Chad Fortune

Chad A. Fortune (born August 13th, 1967) is a former driver out of Valparaiso, Indiana. He was best known for driving Superman, Captain America and Soldier Fortune.

Career[]

Before monster trucks, Fortune played for Louisville & then professional football for the Dolphins & Bears and was even a professional wrestler for a period, wrestling as a member of Tekno Team 2000 for World Wrestling Entertainment.

In 2000, Chad made his first appearance with Monster Jam, serving as the "spokesman" for the mysterious nWo truck. Chad was originally meant to drive the cancelled WCW Bret Hart monster truck, but was too tall to fit inside the shrunken roll cage and thus, the idea was nixed. He instead began his career driving WCW Nitro Machine in November of that year, until its retirement in 2001, appearing on TV once in Minneapolis.

In late 2001, while Power Forward was in development, Chad drove Ragin' Steel in Richmond and Hampton, Virginia to pass time. Also in 2001, he drove Inferno for its debut show in Saint-Denis, France, serving as the replacement for Nitro Machine.

From 2002-2004, Chad piloted the Karl Malone-backed Power Forward, even getting two World Finals appearances at World Finals III & 4.

Near the end of the 2004 season, Chad was replaced by Carl Van Horn as the Power Forward driver, Chad then piloted the short-lived Ameriquest Freedom for the Summer Heat series.

For the 2004 European Tour, Chad drove the one-off Nokia N-GAGE in Antwerp and then Hot Wheels in Stockholm and Helsinki.

In 2005, Chad was placed behind the wheel of the brand new Superman truck, which became his most recognized identity.

In 2008, Chad drove another one-off truck, BiFi, in Brussels, Belgium.

In 2012, Chad switch from DC to Marvel, as he began piloting Captain America.

In 2013, Chad provided commentary with Scott Douglass for two 2013 Monster Jam television episodes in Phoenix and Jacksonville. For Phoenix, he filled-in for Mark Schroeder, since he was competing at said show, however, the reason for him replacing Mark in Jacksonville is unknown.

In 2015, Chad would debut Soldier Fortune in Miami. In New Orleans, Chad won racing and ripped the rear axle off in freestyle.

In 2016, Chad drove in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series. In Raleigh, he destroyed the rear end of the truck, which was almost a repeat of New Orleans the year prior.

In 2017, Chad drove Blue Thunder in Brisbane, Australia.

In 2019, Chad left Soldier Fortune and Kayla Blood would take his place. He retired from driving temporarily, but planned to return in 2020 and would be scheduled for the International Tour, but all events would eventually be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, Chad made an appearance on Inside Monster Jam.

Trivia[]

When he began driving Superman, Chad altered his appearance by dying his hair black and occasionally wearing a pair of glasses (usually in interviews and his driver profile image) to match the character of Superman and after his freestyle runs, Chad would often pose like Superman. Similarly, when driving Captain America, Chad would carry a shield and pose with it like Captain America after a freestyle run.
- At events that took place on the European Tours, during the introductions, Chad would come out onto the arena floor dressed as Clark Kent, before "sensing danger", taking off the suit and a pair of glasses to reveal his Superman firesuit, and running behind the wall protection before a Clear Channel driver drove the Superman truck into the arena. Then, Chad would climb up, and then stand on the top of the protection whilst facing the truck. On other occasions, a pre-recorded video was instead used of Chad doing the routine in a different way; he'd start out in an "office" (probably a closet at a Clear Channel office) before "sensing danger" and taking off his Clark Kent costume to reveal the Superman firesuit, and then running out the hallway.
In 2019, Chad returned to Superman as part of a display for the truck during a visit by Shaquille O'Neil to FELD studios. He was present as the driver.
Chad has driven two one-off international trucks, Nokia N-GAGE and BiFi, which is actually the most out of any driver, as most only drove international exclusive truck. Ironically, Chad drove both these trucks in Belgium.
As the spokesman for nWo, he would yell at Dan Moriarty, who was one of the TNN pit reporters, as he would try to interview the driver.
He formed a short-lived tag team with Erik Watts in WWF called Tekno Team 2000.
In 1996, Chad formed a short-lived tag team with Dale Torborg as The PitCrew, where they dressed as a race car pit crew.
Chad is 6'5, making him the second tallest known driver, behind Bruce Haney, who is 6'8.