Grave Digger is a 1950 Chevrolet Panel Van monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports and created by Dennis Anderson. First built in 1982, Grave Digger became popular in the mid-80's for its spooky-themed paint scheme and Dennis’ wild driving style. Alongside Dennis and his family, Grave Digger’s vast roster of drivers has most notably included: Pablo Huffaker, Charlie Pauken, Gary Porter, Randy Brown, Chad Tingler, Morgan Kane, Cole Venard, Tyler Menninga, Brandon Vinson and many more. FELD and the Andersons’ workshop, Digger's Dungeon, maintain and operate the six Grave Digger trucks that are currently competing in Monster Jam events not only in the United States, but around the world.
Alongside Bigfoot and Maximum Destruction (the latter of which is considered to be Grave Digger's rival, particularly when Dennis and Tom Meents would compete at the same event), Grave Digger is arguably the most famous monster truck of all time and has become a cultural icon of the sport; being considered Monster Jam’s flagship truck and inspiring two spinoff trucks: Grave Digger the Legend and Son-Uva Digger respectively. Grave Digger has also competed at every Monster Jam World Finals event since its inception, with the team taking fourteen championships over the years. Though Dennis retired from driving in 2017, he continues to run his own King Sling mega truck, as well as the Extreme King Sling ride truck.
History[]
In 1982, Dennis Anderson built Grave Digger 1 as a mud racing truck using a red 1951 Ford pickup truck. The name came from a smack-talking session he had with his rivals ("I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it."). At first, the truck was not painted at all and utilized its original weathered gray paint and rust as the design. Dennis would spray paint the name in black on the truck for its first events and later would switch to a red primer paint scheme with professional yellow lettering.
In 1984, Anderson rebuilt the truck as a true monster truck, replacing the red pickup body with a 1951 Ford panel van body with a blue and silver paint scheme. One year later, the iconic "spooky" paint scheme, inspired by 1950's horror comics, debuted after Anderson commissioned his friend Fred Bumann to paint it.
In 1986, Dennis Anderson started racing monster trucks full time. The truck became very popular, despite not enjoying the sponsorship of trucks like Bigfoot (which was sponsored by Ford). His first major victory was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, against Bigfoot two years later.
In 1989, Anderson debuted a new truck, Grave Digger 2; the body switched from the 1951 Ford panel van to a 1950 Chevrolet panel van, which has been used for all subsequent Grave Diggers ever since (except for Grave Digger 17). Grave Digger 1 was then driven by Dennis' brother, Les Anderson. Construction on Grave Digger 3 was also started during this year.
In 1991, the first four-link suspension Digger, Grave Digger 3 was completed. In the same year, Grave Digger 4 was driven by Jack Koberna on the west coast. He also drove it in 1990. The truck used an older King Krunch chassis, and a new Leafer frame was built and Grave Digger 2's old racing gear was used on Grave Digger 5, as the new ride for Les. The first Grave Digger display truck: the street-legal Grave Digger 6, was also introduced.
In 1992, Grave Digger 7 and Grave Digger 8 were created with Lyle Hancock driving and Robert Parker sharing driving duties.
In 1993, Pablo Huffaker ran Jack Koberna's old Grave Digger 4 body on his Jus' Show N Off chassis for 10 shows, causing it to be mislabeled as such, while it was actually the ninth truck on the fleet. He drove this truck across the United States together with Anderson's. Also in 1993, Grave Digger first appears on USHRA Monster Wars, where the truck was represented by a grim reaper mascot. In Tampa, Florida, while racing Carolina Crusher, the truck landed weird and when Dennis turned, the rear end was completely separated.
In 1994, the first Grave Digger ride truck: Grave Digger 9, was built. In the summer, Grave Digger 2 was extensively modified to be used for a 4th of July charity stunt where Dennis drove it across the Currituck Sound, effectively earning the nickname the "Sound Digger".
In 1995, Pablo Huffaker built Grave Digger 10 which would replace his old chassis. Grave Digger appears in "There Goes a Monster Truck" in Salt Lake City, Utah driven by Pablo.
In 1996, the second ride truck of the fleet, Grave Digger 11 replaced Grave Digger 9 after it was sold to Jake Blackwell. Ron Nelson drove the truck for Dennis.
