Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (aka TMNT) was a monster truck last owned and operated by FELD Motor Sports that competed from 2003 to 2012. Its primary drivers included the likes of 2004 Rookie of the Year Paul Cohen, Grave Digger superstars Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker, and rising stars such as Alex Blackwell, Brandon Harrington, and Aaron Basl. The truck’s turtle-shaped concept body turned heads in the monster truck industry as to what was possible in the world of 3D fibreglass design. On the track, it is probably most well-known for spectacular (albeit short) freestyle runs at the Monster Jam World Finals. It is also one of the longest-running sponsor trucks, standing at nearly 10 consecutive years of competition. The truck debuted on the former Mr. Destruction chassis.

Statistics

 * Debut Show:  Montreal, QC (October 25, 2003)
 * Final Show:  Las Vegas, NV (March 23, 2012)
 * Competed in 205 events
 * Drivers (no. of events)
 * Aaron Basl (72)
 * Brandon Harrington (33)
 * Alex Blackwell (25)
 * Deric Evans (11)
 * Whit Tarlton (11)
 * Joey Parnell (11)
 * Ryan Huffaker (10)
 * Paul Cohen (9)
 * Frank Krmel (5)
 * John Seasock (4)
 * George Balhan (3)
 * Pablo Huffaker (3)
 * Bryan Winston (2)
 * Randy Brown (2)
 * Charlie Pauken (1)
 * Neil Elliott (1)
 * Nathan Weenk (1)
 * Charles Benns (1)
 * World Finals Appearances:  6 (2004, 2006-07, 2009-11)
 * Best Racing Result:  Round 3
 * Win/Loss Ratio:  3/5
 * Average Racing Result:  Round 2
 * Best Freestyle Finish:  7th
 * Best Freestyle Score:  26
 * Average Freestyle Score (out of 40):  19.2
 * Master Win Total: 83 career wins
 * 45 stadium events
 * 1 stadium racing win
 * 1 stadium freestyle win
 * 117 arena events
 * 27 arena racing wins
 * 14 arena freestyle wins
 * 43 speedway wins
 * 13 speedway racing wins
 * 4 speedway freestyle wins
 * 11 wheelies wins
 * 11 donuts wins
 * 1 obstacle course win

History
In 2003, TMNT's Monster Jam competition debut started with a bang. 2003 rookie contender and soon-to-be superstar George Balhan took to Olympique Stadium's giant floor against a star-studded lineup that included the likes of Dennis Anderson, Neil Elliott, and recently-crowned racing champion Brian Barthel. Against all odds, TMNT earned pole position for the racing competition and climbed through the bracket to the final round against Scott Hartsock's GunSlinger, just barely falling short of winning in its first ever racing event. In freestyle, TMNT and Balhan tied Sudden Impact (John Seasock) for third; in today's competition, that would be good enough for the event championship, but for 2003's standards, the shelled concept would have to settle with shocking the world with two podium finishes.

2004:

In 2004, TMNT would go from one rookie to another. Paul Cohen, a driver who had already turned heads with his skills as a substitute in 2003, was given the nod to run for rookie of the year in the new season; what better way to do so than to take on the duties of campaigning the new monster. Immediately, TMNT made a splash in the monster truck industry, with a semifinals appearance as fast loser in Anaheim 1 and a narrow loss to touring partner Grave Digger (Charlie Pauken) in the Saturday afternoon Tacoma show. Nothing notable happened at Anaheim 2, but with more consistently strong performance in Salt Lake City (including a second-place freestyle showing), TMNT was finally set up for a breakthough - one that would happen in the last freestyle event in Edmonton, landing the new truck in the winner's circle for the first time ever. Cohen drove the truck to its first racing win in Portland a week later, and three more freestyle wins in Spokane after that. Another freestyle win in Calgary made up for a winless trip to Nampa and cemented the new truck's place in the fifth annual World Finals.

