Grave Digger

Grave Digger is a monster truck owned by the Anderson family and operated by them, FELD Motorsports, and Randy Brown Motorsports. It debuted in 1982 and was created by Dennis Anderson, who also drove the truck until he retired in 2017. Active for more than 35 years, there are 8 competing Grave Digger vehicles with 9 current competing drivers on the Monster Jam circuit. Grave Digger is arguably the most famous and widely known monster truck anywhere in the world, and is considered to be Monster Jam's flagship truck.

Anderson's family continues to be heavily involved, with members of the family serving as drivers and Anderson's shop, Digger's Dungeon, building and operating most of the trucks. FELD and Randy Brown Motorsports operate the remaining trucks. Before his retirement, Pablo Huffaker's Racesource also owned select chassis.

The truck is very well known for its longtime rivalry with Maximum Destruction for many years, especially when driven by Tom Meents; despite this, Dennis and Tom are very good friends in real life.

History
In 1981, Dennis Anderson built Grave Digger 1 as a mud racing truck using a red 1957 Ford pickup truck. 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 1984, Anderson rebuilt the truck as a true monster truck, replacing the red pickup body with a 1951 Ford panel truck in a blue and silver paint scheme. One year later, the iconic "graveyard" paint scheme, based on 1950s horror comics, debuted after Anderson commissioned his friend Fred to create the paint scheme.

In 1986, Dennis Anderson started racing monster trucks full time. The truck became very popular, despite not enjoying the sponsorships of trucks like Bigfoot (Which was sponsored by Ford). His first major victory was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, against Bigfoot.

In 1989, Grave Digger 2 began competing under Dennis; the body switched from the 1951 Ford panel van to a 1950 Chevrolet panel van, which has been used for all subsequent Grave Diggers. Grave Digger 1 was then driven by Dennis' brother, Les Anderson. Construction on Grave Digger 3 was also started.

In 1990, the short-lived Grave Digger 4 was built and driven by Jack Koberna on the West Coast.

In 1991, the first four-link suspension Digger, Grave Digger 3 was completed. In the same year, Grave Digger 2 was rebuilt and renamed Grave Digger 5 as the new ride for Les. The first non-monster truck Grave Digger, Grave Digger 6, was also introduced.

In 1992, Grave Digger 7 was created along side Lyle Hancock and Robert Parker sharing driving duties also with the brand new Grave Digger 8.

In 1993, Pablo Huffaker created his own version of Grave Digger, Grave Digger 5. Which was actually the ninth truck on the fleet. He drove this truck across the US together with Anderson's.

In 1994, the first Grave Digger ride truck, Grave Digger 9, was built.

In 1995, Pablo Huffaker built Grave Digger 10 which would replace his old #5. Grave Digger's paint job was updated, adding purple mist, and the logo is set on one line.

In 1996, the second ride truck of the fleet, Grave Digger 11 replaced #9 after it was sold to Jake Blackwell. Grave Digger 12 would also debut and became Anderson's new truck.

In 1998, Dennis sold team Grave Digger to Pace Motorsports (now FELD Motorsports). Despite no longer owning the truck, he remained its most popular driver.

In 1999, Robert Parker was replaced by Charlie Pauken, of Excaliber fame.

In 2000, Anderson rebuilt Grave Digger 7 and was nicknamed "Grave Digger 13". The truck and Anderson was invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 1 and won the freestyle championship with a score of 40. Todd Frolik was then placed behind the wheel of Grave Digger 12.

In 2001, Gary Porter and Scott Pontbriand were given their own Grave Diggers, Grave Digger 12 and Grave Digger 8, respectively. Charlie Pauken also drove the new Grave Digger 15.

In 2002, Grave Digger celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Dennis would campaign a special 20th Anniversary body for the year. Rod Schmidt was also welcomed to the fleet. Pablo Huffaker debuts Grave Digger 16.

