The Vegas Curse

The Vegas Curse is a fan coined term that the driver who wins freestyle will have a short run the following year, usually falling well without of the top 5 or ending near the bottom.

History
The Vegas Curse didn't strike until 2003. Even though Dennis Anderson did not back up his title in 2001, he still finished in the top 5. In 2003 however, defending champ Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction only had a one hit run and ended up finishing 14th out of 16.

The curse continued in 2004 with Avenger, in 2005 to El Toro Loco, Maximum Destruction, and Madusa, in 2006 to Bounty Hunter. Tom's run in 2007 can be speculated to be struck by the curse as his run was cut very short, but he did finish 6th out of 24 so it can be debated.

For two years the curse struck Adam Anderson. First in 2009 when he crashed in racing and was injured, and so not able to defend his title, then again in 2010 when he had a one hit run and crashed.

Damon Bradshaw was the first driver since 2003 to not be struck by the curse. Although he did not defend his title in 2010, he scored 31 and finished 3rd in the field.

The curse continued in 2011, 2012, and 2013 striking Charlie Pauken, Jim Koehler, and Cam McQueen respectively.

In 2014 Tom Meents did very similar to Bradshaw, by although not winning the title, he finished 3rd out of 32 trucks.

Still, the ratio of years struck by the curse to those that haven't is quite a gap.

Years without the curse- 4

Years with the curse- 9