Monster Jam is a monster truck series officiated by the USHRA and owned by FELD Motorsports. The name was first used for a USHRA event in October of 1992 and has since become the longest running and most successful monster truck competition series to date. Their website is MonsterJam.com.
While the name "Monster Jam" was first used in 1992, not all events officiated by the USHRA (outside of Thunder Nationals) were promoted as Monster Jam events. Names such as "Power Jam", "Ultimate Thrill Show", "Grand Slam Super Series", "Motor Spectacular", and "The Superbowl of Motorsports" were used intermittently for USHRA events during the 1990's, some even into the 2000's. Some events in 1999 were even given the name "USA Motor Spectacular", following the buyout of USA Motorsports the following year, despite being USHRA-officiated events. However, these are all considered "Monster Jam" events, due to them all being officiated by the USHRA and all part of the same monster truck series.
From 1995-1998, there was no official points series championship, meaning the drivers were competing for individual event championships only. Monster Jam would bring back the points series in 1999, but once again retire it by 2004. In 2015, the points series was reintroduced in two new tours, the Amsoil More Monster Jam Triple Threat Series and the Fox Sports 1 Championship series. To this day, Monster Jam still runs a points series that all drivers compete in.
Every year from 2000 to 2019, and since returning in 2022, a Monster Jam World Finals championship event has taken place, and has since become one of the most popular and coveted monster truck events. As a result of complications onset by the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Finals weren't held 2020 or 2021, though the World Finals later returned in 2022. A common misconception is that the first Monster Jam World Finals took place in 1999, being the Motor Madness World Finals, but the USHRA had been hosting World Finals events featuring monster truck competition since as early as 1987. From 1995-1998, there were no official Monster Jam World Finals events. However, every year until 2000, the USHRA tractor-pulling World Finals was held at the Houston Astrodome in November and would feature monster truck competition.
Due to the large scope of Monster Jam's event schedule and large roster of trucks, the series has also had many different tours throughout their history, including a European tour, a Canadian tour, an Australian tour, a concrete-only arena tour (Thunder Nationals), a freestyle-only arena tour (Freestyle Mania), and two summer tours (Path of Destruction and the Summer Heat speedway tour). Nine video games and one mobile app have been licensed by Monster Jam and made by various developers.
The very first USHRA "Monster Jam" event; October 17th 1992.
1992 - The first USHRA "Monster Jam" event takes place in the Pontiac Silverdome on October 17th.
1993 - Monster Jam events are televised as part of the USHRA Monster Wars series. The first non-numbered "Monster Jam World Finals" takes place in October.
1997 - "Inside Monster Jam" is broadcast on ESPN 2, being the first televised USHRA program since 1993. SFX Entertainment buys Monster Jam/SRO-Pace Motorsports.
1998 - SFX/Pace gains the naming rights to Grave Digger. Inside Monster Jam airs its final season. Monster Jam is broadcast on TNN's Motor Madness following the buyout of USA Motorsports. Bigfoot and Monster Jam part ways, with the former only returning once in 2003.
1999 - SFX/Pace gains the naming rights to Bulldozer. The final non-numbered Monster Jam World Finals takes place in St. Louis, MO with Bear Foot winning the racing competition. Monster Jam signs multiple independent teams to merchandising deals. At the end of the year in Minneapolis, Monster Jam holds its first scored freestyle competition, which would go on to become the league's staple competition.
2000's[]
2000 - Hot Wheels begins producing Monster Jam die-cast toys. Monster Jam then partners with WCW to create trucks based on popular wrestlers, debuting Goldberg, nWo, Madusa, Sting and WCW Nitro Machine. The very first officially numbered World Finals takes place in Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium, where Tom Meents wins racing over Scott Hartsock in Gunslinger and Dennis Anderson wins freestyle with the only perfect 40 in World Finals history. Clear Channel later buys SFX and gains the naming rights to Monster Jam. The final USHRA tractor-pulling competition is held in November at the Houston Astrodome during a Monster Jam event.
Ragin' Steel, Monster Jam's first original monster truck design.
2001 - Monster Jam would debut their first original truck, Ragin Steel. They would then go on to debut more original trucks during year, such as Blacksmith and El Toro Loco. They would start two partnerships during the year. One would be with Ford Trucks, where they debut the "Built Ford Tough" Blue Thunder. The other partnership would be with Marvel comics, where they would create a Spider-Man and Wolverine truck. The second official World Finals is held, where Tom Meents famously sweeps both championships. Monster Jam's contract with WCW is bought out by WWF/E, leading to the retiring of all the WCW trucks by the fourth quarter, with the exception of Madusa.
