Unusual Monster Truck Incidents

There have been various monster truck accidents throughout the years of monster truck history. While there have been few injuries, there have also been a handful of unusual accidents as well. NOTE: None of the incidents below were fatal.

Backwards Bob
In 2015, Backwards Bob was destroyed in an accidental trailer fire. Nobody was injured in the incident, and the truck's teammate, Gravedigger, was savaged from the wreck. The truck later returned with a spare body on a backup PEI chassis. The incident bared similar resemblance to that of Firecorecrusher, as listed below.

Bigfoot and Carolina Crusher
During a race (possibly in Montreal at the Olympic Stadium as judged by the looks of the stands), Bigfoot and Carolina Crusher crashed in during the same race in nearly the same way at nearly the exact same time. Because of the strange timing and resemblance of the two crashes, this remains one of the strangest crashes in monster truck history. It was the only documented monster truck race where both trucks involved in a r ace crashed for decades until a very similar incident happen in 2016 involving Monster Mutt:Junkyard Dog and Overkill Evolution (as listed below). The outcome of the crash is unknown.

Bearfoot and Carolina Crusher
During a race in Lebanon, Bear Foot clipped Carolina Crusher, and caused the latter to roll violently after the finish line. It is unknown if Gary Porter was hurt in the crash.

Blacksmith
During the Monster Jam World Finals 2, Blacksmith was racing against Blue Thunder in the semi-finals. Blacksmith won, but the truck overturns and rolled a few times before rolling over and landing in-between two dumpsters. Driver Pablo Huffaker was uninjured in the crash. Despite attempts to retrieve the truck from where it came to rest, they were unable to, and the truck was left their for the rest of the night. Huffaker would borrow Ragin Steel for freestyle.

Boogey Van
Boogey Van was involved in a infamous accident in Pontiac where the truck had crashed full on into the stadium wall, resulting in the impact knocking off both the front right, and rear right tires. It destroyed 14 feet of the stadium wall and Pam was in the hospital for four days as a result of the impact.

Brutus
In Pontiac 2002, Brutus had driven out of the pits for freestyle when a tire rolled off two seconds after starting freestyle. The cause to this incident was because bolts hadn't been properly secured back on after a tire change, after the wheel nearly broke off during racing. As a result, the tire merely rolled away.

Captain's Curse
Alex Blackwell in Captain's Curse was in the final race at Monster Jam World Finals 10 going up against Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction. As the truck turned the corner in the left lane, the throttle stuck, causing the truck to flip violently up over the wall and into the stands. The section of seats the truck landed in were closed off, so nobody was injured. The crash was censored from the SPEED broadcast of the episode, likely due to controversy regarding two unrelated fatal monster truck incidents earlier that year. However, the crash was uploaded to YouTube and has over 4 million views also the unseen footage of the crash was only showed in europe. Dumpsters were placed on the edges of the stadium for all subsequent World Finals as a result of the incident. Amazingly enough, it is believed that this is the same chassis that ran as Blacksmith 8 years prior that crashed into the wall protection at World Finals 2.

Carolina Crusher and Snake Bite
During a race between Carolina Crusher and Snake Bite, Snake Bite lost control and crashed into Carolina Crusher, literally "crushing" the truck by going right over it. Carolina Crusher's fiberglass body was totally destroyed, but most of the chassis was still intact. No injuries happened from the accident.

Crushstation
Crushstation ran over an announcer at a monster truck show in 2010. Thankfully, the announcer survived with only a broken pelvis.

Demon, Kimosabe, Showtime, and Weapon 1 Ride Truck
A devastating fire ravaged the 22,000 square foot shop of Trick Trucks, Inc. in Spring City, Pennsylvania on July 16, 1998. The monster trucks Rich Blackburne's Demon, Jack Brady's Kimosabe, Greg Peck's Showtime, and Bill Johnson's Weapon 1 ride truck were completely destroyed, along with shop machinery, parts and supplies. Fortunately no one was in the shop at the time and there were no injuries as a result of this blaze. The fire was caused from a faulty battery from a Power Wheels Bigfoot toy. The Toy Company had announced soon thereafter that the batteries in the trucks had been found to overcharge and combust, ultimately causing a fire. The toy trucks have since been recalled nationwide due to their apparent flaw, and Mattel is still selling the toys without further incident. Explosions were frequent as the shop contained racing fuel, welding, gas and propane tanks. Unexpected explosions came from the sixteen 66" Monster Truck tires that were stored in the shop after the air inside them became hot and expanded until they violently burst.

