Grave Digger

Grave Digger is a monster truck owned by Feld Motorsports. Active for more than 35 years, there are 9 competing Grave Digger vehicles with 8 current competing drivers on the Monster Jam circuit. Grave Digger is in every Monster Jam game from Maximum Destruction to Urban Assault to As Big as it Gets to Crush It.

It is special for being the only FELD owned truck to be hand painted on every single body.

History
In 1981, Dennis Anderson created his mud racer, Grave Digger. The name came from a smack-talking session he had with his rivals ("I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it.").

In 1986, Dennis Anderson started racing monster trucks full time. The truck became super popular, despite lack of sponsorship that trucks like Bigfoot (Which was sponsored by Ford) had. His first major victory was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, against the Bigfoot.

In 1989, he switched from a 1951 Ford Panel truck to a 1950 Chevrolet Panel truck. Two years later, he debuted Grave Digger (III), the first four-link Grave Digger.

In 1998, Dennis sold team Grave Digger to PACE Motorsports (now Feld Motorsports). Dispite no longer owning the truck, he is still arguably its most popular driver.

In 2000, Debra Miceli, driver of Madusa, was taught by Dennis Anderson to drive monster trucks and drove one of his Grave Digger trucks. Dennis and Grave Digger were invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 1 and won the freestyle championship with a score of 40.

In 2002, Grave Digger celebrated its 20th Anniversary.

In 2003, Dennis Anderson suffered an injury, keeping him out of the Monster Jam World Finals 4. Grave Digger was driven by Pablo Huffaker

In 2004, Grave Digger won the racing championship at the Monster Jam World Finals 5, taking out Pablo Huffaker driving Blacksmith.

In 2006, Dennis suffered an injury Until the World Finals and his son, Adam, would drive Grave Digger for part of the season in 2007.

In 2007, Grave Digger celebrated its 25th Anniversary.

In 2012, Grave Digger celebrated its 30th Anniversary.

In 2015, three Grave Diggers competed in the World Finals 16, with Dennis driving a black and green Grave Digger, Colton Eichelberger driving a purple Grave Digger, and Charlie Pauken driving a green Grave Digger. "Steve Brynes" a former Nascar annoucer who passed away on April 21, 2015 was written On the Grave Digger tombstone instead of the usual "Dennis Anderson".



In 2016, a new chrome paint scheme will debut along with Dennis's son Adam driving Grave Digger for the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series while lifelong friend of the Anderson boys Morgan Kane will switch from Max D to Grave Digger and Adam's long time crew chief Cole Venard will also join the team with the two competing in the More Monster Jam series. Charlie Pauken, Pablo Huffaker, Randy Brown, Carl Van Horn & Jon Zimmer will all return. In World Finals 17 Morgan Kane in Grave Digger took home racing. Adam Anderson in Grave Digger won freestyle. A new Grave Digger mold was released, the first time in 16 years that the original mold, created in 2000 as one of the original 4 toys, was altered. This new design which went unnoticed at first until fans found the differences, being a more round body, new front clip, and overall, a more realistic design. The problem was that the design never showed the "New tool" deco on the packaging, and it shared the exact same packaging as the old style. Another version of Grave Digger was released, but this time, the roof artwork is different.



In 2017, Grave Digger celebrates its 35th Anniversary. Tyler Menninga joins the team and runs the More Monster Jam tour along with Cole Venard. Morgan Kane and Adam Anderson competed in the Fox Sports 1 Series. Dennis Anderson and Charlie Pauken ran the two Stadium Tours while Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker competed in two of the other Arena Tours. The truck also receives its first official female driver, Krysten Anderson, who competed on the Central More Monster Jam Tour. Dennis Anderson was injured at the Raymond James Stadium show in Tampa, Flordia on January 14, 2017, making this his final event where he competed. Carl Van Horn and Jon Zimmer filled in for the rest of his tour. On September 18, 2017, Dennis announced his full retirement from Monster Jam, stating he would still be behind the scenes at events and in the pits.

For 2018, the team will be running eight trucks, Brandon Vinson joins the team to take the place of the retired Cole Venard and Adam Anderson takes over as the main driver due to Dennis Anderson's retirement. Adam Anderson, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown, and Morgan Kane will each run a stadium series. Three drivers will once again be running the Triple Threat Series, Krysten Anderson will run the west series, Tyler Menninga will run the central tour, and Vinson will run the east series. Pablo Hufaker will be running the forth arena tour. Pauken won Stadium Championship Series 2, earning him an invite to the Monster Jam World Finals 19. Adam Anderson also earned his own invite to World Finals 19 in Grave Digger on February 28.

Trivia

 * Grave Digger is one of 4 trucks owned by FELD that was sold to them, rather than created by them (The other 3 being Bulldozer, Carolina Crusher, and Son-Uva Digger).
 * The tombstones on the side of Grave Digger represent different trucks that Grave Digger has beaten out in racing finals throughout the years.

Versions
There have been 34 versions of Grave Digger to date. There is no Grave Digger XIII due to superstition about the number 13. The number of the truck is often displayed on the front of the hood.

Championships

 * 1999 Dennis Anderson (Points)
 * 2000 Dennis Anderson (Freestyle)
 * 2002 Dennis Anderson (Points)
 * 2003 Gary Porter (Points)
 * 2004 Randy Brown (Points)
 * 2004 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
 * 2006 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
 * 2010 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
 * 2016 Morgan Kane (Racing and AMSOIL West), Adam Anderson (Freestyle and FS1 Series), Cole Venard (AMSOIL East)
 * 2017 Cole Venard (Triple Threat- West), Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat- East), Randy Brown (Arena Tour #4), Pablo Huffaker (Arena Tour #5), Charlie Pauken (Stadium Tour #4)
 * 2018 Charlie Pauken (Stadium Championship Series 2), Morgan Kane (Stadium Championship Series 3), Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat- Central), Adam Anderson (Racing)

Digger's Dungeon
Digger's Dungeon in North Carolina serves as the official home of Grave Digger. It houses various Feld vehicles from time to time. It features a gift shop and museum of various Grave Digger parts, trophies, and merchandise.