Black Stallion is a 2007 Ford F-150 Trophy truck monster truck owned by Vaters Motorsports and driven by Michael Vaters out of Hagerstown, Maryland. Since its debut in 1981, Black Stallion has become one of the longest-competing monster trucks. It has also been a major staple of the Thunder Nationals, having won four series championships, and has competed in five Monster Jam World Finals events.
History[]
Background[]
Black Stallion was originally built in July 1981 as a street-legal truck, before being rebuilt into a full-sized leaf-spring monster truck in 1982. At the time of its debut, the truck originally performed in car-crushing exhibitions along the east coast, before beginning competition in monster truck shows in small arenas and fairgrounds.
1984[]
Michael would begin overhauling his street truck and competed in that year's Indy Jamboree.
1991[]
Vaters heavily modified Black Stallion to accommodate a tubular lower frame. The truck continued to compete in small arena shows and select events in the PENDA Points Series.
1996[]
Vaters would build a brand-new chassis, which would be dubbed as Black Stallion 2000. Later, both truck and driver began competing in the Thunder Nationals, where they would rise to stardom.
1999[]
The truck wins its first Thunder Nationals championship. That same year, Black Stallion would successfully jump over another monster truck, making it the first one to do so.
In July, Michael's wife Pam began to lose interest in monster trucks and scaled back on driving. This caused her and Michael to drift apart before they would officially divorce. They each were to keep their respected trucks, however, weren't able to come to an official agreement on this and the divorce court judge ordered everything to be sold. This required that they had to auction everything off, and they inventoried everything and set a date for the auction. Eventually an agreement would be reached around 2 weeks before the auction[1], and Pam kept Boogey Van, in which she would immediately sell to Paul Shafer, who ran the truck until 2005.
Despite the divorce, the 2000's were arguably the most successful period for Black Stallion. Vaters and the truck became main competitors in the Thunder Nationals and would win multiple championships.
2001[]
Both Vaters and Black Stallion would be invited to compete at World Finals II. Despite being eliminated in round 1 of racing by Brian Barthel in Wolverine, the truck finished eighth in freestyle.
In April, during a Thunder Nationals event in Durham, Hew Hampshire, Black Stallion lost forward gear during a race, so for Michael's next race against Thrasher, he did it in reverse. This is what led to Michael doing his reverse moves in freestyle.
2002[]
Black Stallion celebrated its twentieth anniversary, and debuted a brand-new design, featuring a cartoon stallion along with a yellow, orange & black gradient on the side panels.
In March, Vaters and the truck would again be invited to compete at World Finals III. Despite being disqualified against Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger for red-lighting, the truck would finish fifth in freestyle.
That same year, Black Stallion would again successfully jump over another monster truck, this time in reverse. This is the longest monster truck jump done in reverse, which was 70 feet. That truck was his crew chief's American Dream. The impact with the ramp caused the right rear wheel to come off in the air. The truck then shifted to the left as it came down hard on the left rear, before flipping over. At the Indianapolis Jamboree, he jumped over Bigfoot in reverse.
2003[]
Black Stallion would be invited to compete at World Finals IV. Despite crashing in racing after being eliminated in round 1 by Scott Hartsock in Gunslinger, the truck would again finish 5th in freestyle.
2005[]
Vaters and Black Stallion would be invited to compete at World Finals VI. For that occasion, the truck ran special yellow wall tires and would specially be signed by fans during the pit party.
That same year, the truck won its second Thunder Nationals championship.
2006[]
The truck won its third Thunder Nationals championship.
2007[]
A brand-new Black Stallion debuted, featuring an updated paint scheme and a new chassis. The original chassis would serve as a new one for the truck’s teammate, Iron Warrior, replacing the original from Glenn Bowlin.
That same year, the truck won its fourth and final Thunder Nationals championship.