2002 - The first Monster Jam show outside of North America takes place in Paris, France. A Hot Wheels sponsor truck is created and debuted at the third numbered World Finals. Tom Meents wins both racing & freestyle again at the World Finals, this time in Team Meents. A short-lived partnership is also formed with fish food company Tetra Cichlid, debuting Firemouth. Two short-lived original trucks also debut, those being Radical Rescue and Vette King, the latter replacing Sting. Inferno debuts as a replacement for WCW Nitro Machine. Grave Digger also celebrates its 20th anniversary, running a special paint scheme throughout the season.
2003 - The 2003 season would be a very infamous season for Monster Jam as their original television partner TNN would step down, causing the entirety of the 2003 season to not be televised, with a majority of shows becoming lost. They would then partner with the SPEED channel, first televising World Finals IV. This season also marks the final points series until 2015. During the season, two of Monster Jam's most famous original trucks would debut, those being Maximum Destruction and Monster Mutt. Monster Jam also starts two partnerships. One with FOX to debut TMNT, and one with PepsiCo to debut the SoBe sponsored truck, with a Suzuki sponsor alongside it. At the World Finals, Brian Barthel wins racing and Jim Koehler wins freestyle, being the first drivers other than Tom Meents and Dennis Anderson to do so. This also made Jim and Avenger the first fully-independent owner to win a world title.
2004 - Monster Jam debuts two trucks, one being a short-lived original truck called Ameriquest Freedom. The affiliated Suzuki sponsor would create a successor sponsor truck called Team Suzuki after SoBe's retirement. A one-time Nokia sponsored truck also debuts exclusively in Europe. Finally, Monster Jam partners with Advance Auto Parts, though they only create an exhibition truck. Later at Monster Jam World Finals V, Dennis Anderson gets his first racing championship over Pablo Huffaker in Black Smith. El Toro Loco, Madusa and Maximum Destruction infamously tie for the lead in the freestyle competition with 31, resulting in all three trucks being crowned the co-2004 freestyle champion. This resulted in a tie-breaking system being introduced, where the highest judge score and the lowest judge score would be dropped and in the event of a tie, they would be re-added. Madusa winning as a part of the tie would also make her the first woman to win a world title.
2005 - In Atlanta, Monster Jam debuts two new trucks. One would be an original truck designed for George Balhan with a mysterious theme, but would later be simply dubbed the "Escalade". The other would be a new Superman truck, made with a new partnership with DC comics. The following two weeks, two new sponsor trucks would debuted. One would be created in partnership with Travis Pastrana called Pastrana 199, and the other would be the Safe Auto Minimizer created in partnership with Safe Auto. Later at World Finals VI, Jimmy Creten and Tony Farrell would tie for the freestyle title, causing the tie-breaker system to be implemented into the World Finals for the first time. Jimmy Creten would win the tie-breaker and would win the title. Madusa wins racing over Dennis Anderson. At the end of the year, Monster Jam would partner with Warner Bros. and would debut a Taz truck.
2006 - Live Nation gains the naming rights to Monster Jam. At the start of the year, three sponsor trucks debuted. The first would be the U.S. Air Force Afterburner with Air Force, the second would be Batman, created with the DC Comics on-going partnership, and the third would be a short-lived Del Taco sponsored Del Scorcho. At World Finals 7, Dennis Anderson wins racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter & Tom Meents would win freestyle by jumping over another Max-D that was brought out & parked in the volcano obstacle.
2007 - Grave Digger celebrates its 25th anniversary, where each truck would run a special variation of the truck throughout the season. Dennis doesn't compete until the World Finals. His son Adam would drive his truck throughout the year. Monster Jam would also debut their first variant of Monster Mutt called the Monster Mutt Dalmatian at the beginning of 2007. Later at World Finals VIII, Monster Jam would debut Captain's Curse, a successor to Blacksmith, retiring said truck. The truck would go on to win the freestyle title, notably doing so at its debut show, being the only truck in history to ever do so. John Seasock would win racing over Dennis Anderson. At the World Finals, Monster Jam would start airing shows internationally, mainly in Europe, partnering with Jetix and also debuting a truck for said channel. At the end of the year, Monster Jam would partner with Nintendo and would debut a new Donkey Kong truck. The Hot Wheels truck would also retire at the end of the year.