Desert Storm
Desert Storm was a monster ride truck that was famous for its rollover on a beachside. The truck slipped on the sand on a dune, and overbalanced, and rolled on its side before sliding down the small slope in the sand. No injuries were reported.

​El Toro Loco and Avenger
During qualifying in Atlanta in 2014 Avenger collided with El Toro Loco. Going into the final turn Avenger high sided and as Jim Koehler attempted to save the truck he went inbetween the turning cars and back towards the one racing jump, where Chick Werner was finishing his qualifying pass in El Toro Loco. Avenger then drove straight into the left side of El Toro and proceded to bounce off (similar to Titan at World Finals XV) and flip. Even though both trucks were damaged (El Toro minorly and Avenger severley), both drivers walked away uninjured, El Toro would return for round one of racing and Avenger was back for freestyle.

El Toro Loco and Bounty Hunter
At Monster Jam World Finals 5, Bounty Hunter (driven by Jimmy Creten became stuck on the large trailer obstacle, where Lupe Soza in El Toro Loco would jump it in freestyle. El Toro Loco, with great speed, jumped the trailer, narrowly avoiding contact with the Bounty Hunter truck, and leaving it in the exact same place after jumping it. El Toro Loco would then crash, causing the back axle and tires to come loose. El Toro Loco would end up in a three-way-tie (the first and so far only time this has happened at the World Finals) along with Madusa, who later knocked down the Bounty Hunter truck from its place.

Firecore Crusher
FireCore Crusher was destroyed in a trailer fire on July 15th 2013. The truck had actually been stolen by Vern House along with Burnin' Money and was renamed from Sin City Crusher. He was confronted a year in 2014 later and forced to return Burnin' Money.

Grave Digger 3
In 1992, Grave Digger 3 was involved in a serious accident during a race against Taurus at a show in Providence Rhode Island; the truck was being driven that day by driver Lyle Hancock. The truck bounced over a set of crush cars and was thrown forward, then back onto its back two tires, and then forward again, being flung up the side wall, colliding with a camera and nearly hit spectators in the first few rows of seats.

Amazingly enough, the camera that it collided with was not destroyed, nor was the camera operator injured. Two spectators received minor injuries from debris. More humorously, according to Dennis Anderson commentating on footage of the crash, another spectator near the crash ended up spilling popcorn all over himself.

Grave Digger 9
In 1998, a 28 year old women passenger's arm was crushed after the Grave Digger 9 truck flipped over on a

beach side in Virginia Beach Virginia. A driver at the event claimed that he saw a wave of water wash up on the shoreline, which is what turned the truck over, although no other witnesses saw this. There were 13 riders in total on the truck at the time of the incident and a total of them seven were injured. The other six were treated and later released, theses six passengers were aged 2-52. The driver of the truck was not charged from the incident.

Grave Digger 19
In 2004 in New Orleans during freestyle one of the tires caught fire. At the end of his freestyle Dennis Anderson launched into a high speed donut, half-way through the left rear wheel came completely off the truck. It then went off the track where the grease on the inside of the wheel assembly burst into flames from the heat generated. The tire came to rest with the fire on the underside, extinguishing the fire.

Grave Digger/Hooked
During racing at Indianapolis in 2016, Grave Digger lost control, and jumped into Hooked's lane, whom landed

directly on top of Grave Digger. Neither drivers were injured, and the trucks were eventually repaired.