In 1997, Grave Digger 12 would debut and become Anderson's main truck. Due to the elongated body to fit the chassis, the paint job was updated, adding purple mist, more details to the graveyard setting, and the logo was changed to be horizontally placed to take up more space.
In 1998, Dennis sold the Grave Digger name to Pace Motorsports (Pace Motorsports is now defunct and all existing IPs are under the ownership of FELD Motorsports). Despite no longer owning the truck, he remained its primary driver. Scott Hartsock drives the truck in Nashville, Tennessee for Show 2.
In 1999, Dennis is injured during a crash in New Orleans, Louisiana, leading to Todd Frolik being placed behind the wheel of Grave Digger 12 later in the year. Robert Parker was replaced by former Excaliber owner and driver Charlie Pauken, who later sold his team. Dennis Anderson would win the points title that year. Dennis later sells the truck to Monster Jam's parent company (now Feld Motorsports in the modern day).
In 2000, Anderson drives a rebuilt Grave Digger 7, which was nicknamed "Grave Digger 13". The truck and Anderson competed at Monster Jam World Finals I and won the freestyle championship with a score of 40, the highest and only perfect score in Monster Jam World Finals history. Todd Frolik is replaced by Norm Miller as the driver of Grave Digger 12 during February. Sky Hartley, former driver of Sting, would drive the truck for the Bangor, Maine events.
In 2001, Anderson debuts Grave Digger 14 to replace "13". Gary Porter takes over as the driver of Grave Digger 12. Brian Barthel subs in for Dennis at the Sunday show in Rosemont, Illinois. Charlie Pauken drives Grave Digger 7 full time, as well as Rod Schmidt driving Grave Digger 8. Dennis Anderson and other Grave Digger trucks start to appear in 4-Wheel Jamboree events, along with Goldberg. Grave Digger 10 is retired. At the Monster Jam World Finals II, Dennis went after Goldberg on the semi-trailer but crashed, leaving to much time on the clock.
In 2002, Grave Digger celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Dennis would campaign a special 20th Anniversary body for the year. Charlie Pauken debuts the new Grave Digger 15 and Pablo Huffaker debuts Grave Digger 16, both running a Racesource chassis. Grave Digger 17 debuts as a dragster. Dennis would later be invited to compete at Monster Jam World Finals III.
In 2003, Jason Childress started driving for the team. Dennis Anderson suffers multiple injuries, keeping him out of Monster Jam World Finals IV. Grave Digger 16 was driven by Pablo Huffaker at the event. Randy Brown debuts Grave Digger 18. Grave Digger 8 is retired. Jim Koehler fills-in for Dennis in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ricky Ownley also drives the truck as a fill-in.
In 2004, Anderson debuts Grave Digger 19, the first truck designed by Paul Cohen. At Monster Jam World Finals V, Dennis won his first racing championship, taking out fellow teammate Pablo Huffaker driving Blacksmith.
In 2005, Scott Pontbriand officially retired from the sport. Carl Van Horn replaced him and drove Grave Digger 14. Childress left the team to drive Bulldozer, but still drove the truck in Richmond. At Monster Jam World Finals VI, Dennis made it into the final round of racing, only to lose to Debra Miceli driving her Madusa truck. Grave Digger 7 is retired.
In 2006, Chad Tingler replaced Van Horn and took over the reins of Grave Digger 14. Rod Schmidt took over Grave Digger 19. At Monster Jam World Finals VII, Dennis won the racing championship with the new truck he debuted at the start of the season, Grave Digger 20. He would defeat Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter.
In 2007, Grave Digger celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Rod Schmidt took over Grave Digger 18 as Randy moved to Grave Digger 19. At the start of the season, Dennis suffered an injury in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was sidelined until Monster Jam World Finals VIII. His son, Adam Anderson, would fill in for the rest of the 2007 season, even winning freestyle in his debut show driving Grave Digger 20. Dennis runs a hand-painted, chrome body at the Monster Jam World Finals, where he would make it into the final round of racing, only to lose to John Seasock in Batman; he would get second place in freestyle. Grave Digger starts to appear in other 4-Wheel Jamboree events.
In 2008, no major changes were made to the team, but Adam would win the freestyle championship driving Taz, and Dennis set a then-record racing time on Vegas-style (which was later broken in 2016). This would be the last year that Grave Digger competed in 4-Wheel Jamboree Events, due to the transfer of Monster Jam from Live Nation to FELD in September of 2008; FELD would begin pulling their trucks from most independent events soon afterwards. The truck would compete at Monster Jam World Finals IX.