Cohen's strength as a driver - and the Turtle's strength as a truck - would be tested on the Vegas track. After a tentative qualifying run expected of a Vegas rookie, TMNT faced off against Blue Thunder’s Tony Farrell and wasn’t able to put up enough of a fight to move into the second round of racing. Redemption was likely on its way in freestyle, as the truck had hardly ever had a bad freestyle run. But even with the 30-second recovery rule in place, Cohen’s crazed driving style was too much to handle on the technically-advanced, small stadium track typical of Sam Boyd Stadium, and TMNT was left destroyed on the stadium floor with only 11 points to show for it. After the World Finals, the TMNT body made its way to tour with a different Digger and a different driver. Rising star Brandon Harrington had done a great job campaigning Spider-Man as Gary Porter’s teammate and wasn’t about to do anything less for the TMNT name. A moderately good showing at Syracuse and two second-place finishes in Quincy led to Harrington being one of the eight drivers featured on SPEED’s first show, but unfortunately, TMNT just couldn’t keep up with the rest of the trucks in West Lebanon. Harrington was once again consistently good in Sunrise before the TMNT body flew overseas for its first time. The truck was booked with Bryan Winston at the helm, but with Grave Digger blowing an engine during the Friday show, Winston was happy to let Digger superstar Charlie Pauken take the wheel of the Turtle (note:  this wouldn’t be the last time Bryan Winston would have Charlie Pauken replace him…). Neither driver, however, earned a confirmed victory. Winston returned to the Turtle for Stockholm and Helsinki, but again, couldn’t win an event. Harrington would wrap up TMNT’s debut season back in the States with more consistent mid-pack finishes in Nashville.

In 2005, Team TMNT expanded to two trucks for the season; Harrington and fresh face Alex Blackwell would run bodies in their tours with Porter and Randy Brown’s respective Grave Diggers. The truck would fall short of making a second World Finals appearance. The blue Leonardo and purple Donatello bodies may have been planned to run on-track in 2005, but never materialised.

Blackwell was a model of consistency in his first week with the truck in Birmingham, but couldn’t keep up with the big guns in his first stadium event in Pontiac. Kansas City saw more of the same consistent mid-pack runs, and Blackwell’s Indianapolis appearance mirrored what had happened just two weeks earlier in the Detroit metro area. In Miami, Blackwell was able to land a fourth-place freestyle finish against a packed field. He returned to arenas in Cleveland, but struggled a bit in competition. Blackwell still couldn’t break through in Oklahoma City, Providence, or Bridgeport, so although the latter did finish him in second place for the last freestyle, his first career win would have to wait until after first quarter.

Meanwhile, Harrington started the season in a similar fashion to Blackwell, with a moderate run in Little Rock. In Wichita, Harrington took TMNT to its first wheelie and donut wins, and capped it all off with two racing wins and another freestyle victory, establishing the truck as a threat from the get-go. He wasn’t able to notch another victory in Greensboro or Raleigh, and couldn’t break out of second place in Charleston against his teammate Porter. Roanoke led to more of the same. In Charlotte, though, Harrington finished no worse than second and landed a racing win against Grave Digger’s self-disqualification. Harrington fell back again in Dayton, Lafayette, and Pensacola, and wrapped up first quarter with a mid-pack finish in Cincinatti.

TMNT took the Florida Sports Park by storm next, where Blackwell would finally break through and win a racing competition. Harrington would do the same in Ocala. Blackwell would continue his winning ways with two Bangor racing victories, while Harrington would have to settle for winlessness in a packed Syracuse lineup. Blackwell notched yet another racing win in Halifax, while Harrington would “double down” with a racing and freestyle triumph in the last show of the Mechanicsburg weekend. Harrington once again went winless in Sunrise, but both drivers looked primed to shell-shock the competition in 2006.

In 2006, Team TMNT kept the same drivers for the season. Alex Blackwell once again started out his season with a tame Birmingham showing, and that trend continued into Denver and Memphis. Blackwell returned to Indianapolis for another crack at stadium competition, but was again overshadowed by the sheer amount of talent at that level. Deric Evans replaced Blackwell for the Miami event and immediately turned heads with a semifinal racing bracket run. Blackwell returned to the seat in Hampton and landed several runner-up finishes, but no wins. Lackluster showings in St. Louis and Providence held Blackwell back, though he was able to show off his future donut prowess with two runner-up runs in Grand Rapids. Blackwell ended his first quarter with a moderately good showing in Richmond.

Brandon Harrington’s turtle switched from Raphael’s iconic red bandana to Michelangelo’s orange for the new year, and Harrington came to Charlotte again with a mission to perform as well as the previous season, but he couldn’t keep up with the likes of his teammate or with Jason Childress’s new Batman machine. Harrington landed a few runner-up finishes in Greensboro, but again fell short in Kansas City. A few more great freestyle runs in Greenville and Charleston helped boost Harrington’s confidence, but he was still winless on the season coming out of Roanoke. Cleveland would finally change that, as Harrington won a tiebreaker against Suzuki’s Kathy Winston to claim a freestyle victory. Baltimore would not be as successful for Harrington, and he would again be limited to second place at best in Lafayette, but Harrington was able to notch a donut win in Pensacola. Harrington missed out on the winner’s circle in Bridgeport and just narrowly lost a freestyle tiebreaker to his teammate Grave Digger (Gary Porter) in Cincinnati.