Goldberg
During Monster Jam World Finals 2 racing, Goldberg hit a yellow turning pole, which launched into the air, and struck a waterpipe, causing

water to leak all over the right-side racing lane. While racing initially continued with the water leakage as normal, officials eventually agreed to alter the racing circuit. The trucks would instead start inside the stadium corridor, rather than outside like they usually did. This in turn caused some confusion involving Brian Barthel, driving Wolverine, who initially didn't see the flag waver signal the start of the race (the starting lights were outside the stadium therefore could not be used

Gunslinger/Brutus
During a race in New Orleans, 2005, Brutus took off with a wheelie, and lost control of steering as the two trucks went over a main table top. Gunslinger was clipped by Brutus, and flipped over. Neither drivers were injured, But Gunslinger could not return for freestyle, resulting in a very angry Scott Hartsock.

Jailbreak
Jailbreak was involved in an unusual accident in 2006 when the truck broke a water pipe inside a Georgia arena. The show the incident took place at had a concrete floor without any dirt at all. During a race, the truck jumped the cars, then came down hard after the car pile and struck the floor with enough force to break a water pipe that was underneath the surface of the track. Nobody was injured and the driver escaped from the truck just seconds after the incident. The show was delayed for almost an hour due to the incident.

King Krunch
King Krunch was involved in an accident where the truck endo'd over, and landed in such a way that most of the chassis was destroyed. Scott was minorly injured in the accident.

King Kong
King Kong was racing against Carolina Crusher at a speedway in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. The trucks raced across the crush cars where King Kong, the victor of the race, jumped a concrete barrier, took down a "76" sign, overturned, and landed upside down between two police cars. Thankfully, nobody was in the police cars and the driver escaped from the truck within 10 seconds and was uninjured. The police cars, however, were completely totaled, and were reportedly brand new police cars as well.

Lil' Eagle/Eagle
After Eagle was sold, and became Lil' Eagle, It was involved in an accident where it's trailer tipped over. No body besides the truck was injured.

Major Obsession
This truck is famous for its accident in Tacoma, where the throttle stuck during racing and hit a cement barrier placed about 5 feet from wall, which launched it up the stadium wall.

Maximum Destruction
In 2013 during a show in West Lebanon, Tom Meents' Maximum Destruction set a crush car on fire. The show was during Max-D's 10th Anniversary, so pyrotechnics were placed in parts of the body. At the start of his freestyle Meents set off the pyro, and when the truck hit the cars some of the sparks landed inside the car and set the interior on fire. Max-D hit the flaming cars several more times. After his freestyle, the track crew attempted to extinguish the fire with fire hoses. After the fire could not be extinguished, the cars were moved and covered in dirt.

Monster Mutt: Junkyard Dog and Overkill Evolution​
During qualifying of the 2016 Monster Jam Fox Sports 1 Championship Series in St. Louis Monster Mutt: Junkyard Dog and Overkill Evolution both crashed at nearly the same time. As they entered the second turn both trucks hicked up, both drivers originally recovered, but then both trucks twisted the other direction, went off the dirt on to the concrete where they eventually came to rest on their sides. This accident was similar to the simultaneous Bigfoot and Carolina Crusher crash. Both trucks were forced into the donut contest that night, which Monster Mutt: Junkyard Dog proceeded to win. This was the first time two trucks crashed together since a 1980's race between Bigfoot and Carolina Crusher, the only instance where both trucks in a qualifying pair rolled at the same time and so far, the first of two, two truck crashes in 2016, the other involving Red Solo Truck and Snake Bite.

Napa
During a public, exhibit car crush at a NAPA auto parts store, the NAPA truck crushed a set of cars before plowing into a crowd of people, then the truck rolled onto some train tracks. Although there were injuries, this was a non-fatal event. It is also fortunate that no freight train came down the tracks the truck landed on, otherwise, the truck would have been destroyed.

Northern Nightmare
During Monster Jam World Finals 17 racing, a brake part from Northern Nightmare broke off the truck and was launched into the stands, striking a fan. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured.

Overkill
Overkill was involved in a trailer fire.

Predator Ride Truck
Predator lost a tire while giving rides to passengers.

Raging Bull
In August 2015, Raging Bull was doing an exhibition performance when one of the tires fell off of the truck from a hard hit, causing it to roll away and crash into a fence where spectators were standing, injuring nine people. Thankfully, nobody was killed.

