A monster truck is a specialized truck with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), they have evolved into purpose-built vehicles with tube-frame chassis and fiberglass bodies rather than metal. A competition monster truck is typically 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, and equipped with 66-inch (1.7 m) off-road tires.
Grave Digger is a monster truck racing team in the Feld Entertainment Monster Jam series founded by original driver Dennis Anderson. Considered one of the most famous and recognized monster trucks of all time, Grave Digger serves as the flagship team of the Monster Jam series, with nine active Grave Digger trucks being driven by different drivers to allow a truck to appear at every Monster Jam event.
2Xtreme Racing is a monster truck team consisting of the trucks Bounty Hunter, Scarlet Bandit and Iron Outlaw, all of which compete primarily on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit. The team is owned by Jimmy Creten, and includes Creten, his wife Dawn Creten, Trent Montgomery, and Todd Morey as drivers. Each truck features an old west theme with a character based on the truck's name. All three vehicles have competed in the Monster Jam World Finals, and Bounty Hunter was the 2005 World Finals Freestyle Champion and the 2019 World Finals Racing Champion. Jimmy Creten and Trent Montgomery currently drive the two Bounty Hunter trucks, Dawn Creten drives the Scarlet Bandit truck, and Todd Morey drives Iron Outlaw.
Maximum Destruction, also known as Max-D, is a monster truck team owned by Tom Meents that runs as part of the Monster Jam circuit.
Bulldozer was a monster truck that raced in the USHRA Monster Jam series. It featured one of the first 3-D body shells, with horns sticking out of the roof. In this respect, it resembled El Toro Loco. The truck debuted as a promotional truck for Smoke Craft jerky in the USA Motorsports series in 1997, and several different entertainment companies received the rights when they bought out USA Motorsports in 1999, including SFX, PACE Motorsports, Clear Channel, Live Nation, and lastly FELD Motorsports. The truck has been driven previously by Bobby Zoelner, Steve Reynolds, Rob Knell, former Taurus driver Eldon DePew, and current Maximum Destruction superstar Tom Meents, as well as Chuck Werner and Alex Blackwell. Bulldozer sometimes switched bodies with Hot Wheels, Bob & Tom, or High Roller.
Blue Thunder is a monster truck that races in the USHRA Monster Jam series. It was originally sponsored by the truck division of Ford Motor Company and Live Nation. The truck has several similarities with the monster truck Bigfoot. Some fans saw Blue Thunder as a replacement for Bigfoot in the Monster Jam series. The truck has been moderately successful and won several major events during its existence. However, it has not yet won a championship. Blue Thunder was used by Ford Motor Company for promotional purposes along with competition. The truck is currently driven by Matt Cody. The truck did not compete in 2012 when Todd LeDuc moved to Metal Mulisha after driving Blue Thunder in 2011. With Ford dropping its sponsorship in 2012, the truck was redesigned and brought back in 2013 with veteran driver Dan Evans; former owner/driver of the Destroyer monster truck.
John Seasock was a professional monster truck driver. He last drove Grinder sponsored by Advance Auto Parts, and is a two time Monster Jam World Finals Racing Champion.
Sudden Impact is a monster truck currently racing in the USHRA Monster Jam series. The truck was originally driven by John Seasock and has been to four World Finals under his command. It is the first monster truck to implement a driveline blanket, made of Kevlar, which goes around the outside of the drive shaft loop to make sure that if the driveshaft breaks, the parts will not fly off the truck, possibly causing injury to fans and officials. In 2010 the truck was driven by a new driver Ben Winslow. He used to be George Balhan's crew chief. Another new thing is that it is now called Ground Pounder. The truck is currently driven by Mike Dufrene and Steven Hill and is the teammate to Amsoil Shock Therapy, driven by Jeremy Brady and Dave Radzierez. In the past, it has been driven by Dufrene, Hill, Winslow, Seasock, Carl Van Horn, Jon Zimmer, Sean Duhon, David Brown, Chris Lagana, Kevin Kosala, Chris Ryan, John Killinger, David Fray, and Casey Ladelle.
Tom Meents is a professional monster truck driver. He currently drives Maximum Destruction on the Monster Jam circuit. He has won twelve Monster Jam World Finals championships during his career.
The Monster Jam World Finals is an annual monster truck event that is the championship event of the Monster Jam series, consisting of racing and freestyle competitions, with the winner of each considered the World Champion in that competition for the past year. It is the highest profile monster truck event and draws tremendous media attention. It was held in late March at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Monster Jam World Finals XIX on March 23–24, 2018 was the last World Finals held at the stadium. Starting in 2019, the Monster Jam World Finals changed formatting with a rotating schedule of venues.