While the truck was not originally booked for the seventh inaugural Monster Jam World Finals, a whirlwind of unfortunate happenstance (Madusa leaving Clear Channel and Bryan Winston getting injured) left one spot open for the now-24-truck field. Enter Digger driver Randy Brown, who was looking for a ride that would launch his own identity outside of the black-and-green legacy. Brown’s first event in TMNT was cut shorter than he would like in racing, after being handed a loss from sophomore up-and-comer Adam Anderson (Taz). He would get the turtle concept into the top third in freestyle, but not without sacrificing a tyre and the entire body to the tune of a 22.

Blackwell and Harrington returned to the mantle of the turtle post-Vegas. Blackwell immediately found victory lane again in Naples with a racing triumph, and Harrington did the same in Ocala a week later. Team Meents superstar Neil Elliott got the body for the Salinas weekend and finished runner-up in racing to Del Scorcho (Frank Krmel), while Blackwell remained consistently on the podium in Bangor and Halifax, even notching another racing win at the latter venue. Harrington just couldn’t get the job done when the truck returned to indoor action in Fayetteville. George Balhan returned to the seat for the truck’s overseas adventures, but couldn’t replicate his magical Montreal night from three years prior in either Arnhem or Helsinki. However, another offseason filled with speedway wins prepared Team TMNT for another new beginning in 2007. In 2007, Team TMNT remained with the same two teams, but both Randy Brown and Gary Porter would have new full-time teammates for the new season.

Deric Evans ran for rookie of the year honors in 2007 behind the wheel of the Raphael design, but a consistent fourth-place finish out of five trucks in Rochester hindered those efforts a bit. Evans did climb to a second-place showing in the last freestyle of the Washington D.C. weekend, a sign of big things to come. TMNT had yet to win a stadium event entering Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Evans was determined to change that and earned a near-perfect score of 31 to take the first day’s freestyle hardware. He would have to settle with that win, as Orlando was a bit of a struggle for the second-generation driver. Evans also left Fargo winless, but beat his father Dan (Destroyer) for the first racing trophy of the Roanoke weekend. Evans returned to the site where he first drove the turtle a year earlier, but Miami was not as kind to him the second time around, as TMNT finished mid-pack. He couldn’t get the job done in Baltimore, although a few podium finishes in racing eased the pain there, but Tupelo brought the truck another donut win – Evans’s first – and several podiums, notably against Digger (Randy Brown). Evans took on his father again twice in Saginaw racing competitions, winning one and snagging the truck’s second ever wheelies win along the way and ending his rookie first quarter on a high note.

Whit Tarlton was also a rookie to the Monster Jam field this season, and took the reins of the Michelangelo look for Gary Porter’s team. Tarlton also started off on shaky footing with a mediocre Montgomery showing, but finished second in racing at Greensboro’s Saturday show. Tarlton broke through with a freestyle win in Kansas City, and was within sight of a few in Greenville and Charleston, though he couldn’t seal the deal. Mechanical woes plagued Tarlton and “Mikey” in Hartford, but the truck bounced back for two freestyle wins in Charlotte. However, Tarlton struggled again in Providence and Pensacola, and wasn’t much better in Lafayette, leaving him with a lot of work to do in the summer months.

Randy Brown was once again invited to drive TMNT in the World Finals, and Brown was determined to make up for the struggles of the prior year…maybe a little too determined. As if an omen, TMNT was first matched up against Destroyer. Brown defeated the father of his touring partner with relative ease, but a hard landing destroyed the chassis and left TMNT out of the freestyle competition.

After the World Finals, Frank Krmel was reunited with Randy Brown and given the proverbial keys to the turtle. However, he was not much more than an also-ran in Naples and Ocala. A freestyle win and strong overall showing in Bangor, however, erased any potential doubt of his talent. Nathan Weenk made his debut in the seat of TMNT in Halifax and immediately turned heads by winning his first racing competition in the truck and finishing second in every other competition. Krmel returned to the seat for Bradford and notched another donut win. Meanwhile, Tarlton’s TMNT started up again in Mechanicsburg, where he had a solid weekend. Krmel dominated in Plattsburgh, where he won three racing and wheelies competitions apiece. After spending most of his year in Bulldozer, Alex Blackwell was given the nod to return to the turtle in Arnhem, where he had a solid, but not victorious, stadium weekend. Blackwell narrowly lost the Cardiff racing bracket to George Balhan (Escalade). In all, TMNT’s once-again successful off-season showing was, if nothing more, fun to watch.

