It's a BAD HABIT but Boardman man loves it!

By John Benson

After spending the past decade riding freestyle quad motocross or racing bikes, not to mention occasionally being injured, Boardman resident Joe Sylvester finally found his calling roughly four years ago when he started driving a monster truck for a living.

As the youngest independent owner/operator in the monster-truck industry in the country, Sylvester, 26, has traveled nearly 200,000 miles across 40 states over the past three years with his 10,000-pound monster truck Bad Habit smashing cars and flying through the air. Talk about an adrenaline rush.

“When we’re flying these trucks 30 to 40 feet high off the ground, when the venue calls for it, and you run the truck really hard, it’s amazing what we can do with these big vehicles,” said Sylvester, a 2002 Boardman High School graduate. “It’s definitely an adrenaline rush when you’re flying that high through the air. When you put in a lot of time in the truck and a lot of hard work, and it translates into putting on a good show for the fans who come up to you after and really like what you did and are excited about what you did, that in itself is a rush to me.”

While initially the thrill-seeker worked in his family business, the Joseph Sylvester Construction Company, eventually he found his own niche starting up Joe Sylvester Motorsports. So far, the business is doing well with a few decent sponsorships – which is where the money is – on board, but Sylvester hopes the next few years really take off just like one of the massive jumps that Bad Habit regularly makes with ease.

Speaking of showing off his $150,000 vehicle, Sylvester brings Bad Habit home for the Monster Nationals event Friday and Saturday at the Covelli Centre.

“Actually, I run on the Monster Jam tour you see on the Speed Channel,” said Sylvester, who performed in Cleveland two weeks ago. “Since this is a local hometown show, it’s the only stop I’m doing on the Monster Nationals tour. I want to put on a show, even though it’s smaller than we normally do, for my hometown. I think people really like to see when you’re out there traveling the country representing our small town. Anytime you can do something close to home, I think a lot of people come to support you.”

In case you can’t tell, loyalty and home mean a lot to Sylvester. More so, with Sylvester’s success, the driver and business owner could move to a larger market but he feels to leave Northeast Ohio would be for all the wrong reasons. You see, his success has provided him with a different perspective of home.

“I get a chance to see a lot of the country and meet a lot of people, but I still like coming home,” Sylvester said. “I still like being here and living in a small town and knowing people when you drive to the store and when you’re driving down the street. There’s a lot of stuff to do around here and a lot of good things about the area that I think people take for granted.”

He added, “I’m pretty happy with where I live.”