In 2003, Jason Childress started driving for the team. Dennis Anderson later suffered an injury, keeping him out of the Monster Jam World Finals 4. Grave Digger was driven by Pablo Huffaker at the said event. Anderson debuts Grave Digger 18 which he replaced 13 with.

In 2004, Anderson received another new truck being Grave Digger 19. Randy Brown then took over driving duties for Grave Digger 14. At the World Finals, Dennis won his first racing championship, taking out Pablo Huffaker driving Blacksmith.

In 2005, Scott Pontbriand officially retired from the sport. Carl Van Horn replaced him and drove Grave Digger 14. Randy was then moved to Grave Digger 18. Childress left the team to drive Bulldozer. At the World Finals, Dennis made it into the final round of racing, only to lose to Madusa.

In 2006, Chad Tingler replaced Van Horn and took over the reigns of #14. At the World Finals, Dennis won the World Racing Championship with the new truck he debuted at the start of the season, Grave Digger 20.

In 2007, Grave Digger celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Rod Schmidt took over Grave Digger 18 as Randy moved to #19. At the start of the season, Dennis again, suffered an injury until the World Finals and his son, Adam, would fill in for part of the season in 2007. Dennis runs a handpainted, chrome body at the World Finals, where he would make it into the final round of racing, only to lose to John Seasock in Batman. He would get second place in freestyle.

In 2009, Charlie Pauken's Grave Digger 15 was replaced by Grave Digger 22.

In 2010, Dennis won the team's fourth World Championship at the World Finals with #20. Gary Porter also competed on the Freestyle Mania tour until 2012.

In 2011, Carl Van Horn returned to the team and debuted Grave Digger 23. Grave Digger 24 and 25 also debuted in the same year as the new trucks for Chad Tingler and Gary Porter respectively, retiring both 12 and 14. The same year, Grave Digger raced against the Shockwave jet trucks at several NHRA Nitro Jam events until 2012. Randy Brown was behind the wheel for the majority of these races. Two spin-off trucks of Grave Digger debut this year: Grave Digger the Legend and Son-uva Digger, driven by Adam and Ryan Anderson, respectively. In 2012, Grave Digger celebrated its 30th Anniversary. Dennis runs two special 30th Anniversary bodies for the year, one purple and one green. Chrome versions of both would appear at that year's World Finals.

In 2013, Jon Zimmer joined the team and drove a new Grave Digger 26. Rod Schmidt also moved to Monster Mutt Rottweiler retiring Grave Digger 18.

In 2014, 4 new Grave Digger trucks were unveiled. Grave Digger 27 replaced Charlie Pauken's old 22, 28 became Pablo Huffaker's new ride after Grave Digger 16 and 29 debuted under Randy Brown retiring his old Grave Digger 19. Dennis also debuted Grave Digger 30 retiring his 7 year old Grave Digger 20.

In 2015, Charlie Pauken and 27 competed in the Fox Sports 1 Series. After more than ten years of driving Grave Digger, Gary Porter left the team and moved to Carolina Crusher. His truck, 25, was since then driven by Colton Eichelberger who competed in the More Monster Jam tour. Charlie finished 4th in his series while Colton finished 2nd. They both got automatic bids to the World Finals hence, three Grave Diggers competed in World Finals 16, with Dennis driving the normal Grave Digger 30, Colton driving a purple Grave Digger 25, and Charlie driving a green Grave Digger 27. At the Path of Destruction Tour, Steve Brynes, a former Nascar announcer who passed away on April 21, 2015, was written On the Grave Digger tombstone instead of the usual "Dennis Anderson".