In 2008, the team went down to one truck again for the 2008 season, with Pablo Huffaker’s crew chief and teammate Aaron Basl taking the primary reins of the truck. Basl immediately took a racing and freestyle win in Des Moines, and was consistently good in Memphis. Ryan Huffaker took over the truck for the Houston freestyle spectacle show, where he earned second place in the donut competition. Basl returned to the seat for Indianapolis and nearly won the last racing competition ever held in the RCA Dome, but couldn’t take down the man who practically owned that stadium, Maximum Destruction’s Tom Meents. Upon returning to Houston, Ryan Huffaker had a mid-pack showing in the truck; Basl had about the same showing in Denver and Worcester. Basl notched three of the four Baltimore racing wins, but only two with the TMNT name (the truck ran a Taz body for the Saturday night show). Ryan Huffaker drove it again in El Paso, but couldn’t keep up with the rest of the stacked lineup. Basl once again had great racing showings in Reno and Fresno (arena), though it wasn’t enough to get a win.

TMNT did not qualify for the World Finals, but Randy Brown did run the turtle around on his Grave Digger chassis as part of an encore in between racing rounds.

Post-first quarter, Aaron Basl once again wheeled TMNT to victories, starting with a freestyle win in Fresno (speedway). A racing runner-up in Santa Rosa kept the truck in the spotlight leading up to the Summer Heat tour, and another freestyle win in Roseberg, Basl’s home state show, put a feather in the truck’s proverbial cap heading into Salinas. Basl was again defeated by Tom Meents in racing, and struggled in freestyle. Lackluster showings in Syracuse and Saluda didn’t help Basl’s cause, either. Basl got back to the podium average again in Quincy, and notched another racing win in Calvert City. The truck’s indoor return in Corpus Christi added another donut win to its record, and Basl claimed the truck’s tenth arena racing triumph in historic Louisville. Another strong (though winless) showing in Albuquerque marked the closing of an extremely successful 2008 and the beginning of what would be a near-four-year relationship with TMNT and Pablo Huffaker’s racing team.

In 2009, with Basl and Ryan Huffaker ready to share the seat again, TMNT was set to embark on a busy first quarter. A return to Des Moines didn’t add anything to the trophy case, though. Basl battled his way through the Anaheim bracket the next week and nearly took the win, but was no match for Grave Digger (Pablo Huffaker). An early exit in the truck’s first appearances in both San Diego and Phoenix kept TMNT on a downswing heading into Houston, and Ryan Huffaker didn’t fare much better in his first start of the season. Kansas City was just as much of a struggle for Basl, and while TMNT did have two strong second-place showings in various Cleveland competitions, Team Turtle was hungry for more. Basl finally broke through in the last bracket of the Oklahoma City weekend, but TMNT wasn’t able to ride that wave to more success in its first trip to Chattanooga. Basl was determined to keep the truck in the limelight, though, and notched another racing victory in Biloxi. TMNT had strong runs in Fresno (arena), and even though it wasn’t enough to get a win there, it certainly helped Basl build momentum into a podium-riddled Wichita Falls appearance complete with a tie for a donuts win.

Pablo Huffaker was not to be denied a World Finals berth two years in a row, and with a slot finally open, Huffaker put the TMNT body atop his Grave Digger and prepared to do battle in Vegas. Huffaker was one of the eight fastest qualifiers for the night’s racing competition, and with the way the bracket was seeded, he would meet either Avenger (Jim Koehler) or Brutus (Chris Bergeron); Pablo had already grabbed a couple of stadium racing wins on the season, while Jim and Chris were winless in that discipline throughout their Monster Jam careers up to that point. But Vegas has a way of working things, and Bergeron shocked the field by knocking Huffaker out in Round 2. Of course Huffaker planned to redeem himself in freestyle, but again, a costly crash from one jump left TMNT shell-shocked on the track with only 17 points to show for its efforts.

