Captain's Curse

Captain's Curse
Captain's Curse circa 2016
Owner	FELD Entertainment, Live Nation
Driver	Alex Blackwell
Body Style	1941 Willy's
Engine	540ci Merlin
Transmission	2-Speed Coan
Tires	66" Terra/BKT
Debut	2007
Discontinuation	2016
Theme song	"Shipping up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys

Captain's Curse was a 1941 Willy's monster truck owned by FELD Entertainment and Live Nation from 2007-2016. The truck was originally owned and driven by Pablo Huffaker as the successor to his old truck Blacksmith. It wasn't until 2008 when he turned Captain's Curse over to FELD, who then placed Alex Blackwell behind the wheel.

History

In 2007, Pablo Huffaker debuted Captain's Curse as the new truck from his team Racesource. The truck was also the successor to his old truck Blacksmith. The truck made its first public appearance in March at Monster Jam World Finals 8, winning Freestyle with a score of 34.

In 2008, Pablo sold the Captain's Curse name to FELD Motorsports while Racesource kept the chassis. The chassis was turned into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while Captain's Curse received a new one and placed Alex Blackwell behind the wheel. The truck was also paired with Rod Schmidt's Grave Digger as its teammate.

In 2009, the truck became well known for its infamous crash during Monster Jam World Finals 10 during the racing finals versus Maximum Destruction. The trucks were racing down Thunder Alley and, approaching the turn, the throttle on the Captain's Curse truck got stuck, causing it to tumble into the stadium seats, landing about 15 feet from spectators and only about 10 feet from a camera operator. It turned out, Alex had deliberately flipped the truck into the stands to avoid crashing into the wall head on. Thankfully, the truck only landed in a section of the stands that was closed off for safety reasons, as a result, nobody was injured, however, some portions of the stands (mainly fences) were damaged, but were repaired as it seems. Infamously, the crash was not aired on Speed's episode of the show, namely due to controversy circling monster trucks after 2 unrelated deaths earlier that year. Despite FELD's attempt to censor the crash, however, it has since been uploaded to YouTube and has earned over 4 million views.

In 2010, after two years with Grave Digger, Captain's Curse received a new touring partner, Batman.

In 2012, Captain's Curse was shelved as Alex drove the new Wolverine truck for the season. The only event the truck competed in 2012 was at the World Finals, driven by Pablo Huffaker once again.

In 2013, Captain's Curse was revived with a brand new chassis as well as a new inverted paint scheme. Alex Blackwell also returned to the truck.

In September 2015, rumors began that Captain's Curse would be retiring in 2016 after a similar, more updated truck known as Pirate's Curse, was revealed. This later proved to be false as Captain's Curse was still run in 2016 together with the latter truck.

In 2017, Alex Blackwell transferred to Megalodon, and Captain's Curse was put on indefinite hiatus. A render of a 3D-bodied Captain's Curse was found, but never came to be.

In 2019, the truck is featured in the video game Monster Jam Steel Titans, despite being on hiatus.

World Finals Appearances

• 2007 - Pablo Huffaker (won freestyle)
• 2008 - Alex Blackwell
• 2009 - Alex Blackwell (crashed into stands due to brakes being lost during the final race, can't freestyle)
• 2010 - Alex Blackwell
• 2011 - Alex Blackwell
• 2012 - Pablo Huffaker
• 2013 - Alex Blackwell
• 2014 - Alex Blackwell
• 2015 - Alex Blackwell

Video Game Appearances

• Monster Jam (video game)
• Monster Jam: Urban Assault
• Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
• Monster Jam (mobile game)
• Monster Jam Battlegrounds
• Monster Jam: Crush It!
• Monster Jam Steel Titans

Trivia

• Captain's Curse is one of four trucks to make its official debut at the World Finals, the others being Hot Wheels (in 2002), Nitro Circus (in 2009), and Coty Saucier's Ford F-150 Monster Energy (in 2015).
• When the truck was redesigned in 2013, it featured a "Fear The Curse" slogan placed at the trucks tailgate. The same year, Blue Thunder, another redesigned piece for 2013, also featured a slogan at its tailgate which said "Feel The Energy". These phrases however, weren't advertised nor pointed out by Monster Jam. To why these slogans were placed is unknown.
• Unlike other FELD Motorsports owned trucks, the Captain's Curse chassis was custom built. It had a slimmer cab design in order to fit the trucks body onto its roll-cage.

Gallery