In 2016, Chad Tingler left the team and was transferred to Alien Invasion early in the year retiring Grave Digger 24. A new chrome paint scheme debuted on Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger 30. Dennis's son Adam joined team Grave Digger and competed in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series with Grave Digger 32. Lifelong friend of the Anderson boys and former driver of Max-D, Morgan Kane joined the team after a switch from Max D to Grave Digger was made, hence, Colton Eichelberger was moved to the Max-D team while Kane took over the reigns of Grave Digger 25. Adam's long time crew chief Cole Venard also joined the team and competed in the More Monster Jam (2016) series with Grave Digger 31 along with Kane which they would eventually win. Charlie Pauken, Pablo Huffaker, Randy Brown, Carl Van Horn & Jon Zimmer all continued to run their own Grave Diggers. At World Finals 17, Morgan Kane and Cole Venard debuted new paint schemes on their trucks. Kane would receive an orange scheme while Venard drives the purple scheme. Kane later won racing, while Adam Anderson won freestyle, both in their Grave Digger trucks; this caused a lot of controversy, as a lot of fans claimed that the use of multiple Grave Diggers was an unfair advantage for the team, and many others claimed that Adam's freestyle run was overscored.

A new Hot Wheels Grave Digger mold was also 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 celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Tyler Menninga joined the team and took over driving duties for Grave Digger 23. He ran the More Monster Jam tour along with Cole Venard and Grave Digger 31. Morgan Kane debuted a new truck Grave Digger 33 to replace 25. He along with Adam Anderson's Grave Digger 32 competed in the Fox Sports 1 Series. Dennis Anderson and Charlie Pauken ran the two Stadium Tours with 27 and 30, respectively, while Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker competed in two of the other Arena Tours driving 29 and 28, respectively. The truck also received its first official female driver, Krysten Anderson, Dennis' daughter, who competed on the Central More Monster Jam Tour with the new Grave Digger 34. In the first stop of Dennis' Stadium Tour in Tampa, Florida, he would suffer a career ending injury after a failed backflip attempt. 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. Cole would also leave the team, just before the World Finals to take care of his newborn daughter, thus Randy took his place at said event, he would later return to the sport, driving The Black Pearl.

In 2018, the team ran eight trucks. Former Son-uva Digger crew chief Brandon Vinson joined the team to take the place of Cole Venard. Adam Anderson takes over as the main driver due to Dennis Anderson's retirement. Jon Zimmer left the team to drive Dragon full time, as he was supposed to in 2017 before Dennis's injury, while Carl Van Horn returns to serve as a fill-in for the team. Adam Anderson, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown, and Morgan Kane each ran a stadium tour. Three drivers once again competed at the Triple Threat Series, Krysten Anderson on the west series, Tyler Menninga on the central tour, and Vinson on the east series. Pablo Huffaker runs an arena tour. Pauken and Kane won their Stadium Championship Series while Menninga wins his Triple Threat tour, earning them invites to the Monster Jam World Finals 19. Adam Anderson wins the World Finals 19 Racing Championship against Menninga. Pablo retired after his final event in Florence, SC on the weekend of May 5-6, 2018.

In 2019, Randy Brown would compete with Grave Digger 39 on the Arena Championship Series, Krysten Anderson with Grave Digger 34 on the Triple Threat East Tour, Brandon Vinson with Grave Digger 31 on the Triple Threat Central Tour, and Tyler Menninga with Grave Digger 36 on the Triple Threat West Tour. Morgan Kane would compete on the Stadium Championship Series 1 with Grave Digger 33, Adam Anderson on Series 2 with Grave Digger 35 and Charlie Pauken on Series 3 with Grave Digger 38. Grave Digger 37 would stay overseas and be used for displays, one noted with Cynthia Gauthier. Adam, Brandon, Randy and Tyler won their tours, giving them an automatic bid to World Finals XX. Although Charlie wasn't invited, he would debut a fire version of Grave Digger for the racing encore.