In 2009, Charlie Pauken's Grave Digger 15 was replaced by Grave Digger 22 and is subsequently retired. The truck would later compete at Monster Jam World Finals X.
In 2010, Dennis won the team's fourth world championship at the Monster Jam World Finals XI with Grave Digger 20 by winning racing for third time, defeating Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction. Charlie Pauken won his first and only world championship in freestyle driving Monster Mutt on Grave Digger 22. That year, the prototype for Grave Digger the Legend would debut during the encore under Adam Anderson who would later drive the truck full time until 2015. A make-shift "Red Primer" Grave Digger would also make an appearance, driven by Ryan Anderson. Gary Porter also competed on the Freestyle Mania tour until 2012. Grave Digger 14 is retired.
In 2011, Carl Van Horn returned to the team and debuted Grave Digger 23. Grave Digger 24 and 25 also debuted in the same year as the new trucks for Chad Tingler and Gary Porter respectively, retiring both Grave Diggers 12 and 14. The same year, Grave Digger raced against the Shockwave jet trucks at several NHRA Nitro Jam events until 2012. Randy Brown was behind the wheel for the majority of these races. Two spin-off trucks of Grave Digger made their debuts this year: Grave Digger the Legend (driven by Adam Anderson) and Son-Uva Digger, driven by Ryan Anderson. The truck would go on to compete at Monster Jam World Finals XII.
In 2012, Grave Digger celebrated its 30th Anniversary. Dennis runs two special 30th Anniversary bodies for the year, one purple and one green. Both designs featured the "Grim" mascot face in place of the classic ghost mountain scene and would display Dennis' four championships on the roof of the truck. The main fleet would run standard, modified Grave Digger bodies with a "3" being added in front of the moon/haunted house scene. Chrome versions of both of Dennis' schemes would appear at Monster Jam World Finals XIII; green for racing and purple for freestyle. The bodies would include 3D Grave Digger logos and Grim faces with LED lights in the eyes. The Grave Digger team would also parade down the Las Vegas Strip in a display featuring 9 Grave Digger trucks (one of which being the replica to the "red primer" Grave Digger 1). A make-shift "Grandma" Grave Digger body would make its first of three appearances during the 30th anniversary encore. Carl Van Horn suffers an injury part-way through first quarter, with Daron Basl, Jon Zimmer, and Paul Cohen filling-in for him.
In 2013, Jon Zimmer officially joined the team full time and drove the new Grave Digger 26. Rod Schmidt also moved to Monster Mutt Rottweiler retiring Grave Digger 18. The truck would compete at Monster Jam World Finals XIV. Adam Anderson would also compete at the Monster Jam World Finals in Grave Digger the Legend and win the racing championship.
In 2014, 4 new Grave Digger trucks were unveiled. Grave Digger 27 replaced Charlie Pauken's old Grave Digger 22. Grave Digger 28 became Pablo Huffaker's new ride after Grave Digger 16. Grave Digger 29 debuted (in December) under Randy Brown, retiring his old Grave Digger 19. Dennis also debuted Grave Digger 30, retiring his 7-year-old Grave Digger 20. The truck would compete at Monster Jam World Finals XV for the final time as the sole Grave Digger in the lineup, losing to Grave Digger the Legend in the semi-finals round in racing, and placed 20th in freestyle alongside Madusa; damaging the front axle after attempting the LeDuc Leap. Adam Anderson would once again compete at Monster Jam World Finals and win the racing championship for the second year in a row.
In 2015, Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger 27 competed in the Fox Sports 1 Series. After more than ten years of driving Grave Digger, Gary Porter left the team and moved to Carolina Crusher. His truck, Grave Digger 25, was then driven by Colton Eichelberger who competed in the More Monster Jam tour. Charlie finished 4th in his series while Colton finished 2nd. They both got automatic bids to Monster Jam World Finals XVI. This marked the first time that more than one Grave Digger would compete in the main field in Monster Jam World Finals since its inception; a tradition that continues to the modern day. Dennis would drive Grave Digger 30 with the normal paint scheme, while Colton drove a purple Grave Digger 25, and Charlie drove a candy apple green Grave Digger 27. During the Path of Destruction Tour, Steve Brynes, a former Monster Jam announcer for TNN, who passed away on April 21, 2015, was written on Dennis Anderson's tombstone. BJ Johnson fills-in in Fresno, California.