2008 - Future Monster Jam recordings, mainly for TV broadcast, were now being recorded in high 720p quality, as well as in a fullscreen ratio. DVDs, however, were still limited to 480p and a 4:3 ratio. At World Finals IX, Adam Anderson would win the freestyle title in Taz, making him the youngest driver to win a world title at the age of 22. The racing champion would Batman for the second year in a row. Two original trucks would later debut during the encore, those being Backwards Bob and Spitfire. They would debut as a part of the encore. The Spitfire name, however, would receive a lawsuit from an unknown party, resulting in the truck being renamed to "Spitfire Monster Truck" and eventually being retired. It would also cause the encore to be omitted from both the DVD and TV broadcast. FELD Motorsports later gains the naming rights to Monster Jam, who are the current owners to this day.
2009 - Monster Jam celebrates its 10th annual World Finals competition, being dubbed the "Decade of Destruction" event. At said event, Captain's Curse and Alex Blackwell would famously suffer one of the most violent crashes in history during the championship race again Tom Meents, where the truck would lose the brakes at the final turn, causing the truck to fly across the track and land in the safety barrier. The crash and two others would be omitted from the DVD and the SPEED broadcast, due to two fatal accidents that took place earlier in the year, one of which was at a Monster Jam event prior to the World Finals. After the racing championship, Nitro Circus would debut with Travis Pastrana as a successor to Pastrana 199. Damon Bradshaw in Airforce Afterburner wins the freestyle champion with a 36. Advance Auto Parts becomes the title sponsor at the end of the year, and their sponsor truck called the AAP Grinder, debuts.
2010's[]
2010 - Monster Jam renews their contract with Marvel Comics, reviving Spider-Man and debuting a new Iron Man truck. Monster Jam later introduced a short-lived "Freestyle Mania" tour for arenas only, which consisted of only freestyle-based competitions. At Houston, Monster Jam would partner with Rod Ryan and would create a truck sponsoring his radio show "The Rod Ryan Show" which has since been run at every Houston show. The first backflip in a competition is then performed by Cam McQueen in Nitro Circus at Jacksonville. Later, World Finals XI would take place and would be very controversial for its large obstacle size and difficulty. This would eventually cause Monster Jam to start calming their tracks down, notably their World Finals track for next year, being designed by multiple drivers. Dennis Anderson would win the racing title over Tom Meents & Charlie Pauken would win freestyle in Monster Mutt with a 39, the second highest winning score ever. At the World Finals encore, Mohawk Warrior would debut as a successor to An Escalade, retiring said truck. The Ford Trucks sponsor ship would also end after 9 years, retiring Blue Thunder for the time.
2011 - The 2011 season would feature multiple truck debuts throughout the year. The first would be Dragon's Breath, which was the successor to Spitfire. The second would be Tasmanian Devil, an originally owned successor to Taz after the Warner Bros. partnership ended. The third would be the third variation of Monster Mutt, called Monster Mutt Rottweiler. The fourth would be a truck created in partnership with Lucas Oil, called Lucas Oil Crusader. The last of the new trucks at the beginning of the year would be Grave Digger the Legend, a spin-off of Grave Digger created as a throwback to the classic Grave Digger body style. At World Finals XII, Cam McQueen would perform the first backflip at the World Finals. he would eventually tie for the win, but would lose the tie-breaker to Jim Koehler. Tom Meents wins the racing title over Jimmy Creten. A second Grave Digger spin-off debuts during the encore called Son-uva Digger, which was originally a mud truck owned by the Andersons. At the end of the year. Monster Jam debuts a new Canadian themed truck for Cam McQueen called Northern Nightmare after Nitro Circus' retirement. Blue Thunder is retired at the end of the year.
2012 - Monster Jam begins running uniform color schemes for tracks, rather than using multiple designs, using a red/yellow scheme with occasional flames/slime/checkerboard. Monster Jam would also start running a Maple Leaf tour for Canada. Grave Digger also celebrates its 30th anniversary, with Dennis Anderson switching between a green & purple body for his truck, and all other drivers running a variation of the original truck. Marvel would also begin creating more trucks, reviving Wolverine, and creating a new Captain America truck, as well as a Thor and Hulk truck ran internationally only. Three new sponsor trucks also debut. One would be a Monster Energy sponsored truck, a successor to Hot Wheels called Team Hot Wheels Firestorm, and Metal Mulisha, a truck created in partnership with Brian Deegan. The World Finals would also debut a new championship called the Young Guns Shootdown, which Bari Musawwir become the first winner of, in Spider-Man The racing champion would be Tom Meents & the freestyle champion was Cam McQueen in Northern Nightmare. A summer stadium tour also debuts, called the "Path of Destruction" tour.
