Woodward, Okla. —
Ben "Bobo" Winslow has gone from one extreme to another. Extreme sports that is.
Winslow, who drives a monster truck called Bounty Hunter, is in Woodward to compete in the Extreme Monster Truck Summer Nationals on Saturday, June 30 at Crystal Beach Stadium.
"The last time I was in Woodward was for a junior rodeo about 10 years ago; it is nice to be back," Winslow said.
Before making his way into monster truck racing, Winslow was a bull rider and bull fighter.
"I started riding bulls when I was in college back at North Carolina State from 1993 to 1996, then in January of 1999 I moved to Alva and started riding at NWOSU," Winslow said.
According to Winslow, he was too big to ride bulls and started loosing money to all of the local boys, so he started bull fighting.
"I did the rodeo clowning and bull fighting till I got seriously hurt in 2004, when I basically had to have my right arm reattached," Winslow said.
After his injury, Winslow started working as a mechanic and crew chief for George Bellhand, who at that time drove the Escalade monster truck now known as the Mohawk Warrior.
"George is the one that gave me the name of Bobo, because of being a rodeo clown, you say it once on TV and it just kind of sticks," Winslow said.
Winslow has been involved with monster trucks for 7 years and has been racing for the last 4 years.
After working on monster trucks, he said it was just a natural progression for him to move into the driver's seat. Although he made the move a little faster than others.
"For me to already been racing for 4 years in this sport is a great accomplishment, most don't get to drive that quickly," Winslow said.
Winslow is originally from Plymouth, NC and now resides in Tonganxie, Kan. near the 2Xtreme Race shop.
"Our team has 4 trucks, which includes 2 Bounty Hunters, (one is) blue, which is driven by Jimmy Creten, and (the other is) black or the 'dark side,' which is the one I drive along with driving Iron Outlaw," Winslow said.
Winslow said that the blue Bounty Hunter is the one that is most recognized from its win in the Monster Jam Freestyle World Championship in Las Vegas in 2005.
Winslow said that driving monster trucks doesn't offer quite the same adrenaline rush that riding bulls did, but it still has its moments.
"I've only had that type of adrenaline rush twice while driving Bounty Hunter and that was when I jumped another monster truck," Winslow said.
He said that when he was riding and fighting bulls he learned to control his adrenaline so that while behind the wheel of the monster truck he stays calm.
Local News
Related Photos
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Ben 'Bobo' Winslow poses with his truck "Bounty Hunter," which he will race on Saturday, June 30 at Crystal Beach Stadium during the Extreme Monster Truck Summer Nationals. Brandi Thomas
Monster truck driver used to the adrenaline
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