all the way across the entire stack, landed on one tire and rode the wheelie all the way across the floor to the exit tunnel in front of the sold-out crowd. The racing bracket saw the Big Dawg take the number one qualifying position, while the Gator took the number two spot. The finals Saturday night saw the two teammates face-off in the finals, with TailGator taking the win over Big Dawg for his second racing win of the weekend. TailGator advanced to the finals on Sunday, defeating Shane Smith in Ironman and Big Dawg in the process. TailGator sweeps Madsion, WI with a win in the final round over Dan Patrick in Samson!!

 

Cape Girardeau, MO -  January 18 & 19 - Doug got behind the wheel of the Big Dawg for a Mega Promotions show in his home state in Cape Girardeau, MO. Friday night, Doug worked his way through the line-up, advancing into the finals and defeating David Brown in Wild Thang. Big Dawg defeated Devin Jones in Deal Breaker in the finals on Saturday night, completing a racing sweep for the weekend before the home-state crowd.

 

Cleveland, OH - January 12 - Dale Gerding started off the year by participating in his first indoor event driving the Big Dawg, while Doug piloted the TailGator. The TailGator started off the night with a wheelie contest victory over Killer Bee. Big Dawg won the donut contest over Bigfoot with his first donut ever on concrete! Doug and Dale both put on excellent freestyles and were the highlights of the evening. Dale stood the Dawg vertical almost every hit, but Doug took the freestyle win with his high-intensity run. The Dawg was done for the night when a pin sheared off the distributor during freestyle. TailGator defeated Storm Damage to advance to the finals against Dan Runte in Bigfoot. The Suzuki sponsored TailGator takes the win in the first event of the year!!

2007  :  2006

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