2013 - Maximum Destruction celebrates its 10th anniversary, with Neil & Kreg's trucks running special spiked bodies, which would go on to become the full-time design of the truck. Tom Meents ran a special LED version of the updated scheme, notably without the spikes. The truck is also rebranded as "Max-D", a common abbreviation for truck used prior to the anniversary. At the start of the season, Monster Jam debuts three new trucks. Two of them would be original trucks, Zombie and El Diablo. The third would be a Scooby-Doo truck created in partnership with Warner Bros, with their partnership returning. Blue Thunder also returns under FELD with an updated scheme. Two variants of El Toro Loco would also debut, one being a black version of the truck run by Marc McDonald and a yellow version run by various Kayla Blood & Becky McDonough. Tom Meents wins the freestyle championship on his anniversary in the chrome Max-D. Adam Anderson in Grave Digger The Legend won racing over Marc McDonald in the black El Toro Loco. Later at the World Finals XIV encore, Tom Meents attempts the first double backflip in a monster truck. At the end of the year, the Advance Auto Parts' contract ends and their title sponsor ends, as well as resulting in Grinder's retirement.
2014 - Following AAP's departure from Monster Jam, the league would update their track paint schemes, replacing the red/yellow with purple/yellow. Monster Jam would also depart from the SPEED channel after 10 years and would move to Fox Sports 1, and as part of the partnership, they would debut a new FS1 Cleatus sponsored truck. They would also partner with BKT tires, where they would begin producing tires for monster trucks. Monster Jam would also debut four new trucks. The first would be a short-lived successor to Superman, called Man of Steel, retiring. The next would be two original trucks called N.E.A Police and Doom’s Day, two inverse trucks with the same custom body, with one representing good and one representing evil. The last of the four would be Dragon, a successor to Dragon's Breath which wouldn't debut until the summer, due to the body's complications. World Finals XV would later feature a unique new format, where racing and freestyle would take place on two separate days. Adam Anderson in Grave Digger The Legend defends his racing title over Tom Meents. Todd Leduc in Metal Mulisha wins freestyle with the biggest opening move ever. At the end of the year, both Marvel and DC comics' partnership would end, retiring all superhero trucks.
Updated Monster Jam tracks used in 2015, featuring lowered and steepened ramps and less crush cars.
2015 - As a part of BKTs partnership, BKT would start producing monster truck tires, which a majority of trucks running Monster Jam would start using. Monster Jam then begins redesigning their tracks to feature smaller yet steeper ramps, as well as notably lowering the amount of crush cars, and give almost every stop a backflip ramp. Points championships would also return for the first time since 2003, with a FS1 Stadium Series taking place and a special arena series called #MoreMonsterJam debuting, where drivers would also drive ATVs and Speedsters. Max-D would dominate both tours with Neil Elliott winning the FS1 series and Morgan Kane winning the #MoreMonsterJam series. Monster Jam also debuts three new trucks. Two would be original trucks called Soldier Fortune and Zombie Hunter, which was created after a failed Ram Trucks partnership. The third truck would be a Monster Jam-owned Carolina Crusher truck with creator Gary Porter driving. World Finals XVI would also be the first World Finals to feature more than one of a certain truck, namely three Grave Diggers and three Max-D's. Todd Leduc would become the racing champion over Ryan Anderson in Son Uva Digger. Overkill Evolution would become the freestyle champion. Rookie driver Dalton Millican dies tragically in the summer in a motorcycle accident.
2016 - Monster Jam would receive a new updated logo, which is used currently. Monster Jam would later debut multiple new trucks. Four of them would be original trucks, being Alien Invasion, a short-lived Monster Mutt variant called Monster Mutt Junkyard Dog, a Soldier Fortune spin-off called Soldier Fortune Black Ops and Pirate's Curse, a successor to Captain's Curse, which would retire the truck at the end of the season. They would also debut two new sponsored trucks, one being the VP Racing Fuels sponsored Mad Scientist, and the other being Gas Monkey Garage, created in partnership with Richard Rawlings. World Finals XVII would be very controversial for its judging, causing Monster Jam to work on a compromise to the judging system. Morgan Kane wins the racing championship in a special orange Grave Digger. Adam Anderson wins the freestyle championship for the first time in 8 years.
