As doctors are prone to say, stress is the silent killer. It’s that thing that makes you sick when there’s no infection and that makes you ache when all your body parts are still in proper, functioning order. Stress is the malady of modern times and, to combat it, we must look to our everyday life.
Blowing off some steam at the weekend is thus mandatory and may involve, depending on whom we’re talking about, going out with friends to a club, a movie, a shopping spree or bar-hopping. For others, it may involve punching stuff, breaking a sweat at the gym until all muscles are too sore to move, or causing some serious damage to property that is not theirs. Car crushing by tank falls in that last category.
You don’t even have to be a car aficionado to crush cars. In fact, it would be better if you weren’t, considering the activity involves driving a tank – a real, giant military tank – back and forth until there’s nothing left of a poor, innocent and defenseless passenger vehicle. What you have to have is a passion for trying out new things, a desire to relax doing something out of the ordinary, and a love of that feeling when adrenaline rushes through your veins.
If you live in the U.S., you can legally drive a military tank and use it to crush cars with it. The vehicles are, of course, unoccupied and decrepit, and you will have to dig into your pocket for the experience. But hey, we’re spending a lot of money as is on things that make us feel good, so we might as well fight stress in the process, right?
Photo: Monticello Motor Club
For starters, you should know that car clubs that offer the tank experience use machines whose cannons have been de-milled. Bummer if you expected to fire them. Pricing ranges from $25 if you’re simply planning on being a spectator riding a tank to about $4,000 if you want to actually drive it over a car or even through a mobile home.
Most experiences require some training, whether more extensive (a couple of hours’ worth, for instance) to a short briefing, but usually, if there are more than one tank involved, there will be training so you don’t crash.
One of the best value for money options is in New York, the Monticello Motor Club. It offers a wide range of experiences, but it also has a car crushing tank program for non-members, with costs ranging from $25 for passengers to $799 for the driver. For this price, you get to hop into (or on, if you’re just a passenger) a 35-ton Chieftain Battle Tank and, with help from an instructor, drive it back and forth until you crush a car into oblivion.
One such tank can accommodate up to 8 passengers, so if you get together with your friends, you can make the most of a weekend outing.
Photo: Tank Town USA
Tank Town USA in Morganton, Georgia, also offers several military-themed experiences, from driving or riding in a tank to shooting a machine gun, and using a tank to crush a car. The club has several APC models, one of which can be used to drive over vehicles – at $499 a pop. The club offers on-site training.
If you’re looking for variety, Drive A Tank in Kasota, Minnesota, is the place to go. It’s perhaps the best known club of the kind in the country, and has a little something for everyone, no matter how picky and regardless of budget.
The cheapest ride goes for $399 and the most expensive for $3,599, depending on which tank you choose and whether you want a larger package (and say, include shooting guns as well) or the possibility to crush more than one car.
Photo: Drive A Tank
It also offers you the chance to smash your way through a mobile home for $3,495. Training varies depending on the package you choose, and the club will throw in a free history lesson on tanks. Fun and education in one bang! Speaking of tanks, you can choose, depending on your budget, from a Sherman E8, a Chieftain MBT, a FV433 Abbott SPG, the Russian T-55 MBT or the British FV432 APC.
These are just 3 of the most popular clubs that offer the tank car-crushing experience in the U.S., but they’re definitely not the only ones. For instance, you can also find a club in Las Vegas, Nevada (Battlefield Vegas), and one in Uvalde, Texas (the Ox Hunting Ranch).
If you’re looking for a novel, though not new, way to de-stress, and think causing mayhem and destruction would help, chances are there is one club offering you this possibility within driving distance. Unleash the dogs of (make-believe) war!
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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