Cole Venard (Born June 24th, 1986) is a monster truck driver out of Murdo, South Dakota. He is best known as the driver of The Black Pearl, as well as being a former Grave Digger driver and crew chief for Adam Anderson. He has been known to have a prosthetic leg, yet still being able to drive hard, being a very inspirational driver to many fans. He's also known for his signature backflip to wheelie, which he calls the "Walk the Plank" backflip.
Career[]
Cole got started with Alex Blackwell & Chad Tingler. They picked him up at his house on the way to a show in Tacoma, Washington. He then became the crew chief of Taz with Adam Anderson in the late 2000's, and they would be a popular crew-chief and drive relationship in the industry.
In 2010, Cole was involved in a devastating dirt bike accident (according to Inside Monster Jam, he would hit another dirt bike, and the fork would mess up the bones in his left foot) which resulted in his left leg being amputated. HIs options were to amputate, or have many surgeries to fix his leg. He was building Grave Digger the Legend at the time. He would take two years away from the sport to heal and also learn to use a prosthetic leg.
In 2013, Cole returned to crew with Adam, now in Grave Digger the Legend. He and Adam would go on to win back-to-back racing championships in 2013 and 2014. He would win Technician of the Year.
In 2014, Cole got a small opportunity to do some interviews with drivers in Tampa on Fox Sports 1.
In 2015, Cole made his driving debut driving Grave Digger the Legend in Orlando filling-in for an injured Adam Anderson. In Ocala, Florida, Cole drove the truck again for a Team Grave Digger vs Team Bad Boys competition.
In 2016, Cole started driving Grave Digger #31 for the East More Monster Jam tour where he would win the championship title in his rookie season and would receive an invite to World Finals XVII. He would struggle in qualifying and racing, however, in freestyle, he would go first in the line-up and put on a great performance and score a 30.5, staying in the lead for the first half of the competition, before being surpassed by Grave Digger creator, Dennis Anderson. He would finish in fourth place.
In 2017, Cole drove Grave Digger in the new Monster Jam Triple Threat West Series, where he would win the title for the second year in a row. He also served as an announcer for television episodes on the West FS1 Series. Cole was originally supposed to compete at World Finals XVIII, but he, along with Megalodon driver Justin Sipes, were dropped out of the line-up for initially unknown reasons. Randy Brown filled-in for Venard.
On April 3rd, 2017, Cole revealed that he dropped out of the World Finals due to the birth of his daughter. Furthermore, he also decided that he would move on from monster truck driving to raise his new daughter.
However, in 2018, Cole made his return to the sport driving the new Black Pearl truck, as the teammate to Jamey Garner's Over Bored on Stadium Tour 2. He finished fifth in the series and received an invite to World Finals XIX. Cole also briefly drove Stone Crusher in 2018.
In 2019, Cole competed on a Stadium Tour 3 and finished fourth, although he controversially did not get a World Finals invite. However, he would compete at the All Star Challenge on Team Ice, where his team dominated the event by winning every competition. However, Cole would finish last place in freestyle. 2019 would also be the year where Cole started doing the "Walk the Plank" backflip.
In 2020, Cole competed on Stadium Series Red, where he would throw down many "wow" moments during the season, mostly involving the backflip ramp. He would finish an impressive runner-up position on the series to Todd LeDuc in Monster Energy after the series was postponed and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Cole ran on the season's only points tour, where, despite having some success, would struggle a bit and finish ninth in the points standings.
In 2022, Cole competed on Stadium Series Red again. It would be one of Cole's most successful seasons, where he would finish fourth in the standings after taking many racing and freestyle wins throughout the tour. He would also notably have a small and comical rivalry with Bryce Kenny to get fourth place after the top 3 in the standings were clinched, calling "fourth the new first". He would get an invite to World Finals XXI, where he would famously roll-over and then save the truck at the end. He would finish seventh in freestyle. After the event, he would later compete in Nashville and win the freestyle competition, once again pulling off an impressive save.
In 2023, Cole competes on Stadium Tour Red again, picking up several wins. He would also debut a new body on his truck in Jacksonville. He would finish 7th in the final standings. During intros for the East Rutherford show, the truck would suffer engine issues & miss the whole show. He would later be invited to World Finals 22.
In 2024, Cole drives The Black Pearl on the East Stadium Tour & finished 7th. At the Sunday January show in Houston and Minneapolis, he attempted a reverse backflip in freestyle, but failed. He would break his wrist. Mike Pagliarulo would fill in for him for show 2 until Jacksonville. This made him the second ever driver of The Black Pearl. Deidra Ballard also drove the truck in Hartford, Connecticut, making her the first woman to drive the truck. Cole would return to driving the truck in Syracuse, New York. He would be invited to World Finals XXlll in Los Angeles. He debuted a new Cadillac Escalade design at the event. Cole won the Outreach award for his organization, Limbs Like Me. The Chevrolet body returned in Evansville, Indiana for the Summer Smash shows. Cole would not compete at show 1. The Black Pearl is featured on Inside Monster Jam. Chad Tingler drove his truck in Cincinnati for unknown reasons. Chad would win one of the sky wheelie competitions.
In 2025, Cole will compete on the West stadium tour.
Trivia[]
- Cole is the only Monster Jam driver, as well as the only monster truck driver to have a prosthetic limb.
- Cole was the first driver to win racing on 2022's Stadium Series Red in San Antonio and would later be the last racing winner of the series in Salt Lake City.
- Black Pearl comes from his prosthetic leg. Adam called him a cruddy old pirate & it stuck. Black Pearl sounded like a good monster truck name.
- At the pit party in Minneapolis 2024, fans were asking him questions about the trucks and the safety. Cole jinxed himself by saying he never got hurt in the truck. Then he would break his arm.
- Cole likes to be the missing link for those with prosthetic limbs.
- His website for his organization is Limbslikeme.org.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2016 - Grave Digger #31
- 2018 - The Black Pearl
- 2022 - The Black Pearl (main field)
- 2023 - The Black Pearl (main field)
- 2024 - The Black Pearl (main field)
All-Star Challenge appearances[]
- 2019- The Black Pearl (Team Ice)
Accomplishments[]
- 2013 Technician of the Year.
- 2016 More Monster Jam East Tour champion.
- 2017 Triple Threat West Tour champion.
- 2020 Stadium Series Red runner-up.
- 2022 Freestyle of the Year award.
- 2023 Monster Jam World Finals XXII freestyle runner-up.
- 2024 Outreach award winner.
Gallery[]