Black Stallion is a monster truck that races on the USHRA circuit and for other promoters. Black Stallion started out as a stock 1982 Ford F350 back in 1982, owned and modified by Michael Vaters. The first modification was a homemade 12" lift kit, since such kits were unavailable at the time. Mike then later added two sunroofs, an Alpine stereo system, a Ford 460 Engine, Rockwell 5 ton toploaders, Clark 20 ton planetaries, 66" terra tires, a 9" television and later on, a 1988 Ford F series front end. Between 1990 and 1991, Mike realized the future of monster trucks, which was racing. To be competitive, Mike replaced the leaf springs with airbags, the old heavy split ring rims with lightweight one piece rims, fiberglass body pieces, cutting the tires, gutting the interior out, 4 linking the truck and putting in a bigger engine. The modifications proved to be beneficial to Mike, with close races with First Blood, and competing in some Pendaliner Special Events racing events. After a violent rollover in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania in 1991, Mike decided to put King shocks on the truck, which he later added coil springs in 1992. Along with the coil springs, Mike also removed the airbags. Mike is credited as the first owner to use bypass shocks. Also for 1992, Mike changed the front clip to a 1992 Ford F-series front end. Mike rarely ran this truck after he built the popular Boogey Van in 1993, driven by his then wife, Pam Vaters. Due to this, the truck was nicknamed Rodney, after the comedian, Rodney Dangerfield. Mike then built a truck for the 1996 season for research and development, named Black Stallion 2000, since his crew members joked about Mike not building a new truck for himself until the new millennium. This chassis is still running strong to this day. For his 20th anniversary, Mike decided to repaint Black stallion, with the front of the truck yellow, going into black with a horse face painted on. The truck currently has the same paint scheme. The drivers for 2016 are Michael Vaters & Matt Cody. Vaters will compete in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series. Cody will travel to Birmingham, Toronto, Newark, Charleston, Columbia, Worcester, Wheeling & Baton Rouge.
Adam Anderson is an American professional monster truck driver. He currently drives the monster truck Grave Digger on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit. Adam is the son of Dennis Anderson and the older brother of Ryan and Krysten Anderson, and is a 5-time Monster Truck World Champion. Adam currently resides in his hometown of Poplar Branch, NC.
Monster Mutt is a monster truck from West Chicago, Illinois, competing in the United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) Monster Jam series since 2003. Originally styled after a 1950 Mercury, and later a custom body, the truck has a canine motif, complete with big ears, tail and tongue. It is painted in two tones of brown, with a dog mouth drawn in the front. The truck has three spin offs, two of which are currently competing. It is currently driven by Tanner Root.
Captain's Curse was a monster truck created by Monster Jam and FELD Motorsports, and competed in the Monster Jam series from 2007 through 2016.
Team Scream is a monster truck race team based out of the Detroit area and races on the Monster Jam series. The team is made up of four trucks, Avenger, Brutus, Wrecking Crew, and Rage. The team founder is Jim Koehler and he is also the driver of Avenger. In 2003 the team won the Monster Jam World Finals in freestyle. Avenger is the only truck on the Monster Jam series to compete in every single Monster Jam World Finals with the same driver and truck. Koehler once again won the freestyle championship in 2011, after tying with nitro circus.
The Avenger monster truck, piloted by Columbus, Michigan native Jim Koehler, was created in 1997 The original monster truck sported a forest green Chevrolet S10 body style and a teal chassis and rims. With the exception of World Finals 14, the Avenger truck has always sorted at least three flaming skulls and flowing flames running from the wheel wells. As time passed, the S10 body was replaced by a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air body with bright green headlights, which is the same body style that is run today by "Mr. Excitement."
The Advance Auto Parts Grinder was a monster truck that competed on the Monster Jam Circuit from 2009 to 2013. It debuted as an Advance Auto Parts sponsored body. It was driven by Lupe Soza, John Seasock, Nicole Johnson, and Frank Krmel Jr.
Mohawk Warrior is a monster truck currently racing in the Monster Jam professional monster truck racing series. It is currently driven by Bryce Kenny, and was originally driven by George Balhan, former An Escalade driver, who debuted in 2010 during the Monster Jam World Finals XI Encore in the Obsession Chassis. It features one of the first trucks a decoration on the roof, which is a Giant Mohawk. The truck is also a successor to An Escalade. It also has an NGK Spark Plugs flag at the back of the truck, and was replaced by the Great Clips flags in 2017. It is sponsored by Great Clips since Bryce Kenny became the new driver of Mohawk Warrior after Balhan retired from Monster Jam.
Lucas Oil Crusader is a monster truck currently racing in the Monster Jam professional monster truck racing series. It is currently driven by Linsey Weenk, former Blue Thunder driver, who debuted in 2011 in Houston, Texas. It features one of the first trucks to change its roof artwork, which is the medieval knight decal and the truck's logo, and then after a while, it was replaced with the Lucas Oil logo. It also has the Lucas Oil flags at the back of the truck. It is sponsored by Lucas Oil since its debut in Houston, Texas, 2011. The truck was supposedly retired on July 28th 2019, but returned in 2020 competing in Stadium Championship Series Red.
