MY heart sank when I saw the vehicle I’d been assigned to drive.

It could have been a truck called Grinder. It might have been the niftily titled Nitro Circus.

But it was a beast with the doom-laden name of Grave Digger that I was to climb into, start up and steer around a circuit at Las Vegas’s Sam Boyd Stadium.

I felt as if I had indeed dug my own grave by agreeing to take to the wheel of this 13 foot high beast with 66 inch tall wheels and a supercharged engine fuelled by methanol.

Monster Trucks are big business in America and Kenneth Feld, the entrepreneur who has made such a success of promoting the Disney On Ice franchise, hopes they’ll also rev into pole position in Europe. He’s presenting the shows through his Motor Sports Division and British petrolheads can see what all the fuss is about when the trucks and drivers perform at Birmingham NIA on September 17, 18 and 19.

I had an advance peek of what we can expect when I went to the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas.

I was also among the favoured few invited to experience some of the action from inside one of the trucks.

Once I’d put thoughts about digging my own grave out of my mind I figured it might not be too bad – especially when I discover that Grave Digger, a customised 1950 Chevy Panel van, is the most famous Monster Truck of all.

Driver Dennis Anderson, who formulated the Grave Digger concept byesack in 1983, became famous for his aggressive driving style which steered him to three Monster Jam World Finals Championships.

With increasing confidence I figured that if I could negotiate Birmingham’s potholes in my Nissan Micra, how difficult could it be speeding around a Vegas track in a four-and-a-half-ton truck?

Very difficult, actually, especially when a couple of sizeable mounds of hard earth were added to the obstacles.

My instructor, professional driver Dana Creech, told me to only steer with my left hand as my right would be operating a lever which controlled the rear wheels.

There were only two gears and no clutch so I had only to depress the accelerator and be sure not to exceed 5000 revs. And not forget to press the footbrake to stop!