Aaron Basl reassumed his duties as TMNT driver for Fresno (speedway); while he didn’t win a competition, he earned several second-place finishes and was able to race (and lose against) twin brother Daron (El Matador) at the last show. Basl nabbed another home-state win in racing at Roseburg, but was once again mid-pack in Salinas. Another tame showing in Syracuse and a disappointing racing near-win in Corpus Christi left Basl and TMNT with much to be desired, and with more fighting in Albuquerque just to be on the podium, fans of the turtle would have to wait until 2010 for another breakout year after one of the truck’s worst off-seasons yet.

In 2010, Aaron Basl and Ryan Huffaker returned to splitting the TMNT ride for the 2010 season, and for Basl, Montgomery was just more of the same: fighting for podium finishes and struggling to keep up with the likes of teammate and boss Pablo Huffaker and Grave Digger. For once, Basl went to Houston instead of Ryan, but another mid-pack finish continued the search for a new breakthrough. Ryan Huffaker was given the nod for the televised San Antonio show, but again, could not deliver more than a second-round racing result and a tame freestyle score. Basl continued this trend in San Diego and Anaheim, though a fourth-place freestyle showing in a return to Houston was a tick above average performance compared to the past year of the truck. Once again, Basl struggled to even be noticed in Denver, but there was a glimmer of hope in the form of one final-round appearance in Pittsburgh. Ryan Huffaker returned to the seat of the turtle for the inaugural Cowboys Stadium show, but could not deliver for the Arlington fans. The truck finally hit a breakthrough as Basl opened the Tucson weekend with a double down, and TMNT continued to take racing victories by nabbing two more in Nampa. Basl wrapped up his first quarter with the truck by earning a racing and a donut trophy from Wichita, but TMNT was headed to Vegas again to finally deal with some unfinished business.

Pablo Huffaker jumped back into the turtle truck for World Finals XI, and by its standards, TMNT had a banner run at Sam Boyd Stadium. Huffaker gave the truck its second ever racing win in the bracket – against title sponsor Advance Auto Parts’s own truck, Grinder (Lupe Soza), no less – before succumbing to Blue Thunder (Linsey Weenk). In freestyle, Huffaker put together a great run on a track that was notoriously taking out trucks left and right; the run was good enough for seventh in the final lineup, and 26 was the best score yet by TMNT at the World Finals.

Basl again returned to TMNT immediately following the World Finals and had a slightly better time in Fresno (speedway) than how his season had started, with two second-place freestyle outings. However, Salinas was another lackluster run for the truck. John Seasock took over the TMNT mantle for more overseas competition, and nearly got the truck to its first stadium racing win, but couldn’t get past Captain’s Curse (Alex Blackwell). Strong racing runs and lackluster freestyles were the common features of Seasock’s time behind the wheel of the turtle, as evidenced by Copenhagen and Gothenburg. Meanwhile, Basl finally nabbed another racing win in Quincy and contended for several other wins, and Paducah led to more of the same competitiveness (but no wins). Ryan Huffaker introduced TMNT to Monster Jam Freestyle Mania, where the truck was awarded another donut win. Basl picked up another donut win by spinning TMNT round and round in Corpus Christi. Pit Bull owner Charles Benns was tabbed to drive TMNT for Manchester in preparation of moving into the Monster Mutt Rottweiler seat for the 2011 season, and Benns was immediately awaken to the level he would have to be at to make himself known in the new season; he didn’t finish on the podium in a single competition. Seasock returned for the Arnhem weekend, and after seven years, TMNT finally got a taste of stadium racing victory with Seasock delivering against one of the toughest Europe tour fields ever. Seasock nearly repeated that success in Cardiff, but lost to El Toro Loco (Damon Bradshaw) in the finals. Aaron Basl’s next event, a return to Louisville, didn’t give the results TMNT fans were hoping for. However, another double down in Albuquerque quickly fixed that, and ended TMNT’s 2010 season on a high note.

In 2011, TMNT returned to Birmingham to start the year, and Basl was consistently among the upper crust of the field. Ryan Huffaker drove the truck as deep into the San Antonio racing brackets as the quarterfinals, but was no match for the cream of the stadium crop. A moderately good showing at the Houston freestyle show prepared the young Huffaker for a third-place overall showing in Anaheim, and Basl had another good outing in Tulsa before the truck broke in the donut competition. Pablo Huffaker and Basl were called in to compete in Kansas City’s Freestyle Mania show, and in a building that had welcomed TMNT so many times in the past, Basl took a freestyle, obstacle course, and two donuts wins through the course of the weekend. Pittsburgh saw Basl fight for podiums all weekend long, but TMNT was missing that extra push needed for a win. The turtle grabbed more wins in Macon, with hardware from a wheelie competition and a racing bracket headed back home to the sewer. Basl swept racing in Tupelo the next weekend, grabbing two more trophies there and bringing TMNT’s career arena racing win total to an even 20. The wins would not keep coming in Pensacola; although Basl was a threat for victories all weekend long, the truck finally broke after the last racing show of the weekend. The repairs were enough for Basl to run the full Laredo weekend, but he wasn’t able to keep racking up victories for the turtle. Only time would tell if Pablo Huffaker would be able to repeat his success from the 2010 World Finals.