2008[]
Black Stallion would be invited to compete at World Finals IX. Not only would this be their first World Finals appearance in three years, but it would also be their final World Finals appearance to date. There, the truck would be eliminated in round two of racing by Damon Bradshaw in U.S. Air Force Afterburner and finished tenth in freestyle after attempting a reverse move over the triple bus stack.
2011[]
Vaters established a partnership with Safety-Kleen Products. As a result, Black Stallion debuted a new Safety-Kleen-sponsored paint scheme, which is still run to this day.
2013[]
Steven Thompson drove the truck in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
2015[]
Black Stallion would begin campaigning on the Iron Warrior chassis with Matt Cody driving, as Vaters’ chassis would be run as Monster Mutt Rottweiler.
2016[]
Black Stallion celebrated its 35th anniversary. Vaters competed on the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series, while Cody continued to campaign the name in select shows for the remainder of the season.
2017[]
Vaters was left to campaign the name for himself, due to Cody competing on Triple Threat Series Central as Blue Thunder. Meanwhile, Black Stallion competed on Stadium Championship Series 3.
2018[]
Black Stallion competed on Stadium Championship Series 4.
2019[]
Black Stallion competed on Stadium Championship Series 3. At that time, Vaters would share driving duties with former Bad Habit driver Joe Sylvester. Vaters would resume driving the truck part-way through the series due to sponsor obligations, and Sylvester would go on to revive Bad Habit in November.
Meanwhile, a replica of the original Black Stallion would be constructed and displayed at the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame on the Iron Warrior chassis.
2020[]
Black Stallion competed in Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series Red with Daron Basl driving. After the series would abruptly end in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vaters would resume driving the truck in select shows throughout the remainder of the season. 2020 would be the last year Vater's Motorsports competed in Monster Jam.
2021[]
Matt Cody would drive the truck for one event in Hagerstown, after his truck had mechanical issues.
2023[]
Derek Bieri of the Vice Grip Garage YouTube channel, drove the truck at the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame event in Butler, Indiana.
2024[]
The team does several events in Canada.
2025[]
The truck debuts a new trophy truck body in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Iron Warrior also debuts the same body at the same event.
Drivers[]
- Michael Vaters (Since 1981)
Former drivers[]
- Matt Cody (2015-2016, Hagerstown 2021)
- Joe Sylvester (2019)
- Daron Basl (2020)
Fill-in drivers[]
- Steven Thompson (Parkersburg 2013)
- Derek Bieri (Butler 2023)
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Driver | Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Michael Vaters | Qualifying: 16th (37.64) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Wolverine | Freestyle: 8th (30) | ||
| 2002 | Qualifying: 13th (25.17) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Grave Digger | Freestyle: 5th (32) | |||
| 2003 | Qualifying: 12th (19.78) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Gunslinger | Freestyle: 5th (30) | |||
| 2005 | Qualifying: 16th (27.60) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by The Destroyer | Freestyle: 4th (27) | |||
| 2008 | Qualifying: 11th (17.18) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Air Force Afterburner | Freestyle: 10th (25) | |||
Video game appearances[]
- Monster Truck Madness 2
- Monster Truck Madness 64
- Monster Jam: Urban Assault
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
Trivia[]
- Black Stallion is currently the oldest monster truck to have its creator still driving it.
- Mike has been driving for 43 years as of 2025. No other driver has competed that long.
- The truck/team's website was blackstallion4x4.com, however has since gone offline.
- Mike used to be known as the ''Wild Child''.
Gallery[]
.jpg "BlackStallion15 05 (1).jpg (121 KB)")
.jpg "Atlanta 010916 Stern (2).jpg (226 KB)")
Merchandise gallery[]
.jpg "2003 28-Black Stallion (2).jpg (344 KB)")
.jpg "2008 46-Black Stallion (2).jpg (418 KB)")
.jpg "2012 Black Stallion (2).jpg (426 KB)")
.jpg "2012 SE-TN Black Stallion (2).jpg (391 KB)")