2017 - The 2017 season would be the first season to have all seasons be a part of a points tour. Mohawk Warrior is now sponsored by Great Clips. Bryce Kenny becomes the new driver. Monster Jam also celebrates their 25th anniversary and Grave Digger celebrates its 35th anniversary, with all trucks running a special hood variation. Dennis Anderson's daughter, Krysten makes her debut along with Justin Sipes. Monster Jam later debuts two new original trucks Megalodon and Earth Shaker. At the first stop in Tampa, Dennis would fail a backflip & suffer head injuries after the cage crushed in. This would be his last show. World Finals XVIII would feature a new judging system created as a compromise to the controversial judging system called "judgeszone.com". Ryan Anderson would get his first world title in racing by defeating Tyler Menninga in Grave Digger. At said competition, the first frontflip in competition is performed by Lee O'Donnell in the VP Racing Fuels' Mad Scientist, where he would win the title. Neil Elliot would also perform the first reverse backflip at said show. DC would later return to Monster Jam, with the debut of Wonder Woman and the temporary return of Superman. Monster Jam also began removing guns from the designs of Soldier Fortune, Metal Mulisha and most notably, Gunslinger, causing the truck to be rebranded "Slinger". Scott Douglass, the iconic voice of Monster Jam, would later retire from commentary and announcing at the end of the year.
2018 - Monster Jam debuts a new original truck called Whiplash, created for Brianna Mahon. World Finals XIX later takes place, which would be the very last one to take place at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Adam Anderson wins the racing championship & Ryan Anderson wins his first freestyle title. The racing encore would also celebrate Max-D's 15th anniversary. A new truck debuts in the summer, created in partnership with the Diesel Brothers called BroDozer, being Monster Jam's first diesel powered truck. It was supposed to debut earlier in the year, but there was problems with the engine. At the end of the year, two of Monster Jam's biggest sponsors would depart, those being Hot Wheels and Fox Sports 1, retiring both of their trucks in the process.
2019 - Monster Jam partners with Spin Master to produce merchandise for them following Hot Wheels' departure. Part of so would be the creation of Bakugan Dragonoid in sponsorship of Spin Master's Bakugan series. Monster Jam also moves to NBCSN for television broadcast, with Scott Jordan becoming the main host of Monster Jam. The first World Finals outside of Las Vegas takes place, doing so in Orlando at Camping World Stadium. The event would also add new world championships, those being skills, high jump, ATV & speedster titles. Cynthia Gauthier would win the first ever high jump in Monster Mutt Dalmatian Ice. The racing champion was Jimmy Creten in a special 5 Finger Death Punch designed Bounty Hunter. Linsey Read would win the showdown over Tony Ochs in Soldier Fortune Black Ops & win freestyle in Scooby Doo after going second. Tom Meents in Max-D Fire won the first ever skills challenge. The ATV champion was Blake Granger in Max-D. The Speedster racing winner was Armando Castro in El Toro Loco. The Speedster obstacle course winner was Blue Thunder's Matt Cody. Monster Jam also creates a short-lived All-Star Challenge, which would be a team-based competition, with the two teams being Fire vs. Ice. Three Ice and three Fire variants of trucks would later debut to promote the event. Team Ice would sweep the entire show. Multiple Fire/ice variants would debut at the event, although they would be retired after said competition, with the exception of Max-D Fire, El Toro Loco Ice and Avenger Fire. There would be lots of controversy at the event due to short runs getting high scores, resulting in a "30 second rule" being created. If you don't complete 30 seconds of your freestyle, you won't get a score.
2020's[]
2020 - Monster Jam would debut its new stadium tour format, which would feature color themed tours. The 2020 stadium tours would feature a red, green and yellow tour. The Diesel Brothers later continue their partnership by creating and debuting BroCamino. St. Jude also announces its partnership with the league. However in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all tours would be postponed and eventually cancelled for fan and worker safety, most infamously cancelling the World Finals. This halt would cause hundreds of drivers and workers of FELD to be let go or put on hiatus. This also included various trucks being put on hiatus. They would later return in October at Arlington. This show would also be the final show for the Lucas Oil Crusader, with their partnership ending for the time being.
