Monster truck driver Charles Benns isn't afraid to take a risk.
"There are guys who will go out there, drive over a car and wave," he said. "And then there are people like me who will throw caution to the wind like a maniac and hit it at full speed, and whatever happens, happens."
Benns, who is from Albuquerque, drives a monster truck called Pit-Bull. In a monster truck show, drivers run over vehicles and ramp over giant hills of dirt.
"We smash school buses, cars, motor homes, vans - a lot of weird stuff in front of crowds - and they go nuts," he said. "We've done mobile homes where they'll get a double-wide out there for us to bust a wheelie through it."
Driver Mark Hall said the large tires on monster trucks came from farming machinery.
"We're from corn country there, so they put them on these vehicles that go out to cornfields and spread fertilizer," he said. "They use them so that they don't pack the dirt down, and they carry a lot of weight and it spreads the load out."
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Hall, who is from Champaign, Ill., has been in the business since 1987. Hall said he and his brother, who is also a driver, have been into motor sports since they were kids.
"My dad was a motorcycle announcer, and I think that's kind of how we caught the motor sport bug," he said. "We'd go to motorcycle races, and mom had some influence there. She didn't want us racing motorcycles."
Hall said monster trucks are safe for the most part.
"I've never been seriously hurt other than my pride," he said.
But for drivers like Benns, monster truck driving isn't always painless. In 2005, Benns' Pit-Bull caught fire during a show.
"I had my eyes burned shut," he said.
Benns said monster trucks get damaged in each show.
"They can cost as much as five, 10 or more thousand every weekend just in damage and smashing," he said. "It's savage and these crowds are bloodthirsty. They want that thing wrecked at the end of your performance. It's getting to where you leave and if your thing is driving off on its own, you're getting booed on the way out."
Driver Kreg Christensen said his truck, Iron Outlaw, has been turned over several times.
"I'm normally turned upside down probably a dozen times a year," he said. "It's just part of the nature. It's not a matter of if you're going to go over. It's a matter of when you're going to go over."
Christensen said he doesn't own Iron Outlaw, and the truck's crew transports it from state to state in a semi.
"Basically, all I am is just a fly-in driver," he said. "I come in. I drive. I win. I go home."
Benns said he started out in motor shows racing an arena truck.
But after racing for a few years, Benns made friends with monster truck drivers and decided to build a truck of his own.
"They all told me, don't do it," he said. "I didn't listen to any of them."
He and his crew donate the profits from his performances to Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital.
He said the hospital is special to him. He volunteered there in the early '90s and realized it needed extra funding.
"I thought, what a great way to help," he said. "I get to go be a crazy redneck and drive around and act stupid and then, when we give the money to the kids, dang, everybody wins. It seemed as the more we would do good and win with the truck and give (the profits) away, the more people would help us and the faster our truck went."
Benns said his performances in Albuquerque will always be the most important.
"I'm very proud to represent my home town," he said. "I've been here 20 years. I love Albuquerque, and when I go out there and push it to the limit, especially if it's for my town, I love doing it and I'm not going anywhere. I'm not stopping."