In 2016, Chad Tingler left the team and was transferred to Alien Invasion early in the year retiring Grave Digger 24. A new chrome paint scheme debuted on Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger 30. Adam Anderson joined team Grave Digger and competed in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series with Grave Digger 32, retiring Grave Digger the Legend in the process. Life-long friend of the Anderson boys and former driver of Max-D, Morgan Kane joined team Grave Digger after a trade between Tom Meents and Dennis Anderson was made. This would also lead to Colton Eichelberger moving to the Max-D team while Kane took over the reins of Grave Digger 25. Adam's long-time crew chief Cole Venard also joined the team and competed in the More Monster Jam series with Grave Digger 31 along with Kane which they would eventually win. Charlie Pauken, Pablo Huffaker, Randy Brown, Carl Van Horn & Jon Zimmer all continued to run their own respective Grave Diggers. At Monster Jam World Finals XVII, Morgan Kane and Cole Venard debuted new paint schemes on their trucks. Kane would receive an orange scheme (paying homage to his time on Team Max-D) while Venard drove a purple scheme. Kane later won the racing champion, while Adam Anderson won freestyle, both in their Grave Digger trucks. This caused a lot of controversy, as many fans claimed that the use of multiple Grave Diggers was an unfair advantage for the team, while others claimed that Adam's freestyle run was over-scored. These complaints likely contributed to the implementation of JudgesZone.com the following year.
In 2017, Grave Digger celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Tyler Menninga joined the team and took over driving duties for Grave Digger 23. He ran on the More Monster Jam series with Cole Venard and Grave Digger 31. Morgan Kane debuted a new truck Grave Digger 33 to replace Grave Digger 25. He along with Adam Anderson's Grave Digger 32 competed in the Fox Sports 1 series. Dennis Anderson and Charlie Pauken ran the two stadium tours with Grave Diggers 30 and 27, respectively, while Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker competed in two of the other arena tours driving Grave Diggers 29 and 28, respectively. The truck also received its first official competing female driver, Krysten Anderson, Dennis' only daughter, who competed on the Central More Monster Jam tour with the new Grave Digger 34. Venard left the team, just before Monster Jam World Finals to take care of his newborn daughter, thus Randy took his place at said event, he would later return to the sport, driving The Black Pearl. Adam Anderson, Morgan Kane, Randy Brown (filling in for Triple Threat Series West champion Cole Venard) and Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat Series East champion) would all be invited to compete at the Monster Jam World Finals XVIII. Krysten Anderson would also receive an invite, but she would compete in the Double Down Showdown. Ryan Anderson would win the racing championship, marking his first world championship in his career. This year (and every year until 2023), all of the Grave Diggers would run the standard paint scheme and instead run flags with each's driver's name on them to help fans differentiate between the five trucks. The make-shift "Grandma" Grave Digger, a modified Grave Digger the Legend (without "the Legend") wording and the chrome Grave Digger would return during the 35th anniversary encore, each driven by Krysten, Adam and Ryan respectively.
- In the first stop of Dennis' stadium tour in Tampa, Florida, he would suffer a career-ending injury after a failed backflip attempt. The cage crushed in, giving Dennis head injuries. He was taken to a hospital. Carl Van Horn and Jon Zimmer filled in for the rest of his tour. On September 18, 2017, Dennis announced his full retirement from Monster Jam, stating he would still be behind the scenes at events and in the pits.