2021 - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many trucks and drivers would be placed on hiatus, causing many drivers to have to fill-in and drive different identities for the season, the most notable examples being Ryan Anderson in Bakugan Dragonoid & Adam Anderson & Tristan England in Megalodon. The season also featured only one points tour, being a short stadium tour with a limited schedule, competing in only two states. At the end of the tour, a galaxy variant of Monster Mutt Dalmatian to promote the Spin-Master toy-line release. At the end of the year, Monster Energy's partnership ends, retiring their truck.
Brandon Vinson becoming the first world champion in three years in the thunderstorm championship race.
2022 - Monster Jam returns to running more than one points series, running two stadium tours and five arena tours. The stadium tours would also feature two new track designs, with the yellow tour featuring a new "paperclip" style track, and the red tour featuring a updated Chicago styled track. Monster Jam also celebrate its 30th anniversary and Grave Digger would celebrate its 40th anniversary, with all trucks running a special variation of the scheme. Lucas Oil would also renew their contract with Monster Jam, creating a new Lucas Stabilizer truck. The World Finals would later return for the first time since 2019, excluding the Showdown, ATV & Speedster titles. The racing world championship also featured a new over-under styled track that would very famously have a muddy thunderstorm final race, where Brandon Vinson would become the first world champion in three years by defeating Ryan Anderson in Son Uva Digger. Monster Jam and Grave Digger also celebrate their anniversaries for the encores, With Tom Meents attempting a forward momentum reverse backflip & Adam Anderson jumping over multiple Grave Digger's for the 40th anniversary encore. Tom Meents would win the skills challenge again & also freestyle for the first time since 2013. Son Uva Digger wins the high jump competition.
2023 - Max-D celebrates its 20th anniversary, with the truck running a special paint scheme throughout the season. Mark List retires part way through the season due to his sister's wedding. Several drivers would fill in for him. New drivers debut on the international tour, those being Chelsea VanCleave & Brandon Arthur. The Marvel Comics partnership was also renewed, with former and new trucks being created. A revived Spider-Man would be the first of these trucks to be revealed. The others were a new Thor & Iron Man. The only new Marvel truck would be Black Panther. A new truck debuts, called ThunderROARus, with Colt Stephens & Tony Ochs driving. The Superstar Challenge debuts in November in Anaheim on November 11. It's similar to the All Star Challenge. Tyler Menninga would win all 3 competitions for Team Nitro. Monster Jam gets a theme song, which is sung by Sydney Mack. Tristan England would win the World Finals racing championship, Colt Stephens would win the World Finals freestyle championship, Tyler Menninga would win the World Finals two-wheel-skills championship and Ryan Anderson would win the World Finals high jump championship for the second straight year. Colton Eichelberger would also make his return to Monster Jam at Monster Jam World Finals XXII, piloting ThunderROARus for a 9 truck jump stunt. In October, Elvis Lainez would be let go after a failed bicycle attempt in Hampton where he hit the wall. New drivers would debut late in the year. They include Fernando Martinez, Joe Dennis, Angelina Nock, Manuel Solorio & Loghan Ashline. Also late in the year, some arena shows that didn't have a donut contest would have a sky wheelie contest instead, where the drivers got one hit. They also got one attempt in the skills challenge. In Spokane, a relay race competition debuts. Bailey Shea announces her retirement in November.