Pablo Huffaker qualified TMNT back into the top eight and automatically through to World Finals XII’s second round. He was able to knock out Afterburner (Damon Bradshaw) with relative ease, but that brought the turtle into unfamiliar territory. TMNT fell to Mohawk Warrior (George Balhan) in the quarterfinals. Furthermore, Huffaker’s 20-point score in freestyle had no chance of finishing in the upper half of the competitive field.

TMNT once again returned to Naples and Ocala, but Basl was unable to make a dent in the seemingly foolproof crop of drivers hogging the speedway podium. Basl was far more excited about his indoor chances, and with a racing win in Moline, it was plain to see why. Basl returned to outdoor events thereafter, and was a threat for podiums in Quincy and Parkersburg. However, he couldn’t keep pace in Erie, and this time, TMNT couldn’t get any more success indoors, as another trip to Mobile proved winless. The struggles continued in Corpus Christi, Cedar Park, Sunrise, and Albuquerque, where Basl wrapped up his time representing the turtle. TMNT was nowhere near done, though, and was quickly reunited with Randy Brown Motorsports. Joey Parnell had just finished a rookie campaign of his own, and opened his time with the turtle with two second-place wheelie competition runs in Hampton.

In 2012, Parnell had every intention to start the season with the arena success TMNT had been so used to getting over its previous eight seasons, and he did just that with the first racing win of the Trenton weekend. Parnell took the truck back to stadiums, but didn’t play as much of a factor in Detroit. However, he did take TMNT to a tie with fellow sophomore Scott Buetow (Iron Man) for second in Minneapolis’s freestyle competition. Parnell snatched another racing win in Uniondale among a slew of other podium finishes, but couldn’t keep that success up in East Rutherford. Parnell and TMNT finally took down wheelie competition rival, Crushstation (Greg Winchenbach), in Hartford, and took two more of those wins in Macon. TMNT had another strong showing in Baltimore, where Parnell notched two more racing victories. Parnell matched that exact win total in Bridgeport, but he finally hit a wall of winlessness in Wilkes-Barre. TMNT went vertical for yet another wheelie win in Huntsville, though.

TMNT’s Monster Jam career was to end after first quarter. However, the truck and Parnell were added last-minute to the inaugural Young Guns Shootout when Todd LeDuc (Metal Mulisha) was bumped up to the main field. Parnell wanted to deliver a win for all of the TMNT fans in Las Vegas, but was quickly eliminated by Stone Crusher (Morgan Kane), locking in the turtle’s career win totals.

Hot Wheels
TMNT’s true life began in the Hot Wheels Monster Jam 2003 line, almost concurrently to Balhan’s Montreal debut of the real-life truck. Hot Wheels was happy to produce all four core turtles (Raphael and Michelangelo as run in real life, along with Leonardo and Donatello) over the years. In stark contrast to the real truck, the Hot Wheels tool had a far sleeker design and featured the iconic TMNT logo on the sides and hood. TMNT had a SpectraFlame release in 2009 and a muddy release in 2011. A cancelled Shoxx version was scheduled for 2007.

Trivia

 * The Leonardo and Donatello bodies may have been intended to be run by Blackwell in the 2005 season, starting after his show in Indianapolis; however, thus far, this is unconfirmed speculation. See the 2005 section in the "History" heading for more information.
 * Much like Monster Mutt, the truck was notorious for having a limited field of vision due to its unique windshield design.
 * Aside from its debut show and European appearances, TMNT ran exclusively as the B truck for several Grave Digger drivers. Gary Porter's touring partner would run the truck on a Clear Channel-owned Patrick chassis, while Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker ran the body on their respective second trucks.
 * TMNT holds the distinction of being a last-minute replacement for World Finals events not once, but twice. See the 2006 and 2012 sections in the "History" heading for more information.