In 2018, the team ran eight trucks. Former Son-Uva Digger crew chief Brandon Vinson joined the team to take the place of Cole Venard in Grave Digger 30. Adam Anderson takes over as the main driver due to Dennis Anderson's retirement. Jon Zimmer left the team to drive Dragon full time, as he was supposed to do in 2017 before Dennis's injury, while Carl Van Horn returns to serve as a fill-in for the team. Adam Anderson, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown and Morgan Kane each ran a stadium tour. Three drivers once again competed in the Triple Threat Series. Krysten Anderson would compete on the west series, Tyler Menninga on central and Vinson on the east. Pablo Huffaker runs on arena tour "4". Pauken and Kane won their respective stadium champion series while Menninga wins his Triple Threat tour, all earning themselves invites to the Monster Jam World Finals XIX. Adam Anderson wins the racing championship against fellow teammate Tyler Menninga. Ryan Anderson would also win the freestyle championship in Son-Uva Digger. The trucks would once again run driver's flags instead of special paint schemes to the dismay of fans. Pablo retired after his final event in Florence, South Carolina on the weekend of May 5-6, 2018. At the Saturday night Halifax, Nova Scotia show, Randy Brown recorded the highest-winning score since the Judgeszone.com scoring system was implemented. His score was an outstanding 9.986 in freestyle. In 2024, it was beaten by Blake Granger in Max-D at show 1 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Blake would win the skills challenge with a 9.998. This will likely never be beaten.
In 2019, Randy Brown would compete with Grave Digger 39 on the Arena Championship Series, Krysten Anderson with Grave Digger 34 on the Triple Threat East tour, Brandon Vinson with Grave Digger 31 on the Triple Threat Central tour, and Tyler Menninga with Grave Digger 36 on the Triple Threat West tour. Morgan Kane would compete on the Stadium Championship Series 1 with Grave Digger 33, Adam Anderson on Stadium Championship Series 2 with Grave Digger 35 and Charlie Pauken on Stadium Championship Series 3 with Grave Digger 38. Grave Digger 37 would stay overseas and be used for displays, one notably with Cynthia Gauthier. Adam, Brandon, Randy and Tyler won their tours, earning them all automatic bids to Monster Jam World Finals XX in Orlando, Florida; the first Monster Jam World Finals to be hosted outside of Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada since its inception.[2][3] Although Charlie wasn't invited, he would debut Grave Digger Fire for the racing encore as a promotion for the up-coming inaugural Monster Jam All-Star Challenge in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the first Monster Jam All-Star Challenge, Pauken once again runs Grave Digger Fire for Team Fire while Adam and Tyler also run for Team Fire with standard Grave Digger bodies. Meanwhile, Krysten debuts Grave Digger Ice as a member of Team Ice. Ryan Anderson in Son-Uva Digger would win the Chicago-style racing event and the overall event championship for Team Ice. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Brandon would debut Grave Digger 41.
In 2020, the team remains unchanged. Adam drove in the Stadium Red tour, Morgan in the Stadium Green tour, and Charlie in the Stadium Yellow tour. Tyler, Brandon and Krysten drove on the Triple Threat Series East, West and Central tours respectively. Randy would also drive on Arena Tour 4. Tyler once again wins the Triple Threat Series East tour, earning him a spot in Monster Jam World Finals XXI; the original event was later canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic but would return in 2022. Charlie, Brandon, and Randy would also be declared champions of their respective tours as they were in the points lead for each when the pandemic canceled the remainder of the season.
In 2021, due to a very limited schedule, most of the drivers are put on hold. Krysten continues driving Grave Digger, while Adam is temporarily transferred to Megalodon. Ryan (although not a Grave Digger driver) would be transferred out of Son-Uva Digger to drive Bakugan Dragonoid. Krysten and Adam both compete in the 2021 Stadium Championship Series with Krysten driving her Grave Digger and Adam driving Megalodon. Krysten would end up finishing in last place at the end of series and Adam would finish in third place in Megalodon. After the events in Glendale, Arizona, Adam would return to Grave Digger and Krysten would go back to driving in arena events. Menninga runs the “Arena Tour” in 2021 with Adam as a touring partner of sorts. Vinson also runs a few arena events. In February, Dennis Anderson was inducted into the Monster Jam Hall of Fame, and would take his final lap around Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida driving Grave Digger 36 with its classic zoomie-style headers. In June, a Grave Digger-sponsored NASCAR Ford Mustang driven by Kevin Harvick debuts as a Father's Day present from his son, Keelan Harvick. Kevin drove it at the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 20 and would finish 5th. This is the only Grave Digger to not be officially numbered. Later in the year, Krysten, Adam and Ryan would all participate in the Monster Jam Breaking World Records special event. Krysten driving Grave Digger 34 would set the Guinness World Record for highest monster truck leap at 33.2 ft., Adam in Grave Digger 35 with the longest wheelie at 624 ft. and Ryan in Son-Uva Digger with the longest bicycle at 891 ft.
