OCALA, Fla. – Kaid Jaret Olson-Weston is strapped into a 2,800-pound half-scale monster truck, humming playfully as he waits for the green light.

KJ, as he is known to his fans, sits patiently as he and his coach go over the safety features in his truck.

The roll cage is lowered. KJ starts the engine and jumps over humps of dirt before crushing a beat-up car. He spins the truck – and its 200-pound tires – clockwise, then backwards, leaving behind a cloud of dust in its tracks at his training center in Ocala, Fla.

Despite these feats, KJ can barely see over the steering wheel. At 8 years old, he is the youngest monster truck driver.

“I’d never seen anybody that young,” said Rev Prochnow, who started the American Monster Truck Association 20 years ago.

KJ, a somewhat shy kid with a passion for “everything else you can name with a motor in it” performs cross country at about 60 different shows every year, from large arenas to small fairs. He signs hundreds of autographs at each show, but still considers himself an average kid.

“I do really good in school and am able to drive this, which people think it might be hard but it’s actually pretty easy,” he said.

Monster truck driving is growing in popularity and that’s why it’s catching the attention of young drivers like KJ.

“All the big names recognize that this is it, this is coming,” said Tod Olson-Weston, KJ’s coach and father, who is starting to train eight other young drivers through his company Uncle Tod’s Motorsports.

KJ drives half-scale trucks, which are about half the size and a quarter of the weight of a regular truck.

“There is a distinction between what he’s doing and what we do,” said Marty Garza, spokesman for the Monster Truck Racing Association, which does not allow drivers under the age of 18 to perform in full-fledged monster truck events. KJ’s has a 200 horsepower truck compared to the larger monster trucks which have 1,500 or 2,000 horsepower.

“It would be like calling a go-kart a race car,” Garza said.

KJ’s Monster Bear truck was customized to fit his size and has all the safety features required in a monster truck. KJ’s younger brother and mother also drive monster trucks, so the sport is a family business – and a costly one. Each half-scale truck costs between $50,000 and $100,000.

“My family loves monster trucks,” Tod Olson-Weston said. “And I am right there with them.”