Trivia

 * An official website dedicated to Grave Digger used to exist, though it was closed in early 2017 and the GD website.png now redirects to the truck's page on the official Monster Jam website.
 * The truck is lettered by New Jersey native Jim McShea.
 * New Jersey business Victory Lane Auto Body is still credited on the tombstones despite having closed years ago.
 * Grave Digger is one of 3 trucks owned by Feld that was sold to them, rather than created by them (The other 2 being Bulldozer and Son-Uva Digger).
 * The tombstones on the side of Grave Digger represent different trucks that Grave Digger has defeated in racing finals throughout the years.
 * Huffaker's Grave Diggers can often be identified by the red shocks, purple rims and a shorter wheelbase than other Grave Digger's.
 * The truck is special for being the only Feld-owned truck to be hand painted on every single body.
 * Grave Digger is the only truck that has been released every single year in both the Hot Wheels and Spin Master Monster Jam toy lines. Along with El Toro Loco and Blue Thunder, the truck has also appeared in every Monster Jam video game to this day.
 * Grave Digger is one of the few trucks to have competed in every Monster Jam season since the official start of Monster Jam in 1992.
 * The trucks theme song, "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, is also the truck's motto. The tolling bell in the intro of "Hells Bells" by AC/DC is also used before the truck comes out.
 * The ghost on the side has been referred to as the "Spooky Mound".
 * Over the years the truck has had many fill-in drivers including: Tom Meents, Jim Koehler, Marc McDonald, Daron Basl, Eldon DePew, Paul Cohen, Mike Vaters and others. Jon Zimmer also served as a fill-in before becoming a full time member.
 * Grave Digger 37 was the first Grave Digger to debut overseas - in the Latin America region to be exact for the 2018 Latin American Tour.
 * At SEMA 2017, Grave Digger's iconic ghost had flames added to its eyes and was displayed with its original zoomies. This design was reverted back to normal and the zoomies were removed for competition.
 * For promoting a 2018 NBC special, Jim McShaw painted the NBC Logo on one of the tombstones of a Grave Digger body. This design was reverted back to a Monster Jam logo and never ran on tour.
 * In 2019, Krysten Anderson's name (just Krysten) was added to the Adam & Ryan tombstone
 * Starting in 2019 and following the termination of the Hot Wheels/Mattel and FELD contract, the Spin Master logo was added to the "master toy contractor" tombstone
 * The Dennis Anderson tombstone on the side of Grave Digger reads "To thy legion cry, thou shall arise of flames and thunder to claim thy prize"
 * Dennis Anderson was the only Team Grave Digger driver to win 4 world titles until 2016. The truck has a total of 7 World Championship Titles as of today.
 * Grave Digger is the only truck so far to have both a Fire and Ice verison of it.

Versions
There have been 38 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 (WF Freestyle)
 * 2002 - Dennis Anderson (Points)
 * 2003 - Gary Porter (Points)
 * 2004 - Randy Brown (Points)
 * 2004 - Dennis Anderson (WF Racing)
 * 2006 - Dennis Anderson (WF Racing)
 * 2010 - Dennis Anderson (WF Racing)
 * 2016 - Morgan Kane (WF Racing and AMSOIL West), Adam Anderson (WF 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 (WF Racing)
 * 2019 - Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat - West), Brandon Vinson (Triple Threat - Central), Adam Anderson (Stadium Championship Series 2), Randy Brown (Arena Tour)