In 2022, the truck celebrates its 40th anniversary, and every Digger truck runs a special 40th anniversary paint scheme for it. The trucks also debut purple bead locks exclusive to anniversary bodies, likely as a tribute to Pablo Huffaker's Grave Digger chassis, after week 4 (previously the trucks ran the classic green bead locks). Tyler Menninga makes his first quarter stadium debut driving Grave Digger 39 on Stadium Series Yellow, where he finished second. Adam ran Grave Digger 35 on Stadium Series Red and also finished second. For arenas, Weston Anderson would make his debut driving Grave Digger 33 and would later moves to Grave Digger 37 (after he totaled #33) for Arena Championship Series East. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, he would perform a reverse kick-flip in freestyle. Krysten moves to Grave Digger 41 and drives on Arena Championship Series Central, and Brandon moves to Grave Digger 36 and drives on Arena Championship Series West. The Grave Digger trucks would dominate their arena tours and win their respective series, with Krysten Anderson notably becoming the first (and so far only) female to win a Monster Jam points series championship. Charlie Pauken also makes his return, moving to Monster Mutt on Stadium Series Yellow. All competing Grave Digger trucks, including Son-Uva Digger, would be invited to Monster Jam World Finals XXI in Orlando, Florida; the first Monster Jam World Finals in two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Monster Jam World Finals, Vinson would win the racing championship over Ryan Anderson in Son-Uva Digger (Hoonigan) in one of (if not the most) incredible racing finals in history due to the torrential downpour that occurred during the race. Son-Uva Digger would also win the Lucas Oil High Jump championship leaving Ryan with three world titles. Randy Brown would drive Grave Digger for the London show, before semi-retiring. Brandon Vinson ran on the Australian tour and in Santo Domingo in Grave Digger 29 and Tyler Menninga competed in events in Finland, Arnhem as well as San Juan and brought Grave Digger 27 out of retirement for the first time since 2018. At the Sydney, Australia event, Brandon Vinson would create a new move called the "Tombstone" where the truck would hit the backflip ramp and perform a stoppie/moonwalk off of it. Adam would later attempt the move in Houston, Texas but would be unsuccessful.
In 2023, Adam Anderson and Tyler Menninga continue to drive in stadiums, with Adam competing on Stadium Series Red and Tyler on Stadium Series Blue. Krysten Anderson, Weston Anderson, and Brandon Vinson will also continue to compete on the arena tours; Weston on Arena Championship Series East, Brandon on Arena Championship Series Central, and Krysten on Arena Championship Series West. Matt Cody drives the truck on the international tour. He also drove Grave Digger in Cleveland, Ohio, filling in for Brandon Vinson. The truck would win almost every series with Brandon claiming Arena Central, Weston being crowned on Arena East, Adam snatching Stadium Series Red and Tyler winning Stadium Series Blue. Krysten would be the only driver for the team to not win her tour as the series was instead won by Tristan England in Earth Shaker. She would still receive an invite to the Monster Jam World Finals. At Monster Jam World Finals XXII in Nashville, Tennessee, it is announced on Monster Jam's social media pages that each Grave Digger truck would run a different scheme for the event for the first time since 2016. Weston would pilot an orange ghost/flame scheme, Krysten with pink ghosts and flames, Brandon with red ghosts and flames, and Tyler with purple ghosts and flames. Adam would driven the standard scheme. Weston and Tyler would both be invited to compete in the two-wheel skills championship; Tyler would later win the championship with a score of 7.126. Ryan Anderson would also be invited to defend his championship in the Lucas Oil High Jump championship and once again win, making him a four-time world champion. Only Adam Anderson finishes within the top 8 fastest qualifiers, but he and Menninga fall in round 1. Krysten, Weston and Adam Anderson all lose their round 2 races with Brandon Vinson being the only Grave Digger truck advancing as far as the quarter-finals. After returning as the fastest-loser (since John Gordon and Bad Company blew a drive shaft), he would fall short to eventual racing champion Tristan England in Earth Shaker. At event 3 in Los Angeles, Tyler completed seven and a half revolutions during a sidewall donut save in the Great Clips two-wheel skills challenge, matching the unofficial record held by Ryan Anderson from East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2022. In Rosemont, Bari Musawwir fills-in for Krysten. He would be the first African American to ever drive Grave Digger in its 41 year history. Tyler would compete on Team Nitro for the Superstar Challenge in Anaheim & won everything. Adam competed on Team Neon & completed a reverse backflip for the best trick competition.
