Pint-sized Cloverdale boy steers to cheers at monster truck show

When monster truck drivers and fans explain how they got hooked on the spectacle of giant machines squashing little cars, they often point to boys about the size of Shane Plato.

But Shane, a 7-year-old Cloverdale resident, wasn’t a spectator in Saturday’s action at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. He came to take part, complete with his own mini-monster.

“Does somebody drive this?” a boy asked while walking up to Shane’s shiny red four-wheeler, parked in the dirt of the Chris Beck Arena with several full-size behemoths sitting nearby.

“I do,” said Shane, who proceeded to sign autographs for a multitude of the preteen crowd that had come to meet the monster truck drivers at a pre-event “pit party.”

When his turn came in the show, Shane raced across the arena and spun doughnuts with his 36-inch-high tires. Afterward, he parked in front of the grandstand, stood up in the cab of his mini-monster truck and raised clenched hands above his head as the audience applauded.

The sold-out event, which will be repeated tonight, had the crowd cheering and gasping, including early on when one of the trucks soared skyward on a jump, landed on its back and came to rest on its side. The driver was unharmed and a telehandler, a sort of long-necked forklift, came out and soon had the vehicle resting on all four wheels again.

Asked to describe the event’s appeal, announcer Kenny Eggleston said before the show, “It’s noise. It’s power.”

“Destruction,” added nearby “Rock Star” truck team member Lorna Payne.

“Exactly,” Eggleston continued, “and we’re smashing stuff.”

When it comes to monster truck drivers, Shane is “definitely the youngest on the West Coast,” said his father, Lee Plato, who owns the Healdsburg Collision repair shop in Healdsburg. Shane has been driving the vehicle for about a year and a half and has performed on 15 to ?20 occasions.

His vehicle, with some parts similar in size to those of a Jeep Cherokee, likely can do about 60 mph, Lee Plato said.

The name “Skull Krusher” is painted on the side.

Shane’s mom, Charlene Plato, and his dad accompany him to the events.

Taking a break from autograph signing, Shane said he enjoys entertaining people and he plans to be driving monster trucks “probably for the rest of my life.”

“It’s just really fun,” he said.

“Bigfoot” driver Darron Schnell understands.

Schnell, of St. Louis, Mo., drives the 19th incarnation of “Bigfoot,” but he was a young boy four decades ago when he saw an earlier version of Bigfoot, perhaps numbers four or six, he said.

The vehicles today are “bigger, faster, taller,” but the appeal is still the same.

Said Schnell, “We are all big kids at heart.”

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.?digitale@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @rdigit