Grave Digger Bodies

 * Red pickup - Original GD body from 1982-83. It has been released as a Hot Wheels toy, and was echoed in the World Finals 11 encore.
 * Blue & grey panel - Second GD body from 1984. It has also been released as Hot wheels toy, and was also echoed in the World Finals 11 encore. It was later reborn as Grave Digger the Legend.
 * Graveyard - Debuted in 1985. This design is currently used to this day, with several changes over the years. The body would change from a 1951 Ford panel van to a 1950 Chevy panel van in 1991.
 * Grave Digger 20th Anniversary - A body run by Dennis Anderson in 2002, to celebrate Grave Digger's 20th Anniversary.
 * Green Ghost - This body was the same as the normal one, but the grey/purple ghost has been replaced with a green one with red eyes. This version also had a special roof design. Dennis would win racing at the World Finals running this design in 2006.
 * Chrome 25th Anniversary Grave Digger - A special, hand-painted, chrome body, run by Dennis at the World Finals in 2007, to celebrate Grave Digger's 25th Anniversary.
 * Grave Digger 30th Anniversary - Two trucks run by Dennis in 2012 to celebrate Grave Digger's 30th Anniversary, one green and one purple. Both were similar to the standard body, but instead of the standard ghost, a grim reaper was present, the flames were colored silver, the logo was changed, and the roof had a special tombstone design. Chrome versions of both with a 3D grim reaper appeared at the World Finals. The fleet body was the same as the normal design, but with a 30th Anniversary logo on the side.
 * Green - A version of the standard design, with the black replaced by green and with purple flames. This design was run by Charlie Pauken at World Finals 16.
 * Purple - A version of the standard design, with the black replaced by purple. This design was run by Colton Eichelberger at World Finals 16.
 * Orange - A version of the standard design, with orange flames and chassis, driven by Morgan Kane at World Finals 17. Kane would win racing running this body.
 * Purple (WF 17) - A version of the standard design, with purple flames and chassis, driven by Cole Venard at World Finals 17.
 * Silver - A version of the standard design, with the black replaced by chrome. Dennis would run the design during 2016.
 * Grave Digger 35th Anniversary - There was no special design run for the year, though there was a 35th Anniversary logo on the roof. According to Adam, special bodies for the trucks competing in the World Finals were planned, but never came to be.
 * Grandma - A replica of the 1985 GD, run by Charlie Pauken in the World Finals 13 encore. It was also run, 5 years later, by Krysten Anderson in the World Finals 18 encore.
 * Fire - A version of the standard Grave Digger Design, in which the green is replaced with orange and red and the graveyard is set on fire. Made it's debut at the racing encore for World Finals 20 with Charlie Pauken driving it.
 * Ice - A version of the standard Grave Digger Design, in which the green is replaced with light blue and white and the graveyard is covered in snow. While a toy of it has been made, a real life version of it is yet to debut.
 * Grim - A custom Hot Wheels Monster Jam toy released in 2004-2006. The truck has an older Grave Digger logo and has the Grim Reaper on the side of it. The truck was also released with a chrome body. Neither design ever ran on an actual Grave Digger monster truck in real life. It's unknown if it was ever planned to be made in real life.

World Finals Appearances

 * 1999 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2000 - Dennis Anderson (won freestyle)
 * 2001 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2002 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2003 - Pablo Huffaker
 * 2004 - Dennis Anderson (won racing)
 * 2005 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2006 - Dennis Anderson (won racing)
 * 2007 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2008 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2009 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2010 - Dennis Anderson (won racing)
 * 2011 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2012 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2013 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2014 - Dennis Anderson
 * 2015 - Dennis Anderson, Colton Eichelberger (purple), Charlie Pauken (green)
 * 2016 - Adam Anderson (won freestyle), Dennis Anderson (chrome), Morgan Kane (orange) (won racing), Cole Venard (purple)
 * 2017 - Adam Anderson, Tyler Menninga, Morgan Kane, Randy Brown (DDS: Krysten Anderson)
 * 2018 - Adam Anderson (won racing), Tyler Menninga, Morgan Kane, Charlie Pauken (DDS: Krysten Anderson, Brandon Vinson)
 * 2019 - Adam Anderson, Tyler Menninga, Randy Brown, Morgan Kane, Brandon Vinson (ATV: Tyler Menninga and Brandon Vinson, 2-Wheel Skills: Adam Anderson, Tyler Menninga and Brandon Vinson, Speedster: Tyler Menninga and Brandon Vinson, DDS: Krysten Anderson)

Digger's Dungeon
Digger's Dungeon in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, serves as the official home and workshop of Grave Digger. It houses other various FELD vehicles from time to time. It features a gift shop and museum of various Grave Digger parts, trophies, and merchandise. The Digger's Diner restaurant rests nearby, with autographed Grave Digger hoods on the interior roof.