Elvis will enter the building after taking a crash course at Monster Jam University

Not many people have any concept about a career path at the tender age of 2, but Elvis Lainez was inspired as a toddler.

Lainez, 23, insists that he sat transfixed during a monster truck show at Houston’s Astrodome when he was just a tyke. When the big engines roared and rumbled throughout the building, Lainez was riveted.

“It’s one of my earliest memories,” Lainez said. “I wanted to be behind the wheel of a monster truck for as long as I can remember.”

Lainez couldn’t be more literal. His focus never wavered through high school. While friends attended Baylor University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas, the Houston resident took a crash course at Monster Jam University in Paxton, Illinois.

“It might not sound real but Monster Jam University is an actual place,” Lainez said while calling from Oklahoma City. “You drive past a bunch of (corn) fields and then you see the school.”

It sounds like the track of dreams for anyone who aspires to be part of the monster truck set.

“I learned a lot in a short amount of time,” Lainez said. “It was like kindergarten to elementary school to high school and I left with the ability to drive a monster truck. I couldn’t have been more excited.”

Lainez learned the ropes courtesy of monster truck legend Tom Meents, who is certainly a monster driver. Meents is the first monster truck driver to execute a back flip. The highly skilled driver, who has won a number of monster truck awards, taught Lainez everything he knows, including Meents’ signature moves, “cyclone” donuts and two-wheel driving.

Meents was actually driving his monster truck when Lainez was blown away at the Astrodome in 2001. “Tom helped me get to where I am today,” Lainez said.

It’s year three for Lainez inside El Toro Loco. “I’ve come a long way,” Lainez said. “I drove in Spokane in 2019 and 2020 and I’m so much better now. I’ve been through quite a learning curve. You’ll see that when I come back to town. One thing to come out for is the driving but it’s worth the price of admission just to see what these trucks, which are massive, can do.”

El Toro Loco is a 14,000-pound vehicle that’s 14 feet high and 14 feet wide. The tires are 5 feet, 6 inches tall. “It’s crazy,” Lainez said. “The wheels are about the size of the average human.”

There is nothing that gets Lainez more stoked than driving the vehicle. “It’s about as exciting as you can imagine,” Lainez said. “It’s noisy but the cool thing is that I can hear the crowd even over the roar of the car. People get very excited about monster trucks. I get it. I was one of those people and I became obsessed with monster trucks.”

Perhaps Lainez can inspire a toddler when the Monster Jam revs it up Friday through Sunday at the Spokane Arena and maybe he can play Tom Meents to a young charge someday.

“I would love to do that,” Lainez said. “Those drivers motivated me to become what I am. If I can do that, it would make me very happy. I’m living the American dream. My parents are from El Salvador. We didn’t have much money when I was growing up, but I was able to achieve my goal and now I get to entertain the fans just like I was entertained.”

Lainez will compete against Krysten Anderson in Grave Digger, Tristan England in Earthshaker, and a driver to be named later who will navigate Megalodon.

There will be driver interviews, behind the scenes with the pit crews opportunities and opening ceremonies.