Monster Mutt

Monster Mutt is a custom bodied monster truck owned by FELD Entertainment driven by Tanner Root and Kevin King. The truck debuted in 2003, and has remained a staple of Monster Jam since. It has competed in every Monster Jam World Finals since 2003 and even got the championship in 2010 under Charlie Pauken.

History

 * 2003 - Monster Mutt debuts at Oakland, California, under Chad Reed on the former Firemouth chassis. However, due to a family emergency, Chad immediately retired and Todd Frolik would then take over as driver. Frolik drives Monster Mutt its first World Finals.
 * 2004 - Two Monster Mutts campaign driven by Bobby Zee and Bryan Winston.
 * 2005 - Monster Mutt began using it's trademark tail, starting at Monster Jam World Finals 6. George Balhan drives the truck in the European Tour. Kasey Christensen also drives a Monster Mutt on a Willman chassis for a few events.
 * 2006 - Charlie Pauken competes in the Indianapolis-monster-jam-2015-051.jpger Jam World Finals with Monster Mutt. Zee and Winston finish their year under Monster Jam.
 * 2007 - Mike Wine and Alex Blackwell takes over driving duties as Monster Mutt is featured in Monster Jam (video game). The first spin-off of Monster Mutt, Monster Mutt Dalmatian, debuts.
 * 2008 - Whit Tarlton joins the team. Wine and Tarlton share driving duties with Alex Blackwell finishing his last year with the truck by driving for the European Tour. Gary Porter drives the truck at a 4 Wheel Jamboree Nationals event in Springfield, Missouri. Monster Mutt is featured in Monster Jam: Urban Assault.
 * 2009 - Wine leaves the team to drive Backwards Bob. Lee O'Donnell took the reigns of Monster Mutt sharing the wheel with Tarlton.
 * 2010 - Dana Creech takes over the ride full time as Lee O'Donnell and Whit Tarlton left the team to drive Iron Man and Spider-Man for the season. Paul Cohen and Ryan Anderson also drives Monster Mutt in Atlanta and San Diego respectively. Charlie Pauken wins the Monster Jam World Finals 11 freestyle championship with the Monster Mutt body on Grave Digger #22, scoring the second highest winning number in World Monster Mutt Freestyle Monster Jam World Finals XIs history (39). Chad Tingler runs the body on Grave Digger #14 for it's final run at the first stadium event in Philadelphia.
 * 2011 - Joe Miller joined the Monster Mutt team and shares driving duties with Creech. The second spin-off of the truck, Monster Mutt Rottweiler is debuted.
 * 2012 - Dana Creech stops driving for Monster Jam. Whit Tarlton returns to the team and shares the wheel with Miller.
 * 2013 - Joe Miller stops driving Monster Mutt.
 * 2014 - Whit Tarlton finishes his last year driving in Monster Mutt.
 * 2015 - Dustin Brown starts driving an all new Monster Mutt chassis in the Fox Sports 1 Series where he would finish 3rd, getting a spot in World Finals 16.
 * 2016 - The truck debuts a new 3D body, along with Monster Mutt Dalmatian. Another new chassis debuts with Bryce Kenny driving. Charlie Pauken drives once again at Monster Jam World Finals 17. Jon Zimmer drives the truck in East Rutherford. The 2015 chassis becomes the trucks third spin-off, Monster Mutt Junkyard Dog, which would retire in April that same year.
 * 2017 - Kevin Crocker takes over as the driver of Monster Mutt and joins the Racesource Team, as Bryce Kenny moves to Mohawk Warrior. Charlie Pauken drives Monster Mutt at the Monster Jam World Finals 18. Cynthia Gauthier runs the truck for the European Tour, even performing a backflip in France. Tragically, former driver of Monster Mutt, Bryan Winston passes away
 * 2018 - Kevin Crocker drives again in the Monster Jam Arena Tour. Cynthia Gauthier drove Monster Mutt at the Monster Jam World Finals 19. After the Monster Jam Arena Tour, Kevin retired and former War Wizard driver Shane Phreed filled-in for him for a few shows. After the retirement of the trucks teammate Pablo Huffaker in May, Shane stepped away from driving the truck. Jack Monkhouse later competed on the Australian tour on the Buddy chassis. A Mummy design of the truck is released as a Hot Wheels toy as the Halloween Edition toy for the year.
 * 2019 - Two Monster Mutts are run: Tanner Root drives a Mutt on the Iron Outlaw chassis on the Triple Threat Series West Tour whilst Kevin King drives a second Mutt on Stadium Tour 3 on the Axe/Wrecking Crew chassis, as his truck, Fluffy, is being used for a movie shoot.

List of Trucks That Have Run as Monster Mutt

 * Spare Willman chassis (Kasey Christensen)
 * Grave Digger 14 (Chad Tingler)
 * Grave Digger 22 (Charlie Pauken)
 * Grave Digger 27 (Charlie Pauken)
 * Buddy (Jack Monkhouse)
 * Iron Outlaw (Tanner Root)
 * Axe/Wrecking Crew (Kevin King)

World Finals Appearances

 * 2003 - Todd Frolik
 * 2004 - Bobby Zee
 * 2005 - Bobby Zee
 * 2006 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2007 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2008 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2009 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2010 - Charlie Pauken (won freestyle)
 * 2011 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2012 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2013 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2014 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2015 - Dustin Brown
 * 2016 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2017 - Charlie Pauken
 * 2018 - Cynthia Gauthier

Trivia

 * The truck spawned from the combination of two cancelled trucks, being the dog theme of Beware of the Junkyard Dog, and the Mercury body of Hulk in 2003. The original bottom clip where the latter's teeth would have been set in (where the tongue is) can be seen in images of the truck at its debut show.
 * The truck has been driven at least once by approximately 30 drivers throughout the truck's career.
 * Similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the truck was notorious among drivers for having a small windshield and a smaller field of vision, prior to it's 2016 re-design.
 * When the Grave Digger chassis ran the old body, the body was bolted on in a titled fashion to fit the chassis' rollcage.
 * Despite the original body being that of a 1950 Mercury Street Rod, it was referred to as a "1950 Mercury Mutt".
 * Most of the bodies are equipped with mechanisms to allow the tail to "wag", the ears to "flap", and for the tongue to "pant".
 * As of 2019, both of the truck's chassis are independently owned, with the truck being run on various chassis in international tours.
 * The nose of the 2Xtreme version has cuts in the top to allow the shocks to stick out, as with it's normal identity, Iron Outlaw.
 * The Team Scream version of the truck temporarily had spikes on it's collar, similar to Monster Mutt Rottweiler. These were removed by request in order to make it fit in with the other Monster Mutts.