Megasaurus Brings Fire And Mayhem To Bristol Dragway

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Megasaurus was irresistible.

Children, filled with wonder and awe, walked up to the robot-dinosaur hybrid. They studied it, asked questions and grinned wide. Adults balanced wide-eyed queries with their own inspection of the beast, examining and judging the car-eating, fire-breathing monster.

Mike West just smiled.

It was four hours before West, owner/operator of the mighty Megasaurus, was scheduled to make his 50,000-pound machine romp, chomp and roar Saturday evening in the Fas Mart Thunder Valley Mayhem at Bristol Dragway. Megasaurus was sleeping. And West was lounging outside a hauler, enjoying a cool, late-afternoon breeze.

“It’s fantastic to be back,” said West, a 49-year-old resident of Akron, Ohio. “This is one of the nicest facilities around.”

Last year marked the Thunder Valley debut of Megasaurus. Since then, West and his transforming calling card have appeared on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” television show. And Saturday night, Megasaurus’ no-nonsense eating skills were taped for a future showing of TLC’s “All Jacked Up.”

“We’ve been filming since 9 a.m.,” West said. “The fan reaction has been amazing. We were asked to bring Megasaurus back as soon as we left last year.”

West described his post-modern pre-historic beast as a kids’ toy on steroids. A steady stream of fascinated children adored the toy part of the description.

Jeremy Fritz, 7, pointed at the deceptively quiet monster and smiled. Fritz wore a bright-red SpongeBob Square Pants T-shirt. But Megasaurus topped SpongeBob on Saturday at
Thunder Valley. Fritz said he watched the beast’s unveiling last year and was impressed – he recalled that Megasaurus “blew a car up … and spit it out.” And Fritz wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to see magic up close once again.

“I’m excited,” said Fritz, a resident of Bristol, Va.

West was also excited. He said he didn’t know what Megasaurus would do come nightfall. But he had an idea.

“If it gets really hungry, we might get some barbeque,” West said, hinting at the robot’s propensity to unleash more than 200,000 BTUs of heat on its lifeless, junkyard victims.

What West did know, however, is that Megasaurus has quickly evolved into an undisputable hit, as prime-time television and thousands of excited children have turned the 15-year-old custom-built creation into a fan favorite.

The dinosaur-robot’s appeal was clearly evident Saturday afternoon, while the sun was still visible and fans were just beginning to make their way into Thunder Valley. As the dragway’s public-address announcer chose a random fan from the stands and asked what they wanted to see most during the evening’s upcoming bill of mayhem, an often-repeated refrain rang out: “I want to see Megasaurus,” the child said.

West and his soon-to-be-awakened monster were ready – and eager – to oblige.

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