Axe

Axe is a 1941 Willy's fire truck monster truck owned by Team Scream Racing out of Columbus, Michigan. Since its debut in 2017, it has been driven by various drivers, including Mike Thompson, AJ Ganci, Chris Koehler, Kyle Garr, Joe Foley and Preston Pérez. The truck originally served as the alter-ego to Wrecking Crew, but has been used in full-time competition on the previous truck's chassis since 2018, while also competing on the Brutus chassis as well.

History[]

Axe was created in 2017 and would debut on June 9 under Mike Thompson. In the following year, the truck ran as Scooby-Doo for Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 2. It would be driven by Bad Company driver John Gordon for that occasion. After the series, AJ Ganci would take over the driving duties. The truck would also be driven by various other drivers, such as Chris Koehler, Kyle Garr, and Travis Rife who would drive the truck at its first Monster Jam appearance in Rochester, New York.

In 2019, Axe competed as Monster Mutt for Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 3. It would be driven by Fluffy/Strait Jacket driver Kevin King. However, Brad Allen would also drive the truck in Huntsville and Jim Koehler would drive for the series finale in New Orleans. In May, Axe would appear in the Monster Spectacular show alongside his father Jim Koehler. Cory Rummell would also drive the truck for select shows in August on the Rage chassis. The truck also ran as Megalodon Fire.

In 2020, Axe ran as El Toro Loco for Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series Green, with Kevin Crocker driving. Later that year, Koehler would begin competing in Monster Jam, making his debut in the league at their return show in Arlington, Texas in October 2020.

In 2021, Koehler would make additional Monster Jam appearances in Indianapolis and Kansas City. Rookie driver Joe Foley later began driving the truck for select shows throughout the fall.

In 2022, Chris Koehler would originally be scheduled to compete on Monster Jam's Stadium Series Yellow, but would drop out of the lineup to finish college. Preston Pérez would eventually take over the truck for 2022 in the series and would finish ninth in the series point standings. He would also run The Rod Ryan Show body on his chassis for the Houston shows that year. Chris would return to driving Axe in the summer and Preston would departure from Team Scream to return to driving Toxic. In Arlington, Chris Koehler almost does two consecutive backflips & rips the shocks off the right rear.

In 2023, Joe Foley made his Monster Jam debut driving Axe on Stadium Tour Blue. Similar to last year, the truck would run as The Rod Ryan Show for Houston. At the Stadium Tour Blue finale in Kansas City, Joe got his first freestyle win. He would finish last on Stadium Tour Blue. Axe would be the only Team Scream truck to not receive an invite to the World Finals in 2023. Although the truck wasn't scheduled to compete at Monster Jam's Superstar Challenge, it made an appearance at the event as Soldier Fortune Black Ops.

In 2024, the truck runs as El Toro Loco with Joe Foley on the west stadium tour. The truck would pick up a second freestyle win using the El Toro Loco identity in show 1 of the second weekend in San Diego, although it would burst into flames in the process. Joe would follow up with a third in show 2 of the second weekend in Anaheim. He would then proceed to take home his fourth in Houston. He added a fifth one to his freestyle win streak in Anaheim on the third weekend in the second show. On social media, he has been named #FreestyleFoley & #JoeyFreestyle. He appeared on Inside Monster Jam at one of the Anaheim shows. The truck made its video game debut in Monster Jam Showdown. Joe would get a sixth freestyle win on his streak in Glendale. In East Rutherford, the truck debuts a new American flag inspired body. For certain independent shows, the regular body was used. The American flag design would also be used for certain shows. Jon Koehler drives the truck in Fremont, Michigan filling in for Joe Foley, who was driving Avenger at the same show, filling in for Jim Koehler.

In 2025, Joe Foley will drive the truck on Stadium Championship Series East.