Kelvin and Janette saw their first monster truck (Bear Foot) in Phoenix, Arizona while Kelvin was attending Universal Technical Institute, and decided that they wanted one of their own.    In March of 1984, they purchased a 1941 Dodge half ton military pickup that had been somewhat modified and started taking it apart to make their own monster truck.

 It was in Phoenix that Kelvin also competed in his first truck pull with his stock 1973 Chevy pickup.

    After graduation, Kelvin and Janette moved back to where they grew up, Watsonville, California, and continued working on building the ’41 monster truck.  It was then that Kelvin’s brother, Clinton, at age 12, started helping out with the monster truck after school.  Kelvin also competed in local truck pulls, and collected amateur trophies from Baylands Raceway Park, Tres Pinos Truck Pullers, ZZYZX and many others.  

    Kelvin and Janette joined two local 4-wheel drive clubs and together they went on many weekend outings at various 4-wheel drive parks throughout California.  Kelvin even piloted the 73 Chevy into Rubicon on the Cadillac trail.  He also drove in the Mud-In-Yer-Eye event several times over the years.  Photos shown are taken at Dinkey Creek, Twain Harte, Hollister Hills, and Pismo Beach.  

 ZZYZX held Mud Bogs at Salinas one year, so Kelvin entered the 73 Chevy.

In 1991, Kelvin and Janette sold all of their “toys” except the 41 Dodge body, and started Auto Care Transport and Towing.  They also became friends with Natural High’s future pit crewman, Mark Raymond, when they started Auto Care.  With a lot of hard work and long hours Auto Care became successful.  They continued being huge monster truck fans, and volunteered their tow trucks at the Salinas ZZYZX show.

Rosalee was born in 1997, and attended her first show at the age of 6 weeks.  She has loved monster trucks ever since, and plans to be a monster truck driver when she grows up.  She helps her dad at every show.  Ben was born in 1999, and attended his first show at a very young age, too.  He wants to work in animal rescue when he grows up and he brings his animal book to all the monster truck shows.

In 1997, Kelvin and Janette purchased the materials to start building a monster truck again, keeping in mind the technological advances that had come about in the monster truck industry.   

Kelvin knew that a tubular frame was the way to go and he liked the rear engine concept for balance and power.  His designs were never put on paper, but well thought out and each piece of the frame designed with a purpose.  He studied the trucks at every event we attended and watched to see what worked and what did not.

Also in 1997, Kelvin took up Kart racing, first as a hobby that he shared with friends and then seriously, and in the year 2000 won the track championship at our local track.

In May of 1998, Kelvin and Janette opened up their shop to Sam, Peggy and Ronnie Sturges after the annual monster truck show in Salinas.  It was the beginning of a long-term on-going friendship.  In addition to working on his own equipment, Sam gave Kelvin many pointers and helped with the building of Natural High.

Kelvin, Janette, Rosalee and Ben followed the Sturges team to many shows around California, and Kelvin would drive the Boneyard Shuttle, Monster Zone Shuttle and Boogie Monster Ride Trucks whenever they needed him.  Sam had mounted a toddler car seat in the ride truck for his and Peggy’s grandchildren, and Rosalee and Ben loved riding with their dad every chance they got.

At Santa Maria, CA in October, 2000, Sam asked Kelvin to drive Unnamed and Untamed.  Sam told him to “get about 10 feet away from the cars and flat-foot it”.  Unnamed launched way up in the air and the adrenaline rush was more than anything Kelvin had ever felt before.  After the show he shared with Janette the name he knew would be for his own truck—Natural High.  

Sam must have liked Kelvin’s driving, and let him drive a few more times over the years, mostly in Bone Crusher and Nasty Boy.  Kelvin’s parents were in the stands for their first monster truck show when Kelvin made Nasty Boy do a long wheelie and they got really scared that he was going to go over backwards.  They now know that their son just loves to do wheelies

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By June, 2004, Natural High was ready to test.  The next step was to choose a body, and Tom Jones mentioned that he knew where to get an SSR body.  Kelvin knew that it would be a lot of work (and expensive) to stretch the body, but both he and Janette felt that they wanted something to make them stand out so they spent the extra time and money and are very glad they did.  

Natural High debuted at a small show with Unnamed and Untamed, Nasty Boy and Shocker in Madera, CA in October, 2004.   The body had just been finished.  Body by Hank’s red paint, supplied by Automotive Color of Watsonville, was still wet.  RC Signs has just put on the temporary lettering.

Kelvin stood Natural High up for its first wheelie that night and it looked like it might go over backwards.  After the show, he went home and extended the wheelie bar 3”.  The next weekend the team went to Perris Valley, CA for the annual WGAS show at the Riverside County fair.  Natural High and Kelvin did well, stealing the show with wheelies.

After Perris Valley, Kelvin felt comfortably happy with the way everything was working.  He felt that no more chassis modifications were needed, so he and the crew stripped the truck down to the bare frame and sent it out to be powdercoated.  The body was taken back to Body by Hank to add the silver and tangerine.  The graphics and lettering were then painted on freehand by Real Ralph.   Then it all came back to the shop to be put back together, just in time for Clear Channel’s January, 2005, show at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.  Thank you to H. Palafox for these great shots of Natural High in action.

Natural High and team have appeared on various television shows, including “Riding with Rossi—Monster Trucks”, hosted by Rossi Morreale.   Monster Truck Tech; MOD season 2005 rounds 17 & 18; MOD Behind the Scenes; MOD 2005 Top 10 Freestyles; MOD 2006 rounds 3 & 4.

Kelvin is always happy to give an autograph to his fans or take a picture with them , and especially loves talking to the children.

It took Kelvin and Janette over 20 years to make their monster truck dream come true, and now, they are having a great time “Living the Dream”.

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