2024 - Tom Meents runs his final competitive season before becoming the full-time instructor at Monster Jam University, as well as the stunt coordinator. He will bring back several fan favorite bodies from the past. The stadium tours returns to going by their respective tour routes, similar to the 2017 FS1 Series, Stadium Championship Series East and West. A new truck debuts, called JCB DIGatron. Tristan England will be the driver & will make his first quarter stadium debut. Adam Anderson in Grave Digger would compete with his brother Ryan for the first time since 2021 on a first quarter stadium tour. At show 1 in San Francisco, which was their first time back since 2007, Adam won racing & the truck caught fire. The track crew would take way too long to put out the fire. Monster Mutt Rottweiler makes its return for the first quarter season since 2020 & will be driven by Berto Trevino on Team Throttle Monster's Kamikaze chassis. Brianna Mahon returns to Scooby Doo! after Whiplash was retired in 2022. Linsey Read will temporarily drive Lucas Stabilizer on the east stadium tour as Cynthia Gauthier is on maternity leave. New drivers make their debut for Team Throttle Monster on the west arena tour. They are Devin Winfield in Velociraptor & James Calhoun in Earth Shaker. He wouldn't last long as he was released in February for unknown reasons. Joe Urie would take over for the rest of the season. Manuel Solorio makes his first quarter debut in El Toro Loco on the west arena tour, along with Fernando Martinez, also in El Toro Loco on the central arena tour. Angelina Nock makes her first quarter debut in Megalodon on the east arena tour. Joe Foley would run an El Toro Loco body on the Axe chassis for the first quarter season on the west stadium tour. On the international tour, the ''Monstergon'' made its debut in Manchester, England in late March. It's a 6 sided metal ramp with a miniflip that will be used in arenas were dirt can't be used. Blake Granger will drive El Toro Loco for arena events on the international tour, while Chelsea VanCleave will drive the truck for the stadium shows. The future of Max-D after the 2024 season is unknown. Multiple drivers would be injured or have a fill-in for the fill-in driver. Cole Venard attempts a reverse backflip in Houston & fails. He would attempt it again at show 1 in Minneapolis, but fail again. He would break a bone in his arm. Michael Pagliarulo would drive The Black Pearl from Minneapolis show 2 through the Jacksonville show. Tom Meents would dislocate his neck after a hard crash after landing upside down in freestyle at show 2 in Indianapolis. His son Colton would fill in for him at times, while Blake Granger also filled in when Colton wasn't available. Jamie Sullivan in Monster Mutt Dalmatian would fail a miniflip & get injured. She would miss 2 weeks of action. Joe Dennis would take her place temporarily. At show 1 in Pittsburgh, Joe would crash into seats in racing before the truck rolled back onto the track. He would be suspended. Chelsea VanCleave would drive Monster Mutt Dalmatian for the remaining shows that weekend. She would also drive Dragon in Cleveland, making her the trucks first female driver. Charlie Pauken drove Lucas Stabilizer in Houston, making him the first male driver of the truck. He returned to Grave Digger for the first time in 4 years to fill-in for Adam Anderson, who got sick after Detroit. Charlie drove Adam's truck in Arlington, El Paso & Birmingham at the first ever show at Protective Stadium. In Albuquerque, Ryan Anderson drove Adam's truck, which was his first arena show in years. Coty Saucier would drive Grave Digger in Lincoln & Max-D for the last few stops of the east stadium tour. Brandon Vinson retires part way through the west arena tour to focus on his construction. Matt Cody would take his place. Tyler Menninga drives Grave Digger in Fresno on the west arena tour to fill-in for Matt Cody who was scheduled to compete on the international tour. Vendetta suffers multiple mechanical issues & would miss 7 freestyles (4 in a row) & 2 Great Clips skills challenges. Nick Pagliarulo would take January off, along with Indianapolis in early February after his wife had a baby. His brother, Mike would drive Kraken on the east stadium tour. In September, a new video game is released, which is called Monster Jam Showdown. In San Jose, Costa Rica, Blake Granger in Max-D would record the highest winning skills score ever, which was a 9.998, beating the previous high score. That was held by Randy Brown, where he scored a 9.986 in freestyle on Saturday night in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2018. Monster Jam would start live streaming events in March by live streaming the Grand Rapids Sunday afternoon show & the first ever stadium show & Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama.
Since 2001, an awards ceremony would take place either before or after the Monster Jam World Finals to appreciate the best performances, drivers, etc. from the past season.
