Monster Jan - Frank Krmel's Biggest Influence

Frank Krmel's Biggest Influence


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As you all know, every few weeks I come on here and write about how much fun I’m having, and what I’m doing.  At the particular time I might be in Europe jumping a ten thousand pound monster truck thirty feet in the air over two busses, or even hanging out in a backyard in Tuscola, IL at a BBQ celebrating another “Monsters on Mainstreet” sweepstakes winner. Even now, as I prepare for my final event in the “Donkey Kong” truck, it will be bitter sweet for sure, moving from a great truck, and a great experience, to my dream job, a driver for the Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder team.  The truth is though, as much as we want it to be, life can’t be all fun all the time.

As some of you out there may or may not know, I started my racing career way back in the early 1990’s with R/C cars, then I moved into Jr. Dragsters, Kart racing, and at the same time crewed for Jim Koehler and Chris Bergeron with Brutus and Avenger,  and then a Monster Jam driver. The one key element from day one of my racing career has been my father, Frank Krmel, Sr. or, as he is known around the Monster Jam pit area by drivers, crew and track crews as “Senior”. In the winter of 2003, I was enjoying my rookie season as a Monster Jam driver, behind the wheel of “Pure Adreanlin” for Randy Brown. It was really a great time for me, getting a chance to be a monster truck driver, in a great truck, but then the unthinkable happened. My mom had called me to tell me that my dad had been diagnosed with Colon cancer, and needed to go in for immediate surgery.  I’ll never forget where I was when I got the phone call. I was standing next to Pure Adrenalin at a display in Lafayette, Louisiana. Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was “I need to go home, now”. All of a sudden driving Pure Adrenalin really didn’t seem that important. Randy Brown, and Chad Tingler (Randy Brown Motorsports Crew Chief at the time, and currently a Team Grave Digger driver) couldn’t have been more supportive of whatever I wanted to do. I spoke to my dad, and he told me I made a commitment to drive Pure Adrenalin, and said that I’d be much more useful doing that, then sitting next to him in a hospital room. So, just as I’ve done since I was a kid, I did what my dad told me to do. As it turned out, after Lafayette, we had a few weeks off before out next event at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was then able to go back to Michigan and spend the next few weeks with the guy who made it possible for me to race, and has helped me every step of the way. My dad..... Click here to read more!!!





Source: Monster Jam