Red Solo Truck/ Snake Bite
In Wildwood, NJ, in 2016, Red Solo Truck and Snake Bite were racing, and on the final jump, Red Solo Truck collided into Snake Bite in mid-air. Both trucks crashed into the ground, and ended up tumbling and flipping across the sand. Snake Bite driver Vinny Venom escaped from his truck uninjured just seconds after the violent wreck and went to check on Brandon Budd, who was also uninjured. It is considered to be one of the worst modern crashes.

Strangely, Red Solo Truck, which actually won the race, was able to return for the finals during that same show. The Snakebite chassis, however, experienced a significantly less convenient outcome and suffered severe damage and had to be sent to Concussion Motorsports to be rebuilt.

It is also interesting to note that this is the only two-truck crash so far where the actions of the trucks influenced each-other's crashes, since Red Solo collided with Snake Bite, which caused both of them to crash. In the other two examples, Overkill Evolution and Monster Mutt Junkyard Dog as well as Carolina Crusher and Snakebite, the crashes were not directly caused by each-other and just happened to occur at the same time.

Snake Bite
Snake Bite was involved in a famous crash in 1991 in Union Grove Wisconsin, where the truck, being driven by Colt Cobra and racing against Fred Shafer in Bear Foot in Round 1, jumped the "hydra barriers" (plastic units filled with water: water could even be seen splashing out during the collision) and crashed into a concessions stand shed in a nearby parking lot. The shed was completely destroyed, but thankfully no people were inside it at the time of the crash, so nobody was injured. On the other hand, a 2,000lbs industrial freezer, which was inside the shed, was destroyed in the crash, left out in full view partially crushed by the front tires from the truck's resting position, where the truck was left throughout the rest of the show.

Titan
During qualifying at Monster Jam World Finals 15, Titan crashed hard into the wall in the left lane, destroying the chassis. Fortunately, driver Donald Epidendio was not injured in the crash. The chassis was destroyed in the incident, so a new one had to be built. For the World Finals, Donald used a spare Mohawk Warrior chassis as a backup. This crash bares similarity to the infamous crash of Captain's Curse seven years prior (as listed above). The truck had crashed into a dumpster, which likely prevented it from going into the stands like Captain's Curse.

Tropical Thunder
During a race against Bigfoot, Tropical Thunder lost control, rolled over, lost both front wheels, and crushed the chainlink fence between the track, and audience. Nobody was hurt.

​War Wizard
In Pontiac 2006, War Wizard would have a destructive incident during the qualifying portion of the show. Due to the truck swerving on the final jump, War Wizard would jump up, and land on a motocross hill with half of the truck. The impact ended up knocking Randy Moore out, and the truck continued driving down the track until it slammed into the wall protection at the end of the course. The truck was unable to

compete for freestyle, and serious repairs were required for it's next show.

Only about a week later, during the 2006 Atlanta show War Wizard was totaled. On the first hit in freestyle the truck landed at such an awkward angle that nearly every shock was ripped off and the chassis was severely damaged. Randy Moore ended up buying the Total Chaos chassis in order to run the rest of the year.

Wild Stang
Wild Stang is known for a famous crash which occurred in Cayuga Ontario Canada during Labor Day weekend in 1988. The truck did a car crush, doing a wheelie, then came crashing down and flipped forward, leaving driver Barry Packard (NOTE: some sources say it was Cliff himself driving) trapped underneath the truck. The incident was similar to that of Paula Harbuck's crash in Bear Foot (which is the first recorded monster truck crash), however, while Harbuck was stuck for only a short time, Packard was stuck for an entire 45 minutes before being finally freed. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured in the crash. In the early days of monster truck competition, crashes were seldom and so trucks were not particularly designed with crashes in mind. Also, with today's monster trucks weighing in at 10,000lbs, old school monster trucks were much heavier than that, with some weighing in as heavy as 13,000lbs, 33% or 1/3 heavier than today's standard. This incident could very well be the main driving force to evolve the design of the monster truck to achieve higher standards of safety.

​Wrecking Crew
In Atlanta in 2013 Steve Koehler rolled Wrecking Crew in the same place twice. The truck rolled in the same spot in the same turn in both qualifying and round one of racing. Even though the truck had heavy damage it came back for freestyle, where it broke again.