Every American boy deserves to have his father take him to a Monster Jam at least once. Years ago, my dad took me to one at the Pontiac Silverdome; on Friday night, I took my own two boys to a show in DC. You couldn’t pay me enough money to sit behind the wheel of one of those things, as it drives over piles of cars and goes totally airborne, often vertically. But the trucks sure are fun to watch. Just remember to bring your earplugs, because, man, are they loud. The two-hour show featured monster truck races, ATV races, and a death-defying Evil Knievel-style ATV jump of four monster trucks. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, WASHINGTON, HE’S GOING TO JUMP FOUR MONSTER TRUCKS!?!?!?!?

Sorry, I got carried away there. Showmanship is an important part of the Monster Jam. Each truck gets a name like “Screamin’ Demon” and a cool paint job that looks sharp on a Hot Wheels toy. My favorite was one called “Superman,” complete with a red cape. The highlight of the evening is the freestyle competition, whose rules I couldn’t entirely comprehend except to say that it involves driving over as many cars as possible in 60 seconds, with bonus points awarded for all four tires leaving the ground. There are judges who give these performances a subjective score, making the whole thing sort of like a cross between flamboyant wrestlers and twirling figure skaters. I have no idea how or why the winner, a truck called “Madusa” and driven by a woman, prevailed. But we all clapped for her.

What impressed me most of all was the explicit patriotism. Before the show started, a color guard marched out and the announcer asked for all of the military personnel, veterans, police, firefighters, and EMS folks to stand up. We were then encouraged to applaud the people who defend our freedoms. Then the sound system played that Lee Greenwood song, followed by the m.c. singing the national anthem. Finally, the winner of the monster truck race was a vehicle called “American Guardian,” which has the names of more than 2,000 soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq written onto its body. Cindy Sheehan would have felt out of place.

On the way home, one of my boys fell asleep and the other kept his nose buried in a $5 program that is an astonishingly good deal compared to what you get for a program at most sporting events. A fun time was had by all.