Cameron "Cam" McQueen (born January 14th, 1979) is a former monster truck driver out of Calgary, Alberta. He was best known for driving Nitro Circus and Northern Nightmare, and his biggest accomplishments in monster truck racing were being the first to do a backflip in competition and winning the 2012 Monster Jam freestyle championship.
Career[]
McQueen began his monster truck career when he joined Nitro Circus with Travis Pastrana, with Cam being known as the "Guinea Pig".
In 2008, Cam began to drive Pastrana's own truck, Pastrana 199, as a then temporary fill-in for Courtney Jolly after she had gotten injured in Detroit. McQueen would be invited to World Finals IX that year, with Courtney providing commentary for him during his freestyle run. For the 2008 European Tour, McQueen piloted Jurassic Attack for fellow Canadian driver Don Frankish.
In 2009, McQueen took over Pastrana 199 full-time for the season following Courtney's retirement at the end of 2008. He made his second World Finals appearance at World Finals X, but only competed in racing, as Pastrana 199 was converted into Nitro Circus for freestyle, with Travis himself driving.
In 2010, Cam became the full-time Nitro Circus driver and got his first televised win by winning racing over Mopar Magic at New Orleans. McQueen also made history, performing the first backflip in competition at Jacksonville.
In 2011, Cam would again make history, being the first driver to have the lead during a full event, which was at World Finals XII, although he would later be tied with Jim Koehler, and would end up losing the tiebreaker to Koehler. Cam also tied a record that was set at World Finals IX by Monster Mutt Dalmatian driver Chad Tingler with the highest score coming out first in freestyle at the World Finals with a 32.
In 2012, Cam debuted the first Canadian-themed truck, Northern Nightmare. That same year he would win the freestyle championship with Northern Nightmare, becoming the first Canadian driver to win a world title. McQueen also set a record by sitting in the hot seat for 40 straight freestyle runs since World Finals XII.
In 2014, Cam attempted a reverse backflip at World Finals XV, but failed. He tried to save it, but this strained the motor & caused a huge fire. Cam was fine.
In 2016, Cam performed the first corkscrew or as he dubbed the "McFlip" at World Finals XVII.
At World Finals XVIII, Cam successfully performed the corkscrew again. Cam is the only driver to successfully perform a corkscrew at the World Finals, as Brianna Mahon and Rosalee Ramer attempted unsuccessful corkscrews before his run.
In 2018, Cam competed on Arena Championship Series and won the tour, earning an automatic invite to World Finals XIX. Unfortunately, he red-lighted in Round 1 and would flip the truck. In freestyle, his right front planetary locked up after his first jump and finished 31st. This would be Cam's final World Finals appearance.
In 2019, Cam would drive on the international tour with Northern Nightmare and would compete in the All-Star Challenge.
In 2020, Cam shared driving duties of BroCamino during Stadium Series Green, most notably at Jacksonville for the 10-year anniversary of Cam completing the first competition backflip. He was also going to drive Northern Nightmare for the international tour, but it was eventually cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Cam was originally planned to return at the first non-American Monster Jam show in Ontario, Canada. However, he would contract COVID-19 and Cynthia Gauthier would eventually be planned to fill for him before the event would be cancelled because of capacity restrictions in Canada. He would eventually retire from the sport afterwards. He became a motocross driver after retiring from the sport.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2008 - Pastrana 199
- 2009 - Pastrana 199 (racing only)
- 2010 - Nitro Circus
- 2011 - Nitro Circus
- 2012 - Northern Nightmare (won freestyle)
- 2013 - Northern Nightmare
- 2014 - Northern Nightmare
- 2015 - Northern Nightmare
- 2016 - Northern Nightmare
- 2017 - Northern Nightmare
- 2018 - Northern Nightmare
All-Star Challenge appearances[]
- 2019- Northern Nightmare (Team Ice)
Accomplishments[]
- 2010 WOW Factor award.
- 2012 Monster Jam World Finals freestyle champion.
- 2014 Save of the Year Award.
- 2016 Save of the Year Award.
- 2018 Arena Tour champion.
- 2018 Arena 2-Wheel Skills of the Year award.
- First driver to complete a backflip in competition (2010).
- First driver to do a backflip at the World Finals in competition (2011).
- First driver to have the lead during the entirety of the World Finals freestyle competition (2011).
- First driver to attempt a reverse backflip (2014).
- First driver to complete a corkscrew backflip in competition (2016).
Gallery[]
