Bari Musawwir (Born November 6th, 1980) is a monster truck driver out of Cleveland, Ohio (now resides in Orlando, Florida). He is well known for driving Spider-Man and currently Zombie. He is also well known for being the first African American drivers to drive for FELD Entertainment, becoming a very popular and respected driver among fans of color. Bari is also a skilled RC monster truck racer, the passion notably being the origins for what would eventually become his truck driving career.
Monster Jam Panama 2010 Backwards Bob
Bari's first freestyle.
Career[]
Musawwir was competing with RC monster trucks in 2006, when Monster Jam gave him a test session. Although the tests were successful, he wouldn't be testing again until 2008.
In 2010, Bari tested with FELD Motorsports to drive a Monster Jam truck. The tests were successful, and he was slated to drive Backwards Bob in Panama. He drove Monster Mutt as a fill-in in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In 2011, he began his first season by driving El Toro Loco.
In 2012, Bari would be put into the Spider-Man truck and won the inaugural Young Guns Shootout.
In 2013, Bari drove For The People Of Baltimore on his Spider Man chassis in Baltimore. Bari would make the main field for the first time in World Finals XIV. Bari made it to the Semi-Finals of the racing competition where he lost to Marc McDonald in El Toro Loco after Bari's truck shut down. Bari would finish 26th in freestyle after scoring a 7 after he rolled over early in his run.
In 2015, Bari was put into the Zombie monster truck after Spider-Man retired. and competed in the first Fox Sports 1 Championship Series. Bari won the obstacle course competition 5 times in the 9 events on the tour. However, he wouldn't place in the top 4 coming just one point short of Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger, but he was still invited to compete in World Finals 16. He also competed in the Zombie encore that year. He was also invited to World Finals' 17-20.
In 2016, Bari drove Dragon in Osaka.
In 2017, Bari drove Earth Shaker for events in Asia and Australia.
At the 2019 Monster Jam World Finals, driving Zombie Fire, Bari crossed the finish line first, but red lighted, giving Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter his first racing world title. No officials said to rerun the race, very likely because he had been forgiven a red-light in the semifinals. Bari disagrees with the call. He talks about it in his Inside Monster Jam episode with Scott Jordan. Later in the year, Bari competed at the All Star Challenge in Las Vegas, driving Fire Zombie for team fire.
In 2020, Bari competed on Triple Threat Series West, and would place 4th after the series ended prematurely due to the pandemic. In August, he would set 2 world records at the Breaking World Records event:
- The most donuts in one minute (44 donuts)
- The highest number of continuous donuts (58 donuts)
In 2021, Bari competed on his first stadium tour since the FSI Series in 2015, finishing in 6th place. Later in the year because of suspending issues with Bernard Lyght, Bari would fill-in for him with what would eventually be the last shows for Alien Invasion.
In 2022, Bari competed on Stadium Series Yellow, winning multiple freestyles & again finished in 6th place. In San Diego, he won freestyle by jumping over Grave Digger. He was again invited to the World Finals. He drove Zombie for the International tour.
In 2023, Bari competed on Stadium Championship Series Blue. Bari won racing in Anaheim on Feb. 18 against Tyler Menninga in Grave Digger. He wins freestyle in Arlington. Bari finished 3rd on Stadium Tour Blue. He would temporarily return to El Toro Loco, filling in for Elvis Lainez for the Austin, TX events for Arena Championship Series West. He would later be invited to World Finals 22. On July 15th, he debuted Black Panther in London. In September, he would fill-in for Krysten Anderson in Grave Digger 41 for the events in Rosemont. This would make him the first African American to ever drive Grave Digger in its 41-year history. He was the Team Captain for Team Nitro at the Monster Jam Superstar Challenge in November.
In 2024, Bari drives Zombie on Stadium Championship Series West as Tristan England has taken his spot on the east tour with the new JCB Digatron. He would win the first 2 freestyles in San Francisco & the skills challenge on Saturday. He almost swept the whole show. Bari also continues to drive Black Panther on the international tour for certain events, one of them being Birmingham. This resulted in Todd LeDuc having to take his place in Seattle, which would occur that same weekend.
Trivia[]
- According to his driver information on Monster Jam's website, Bari is shown to be terrified of zombies, despite driving a truck with that name.
- Although Bari was the first African American driver hired by Monster Jam, he was not the first to compete in Monster Jam. Mark Taylor pre-dated him by 8 years, but Mark drove an independent truck: Mountaineer.
- Bari shares his birth date with former Monster Mutt Rottweiler, Megalodon and FTI Torque driver and current of Dirt Crew Dozer, Jack Brown.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2012 - Spider-Man (YGS) (won YGS)
- 2013 - Spider-Man
- 2014 - Spider-Man
- 2015 - Zombie
- 2016 - Zombie
- 2017 - Zombie
- 2018 - Zombie
- 2019 - Zombie (Fire)
- 2022 - Zombie (main field, high jump)
- 2023 - Zombie (main field)
All-Star Challenge appearances[]
- 2019 - Zombie Fire (Team Fire).
Accomplishments[]
- First African American to drive for FELD Entertainment.
- First African American to compete at the Monster Jam World Finals.
- 2011 Rookie of the Year award.
- 2012 Young Guns Shootout champion.
- First Showdown Champion in World Finals history.
- 2019 Monster Jam World Finals racing runner-up.
- 2022 Wow Factor of the Year. (San Diego)
- Most donuts performed in one minute. (44 donuts)
- Most donuts consecutively in one try. (58 donuts)
- 2023 Donut of the Year award.
Gallery[]
