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[]
Early ventures[]
Before monster trucks, Chad played tight end for the University of Louisville and then played professional football for the Dolphins and Bears. He also played for the Frankfurt Galaxy from 1991 until 1992 before retiring from football.
After this, Chad became a professional wrestler for a period. He debuted in 1994 and signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1995 where he formed a tag team with Erik Watts. In May 1995, the pair were repackaged as Tekno Team 2000 with Chad adapting the name Travis and Erik adapting the name Troy. The team mainly competed at house shows but did appear on television a couple of times. After a brief stint in the USWA, Chad signed with World Championship Wrestling in June 1997, competing under his real name. In July 1997, Chad notably defeated Bill Goldberg in an untelevised match in what proved to be Goldberg's first pinfall loss. In 1998, Chad briefly formed a tag team with Dale Torborg known as The Pit Crew, however the team only had one match together before disbanding. In June 1999, Chad had his final match against The Barbarian before retiring from professional wrestling. He signed with SFX Motorsports afterwards.
Monster trucks[]
In 2000, Chad was pegged to drive Hitman Bret Hart, but during testing, it was discovered that he was too tall to fit inside the shrunken roll cage and the truck was cancelled as a result. Instead, Chad made his first appearance in Monster Jam as the "spokesman" for the nWo truck, of which its driver was a mystery. He would conduct the interviews with Dan Moriarty in place of Rob Knell, who was the actual driver of the truck, often yelling and being aggressive especially if the truck lost in racing.
In 2001, Chad began his proper driving career in WCW Nitro Machine. He would make his television debut as a driver at the second Minneapolis show. At World Finals II, he met NBA player Karl Malone at the VIP Driving Experience and became good friends with him. That summer, he was hand-picked by Karl personally to drive the new Power Forward, a truck themed after Karl himself. While Power Forward was in development, Chad drove Ragin' Steel in Richmond and Hampton to pass time. In October, he drove Nitro Machine for its final show in Saint-Denis, France, now simply named Nitro.
In 2002, Chad began driving Power Forward full-time and made his World Finals debut at World Finals III.
In 2003, Chad made a second World Finals appearance at World Finals IV. In June, he took part in the Ford 100 Anniversary event in Dearborn, Michigan.
In 2004, Chad was replaced by Carl Van Horn as the Power Forward driver in Pontiac just before World Finals V, though he would still be in attendance for the event. In April, Chad began piloting the short-lived Ameriquest Freedom until its retirement in December. For the European Tour that year, 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. When he began driving Superman, Chad dyed his hair black and wore a pair of glasses to resemble Clark Kent and after his freestyle runs, he would pose like Superman.
In 2008, Chad won racing at the second show in Toronto. In June, he drove another one-off truck, BiFi, in Brussels, Belgium on the European Tour.
In 2012, Chad switched from DC to Marvel, as he began piloting the new Captain America truck. Similar to his time in Superman, when driving Captain America, Chad would carry a shield and pose with it like Captain America after a freestyle run.
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. He would also win racing in St. Louis.
In 2015, Chad would debut Soldier Fortune in Miami. In New Orleans, he 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 October, he drove Team Hot Wheels Firestorm in Frankfurt, Germany on the International Tour.
In 2017, Chad made his final World Finals appearance at World Finals XVIII and drove Blue Thunder in Brisbane, Australia on the International Tour.
In 2018, Chad competed in the freestyle encore at World Finals XIX. At the end of the year, he left Soldier Fortune and retired from driving.
In 2019, Chad would make a cameo appearance in a video on Monster Jam's YouTube channel where Shaquille O'Neal visited the FELD headquarters to have a Superman statue of his repaired. For the occasion, Chad wore a Superman crew shirt.
In 2020, Chad planned to return to driving and would be scheduled for the International Tour that year, but all events would eventually be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He has not returned since then, confirming his full retirement.
In 2023, Chad made an appearance on Inside Monster Jam.
Trivia[]
- At events that took place on the European Tours from 2005 to 2006, 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.
- Additionally, the announcer would introduce Chad from 'Metropolis', the fictional city where Clark Kent/Superman is from.
- 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 one international exclusive truck. Ironically, Chad drove both these trucks in Belgium.
- He is the second Monster Jam driver to have their name be part of the truck's name. Madusa is the first, even though it was her wrestling name. Chad's last name was part of the name for Soldier Fortune.
- Chad is 6'5, making him the second tallest known driver, behind Bruce Haney, who is 6'8.
- During his career as a professional wrestler, Chad took part in 48 matches from 1994 to 1999.
- When Chad had his first driver training session with Dennis Anderson, he wore his Pit Crew attire from WCW.
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Truck | Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Power Forward | Qualifying: 11th (19.37) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Bulldozer | Freestyle: 14th (12) | |
| 2003 | Qualifying: 16th (Didn't compete) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Bounty Hunter | Freestyle: 6th (29) | ||
| 2005 | Superman | Qualifying: 6th (17.90) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Hot Wheels | Freestyle: 9th (24) | |
| 2006 | Qualifying: 12th (17.75) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Air Force Afterburner | Freestyle: 7th (23) | ||
| 2007 | Qualifying: 19th (17.44) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Captain's Curse | Freestyle: 11th (21) | ||
| 2008 | Qualifying: 17th (17.72) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Monster Mutt | Freestyle: 21st (8) | ||
| 2009 | Qualifying: 17th (17.40) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Pastrana 199 | Freestyle: 21st (8) | ||
| 2010 | Qualifying: 18th (17.14) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Batman | Freestyle: 12th (15) | ||
| 2011 | Qualifying: 8th (16.41) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Bounty Hunter | Freestyle: 14th (19) | ||
| 2012 | Captain America | Qualifying: 23rd (18.159) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Wolverine | Freestyle: 11th (25) | |
| 2013 | Qualifying: 25th (17.757) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Blue Thunder | Freestyle: 20th (18) | ||
| 2014 | Qualifying: 19th (17.313) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Mohawk Warrior | Freestyle: 6th (30.5) | ||
| 2015 | Soldier Fortune | Qualifying: 15th (16.835) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Monster Energy (Bradshaw) | Freestyle: 18th (20) | |
| 2016 | Qualifying: 21st (16.530) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Metal Mulisha | Freestyle: 11th (25.5) | ||
| 2017 | Qualifying: 30th (17.435) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Max-D (Elliott) | Freestyle: 31st (4.448) | ||
| 2018 | Freestyle encore only | ||||
Gallery[]