Advance Auto Parts (March 20, 2004 - December 7, 2013)
Hot Wheels (April 5, 2000 - January 12, 2019)
U.S. Air Force (2003 - July 31, 2011)
Metro PCS
Jack in the Box
DC Comics (2005 - 2014) (March 23, 2017 - 2019)
Wrenchead.com (2000 - 2001)
WCW (November 6, 1999 - March 26, 2001)
Safe Auto (January 15, 2005 - March 28, 2009)
FOX (2003 - March 24, 2018)
Nintendo of America (December 7, 2007 - May 30, 2010)
The Walt Disney Corporation (Europe only; June 9, 2007 - September 29, 2013)
Del Taco (2005 - May 21, 2006)
4Kids Entertainment (April 5, 2000 - March 27, 2010)
ViacomCBS (May 24, 2008 - March 22, 2012)
Warner Bros. Media (July 11, 2005 - November 21, 2010) (January 14, 2013 - December 4, 2022)
Monster Energy (January 6, 2012 - November 11, 2021)
America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses (2017-2019)
Bigfoot's departure from Monster Jam[]
Aside from the Ford 100th Anniversary event in 2003, Bigfoot has not competed in a USHRA-sanctioned event since the summer of 1998. This is due to a falling-out between Bigfoot and Pace-SFX Motorsports/Monster Jam that took place over the course of multiple years in the mid-late 90's. The main reasons for the falling out were disputes over pay for appearances at USHRA events, Bigfoot wanting to film their own trucks at USHRA events and have full ownership over the footage, and Monster Jam's attempt to buy the team in the same way they would buy Grave Digger later in 1998. By the spring of 1998, all of these issues led to months of debating and negotiating as to what Bigfoot's future with Monster Jam would look like, but no agreements were met and both parties parted ways for good by the end of the summer. Despite the lack of a professional relationship, this does not necessarily mean that there is animosity between all those involved with both parties. Monster Jam-owned trucks have made pit stops at the Bigfoot compound for repairs and maintenance, and shots of Bigfoot have occasionally made their way onto Monster Jam programming or at live events. That being said, both sides go out of their way to not include each other's trucks in their videos/broadcasts as much as possible for the purposes of not paying royalties. In hindsight, Bob Chandler has stated that he most likely would not have left if he had to make the decision over again, and Bigfoot has since made multiple attempts to reconnect professionally with Monster Jam, albeit without much interest from Monster Jam themselves.
Controversies[]
With becoming the most well-known monster truck series to date, Monster Jam has become the most scrutinized as well, and is the target of much controversy in the monster truck industry.
Modern Monster Jam arena tracks. Note the lack of crush cars and how the track is almost completely made out of dirt.
Lack of crush cars[]
Monster Jam has received general criticism for the lack of crush cars and vehicles on their recent stadium and arena tracks. The act of crushing cars is often synonymous with monster trucks, so more casual or traditionalist fans tend to take umbrage with the decision to lessen their presence on tracks. In early 2019, Monster Jam declared that the usage of free-standing crush cars was going to be discontinued due issues regarding spectator safety (newer cars generate more debris). However, static crush cars that are embedded inside obstacles still remain on all of Monster Jam's current stadium and large-venue tracks.
Removal of gun references/themes[]
FELD's censorship of Gunslinger, transforming it into Slinger, has been criticized by fans of the truck.
Monster Jam has also been criticized among portions of its fan base for removing all references to guns and firearms from several trucks on their circuit, including Gunslinger, changing it to Slinger, as well as altering Metal Mulisha and Soldier Fortune to remove the guns as well. The Young Guns Shootout was also changed to the Double Down Showdown. While no official reason was given, the censorship of said imagery/references is still active indefinitely.
Judging[]
Most would say that Monster Jam's main attraction is the freestyle competition, taking place at the end of every event. However, this competition has almost never been judged professionally, and with the subjective nature of scoring a truck's performance, this has led to many controversial scoring decisions and debate over what the best method for scoring a freestyle competition really is. As a result, Monster Jam would introduce JudgesZone.com in 2017, being their main scoring method for their events. Rather than a select few judges, anybody with a cellphone can visit the website and submit their own scores when prompted. An inherent issue with letting the audience score a competition is the uncertainty in voter turnout, as well as biases toward more popular trucks, like Grave Digger, which is difficult to resolve.
Spectator injuries/death[]
Throughout the history of USHRA/Monster Jam events, there have been rare incidents where something has been unintentionally flung from the track into the stands and struck a spectator, whether it be a clod of dirt or a piece of shrapnel from a truck or crush car. Most of these incidents are anecdotal and haven't been discussed publicly, and none have been fatal or caused serious injury, save for one. In January of 2009 in Tacoma, Washington, a piece of the Natural High monster truck would fly into the stands during its freestyle performance and strike a small child in the head, killing him and injuring one of his parents. This incident would give Monster Jam and the sport in general a massive amount of negative publicity and lead to a major change in Monster Jam's safety policies, which would increase more and more as the years went on. Save for fiberglass damage, almost all visible forms of damage to a Monster Jam truck will mark the end of its performance.
Logos[]
2016-present[]
Gray version of the current logo.
World Finals logo.
25th Anniversary, used in 2017.
All-Star Challenge.
Late 2009-2015[]
Version used from 2014 to 2015. However, it's occasionally used as an alternate logo at some events.
Advance Auto Parts version, used from late 2009 to 2013.
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