In 2024, Adam will compete with his brother Ryan for first time during the first quarter season since 2021 on the west stadium tour. Weston will compete on the central arena tour, Krysten will compete on the east arena tour, Brandon briefly competed on the west arena tour, Tyler competes on the east stadium tour. Matt Cody continues driving on the international tour. In San Francisco, Adam wins racing at show 1 & the truck catches on fire. The track crew would take way too long to put out the fire. Krysten would score a 1.000 in the donut contest on Friday night in Baltimore. Matt Cody fills-in for Brandon from Oklahoma City until the end of the tour. Brandon retired to focus on his construction business. Charlie Pauken returns to the team to fill-in for Adam in Arlington, El Paso & Birmingham. Tyler Menninga fills in for Matt Cody in Fresno since he was originally scheduled to compete in the international tour. This makes him a fill-in for a fill-in driver, which is rare. Ryan Anderson drives his brothers truck in Albuquerque. This was his first weekend of arena shows in years. Coty Saucier drives the truck in Lincoln since Matt Cody was competing on the international tour. Charlie would drive Matt's truck in Hamburg, Germany while Matt Cody competed in Green Bay. Matt would do the first ever backflip in Green Bay at show 1. Adam Anderson returns to competition in Nampa after his injury.
Drivers[]
Current[]
- Adam Anderson (2007 fill-in, 2016-present)
- Krysten Anderson (2017-present)
- Tyler Menninga (2017-present)
- Weston Anderson (2022-present)
- Matt Cody (2023-present)
Former/temporary drivers[]
- Dennis Anderson (1982-2017)
- Les Anderson (1989-1992)
- Jack Koberna (1990-1991)
- Lyle Hancock (1991-1995, 2000)
- Robert Parker (1992-1999)
- Pablo Huffaker (1993-2018)
- Terry Woodcock (1990's (Drove Pablo's truck))
- Ron Nelson (1996)
- Bennett Clark (1997)
- Charlie Pauken (1999-2021. Arlington, El Paso, Birmingham & Hamburg 2024)
- Todd Frolik (1999-2000, Indianapolis 2001 fill-in)
- Norm Miller (2000-2001 fill-in)
- Rod Schmidt (2000, 2002-2012)
- Scott Pontbriand (2001-2004)
- Gary Porter (2001-2014)
- Randy Brown (2003-2022)
- Jason Childress (2003-2004, Richmond 2005)
- Carl Van Horn (2005, 2011-2016, 2017-2018)
- Chad Tingler (2006-2015, 2016 fill-in)
- Jon Zimmer (2013-2016, 2017 fill-in)
- Colton Eichelberger (2015)
- Cole Venard (2016-2017)
- Morgan Kane (2016-2020)
- Brandon Vinson (2018-2024)
Temporary/fill-in drivers[]
- Doug Spanier (Virginia 1992)
- Michael Vaters (Atlanta 1992)
- Eldon DePew (Houston 1996)
- Scott Hartsock (Nashville 1998, show 2)
- Tom Meents (Englishtown 1999 & 2001)
- Joe Payne (Unknown, 1999)
- Sky Hartley (Bangor 2000)
- Brian Barthel (Rosemont 2001, Sunday)
- Ricky Ownley (Houston 2003, show 3)
- Jim Koehler (Philadelphia 2003)
- Aaron Basl (Lancaster 2005)
- Alex Blackwell (Prescott Valley 2007 & Grand Rapids 2009)
- Ryan Anderson (WF XI encore, WF XIII encore, WF XVIII encore, Philadelphia '19 & Albuquerque '24)
- Paul Cohen (Oakland & Fresno 2012)
- Daron Basl (Portland 2012)
- Marc McDonald (Indianapolis 2014)
- BJ Johnson (Fresno 2015)
- Bari Musawwir (Rosemont 2023)
- Coty Saucier (Lincoln 2024)
Exhibition[]
- Gary "BabaBooey" Dell'Abate (Uniondale 1999, Grave Digger 8)
- Debra “Madusa” Miceli (1999 testing, Grave Digger 9)
- Ricky Carmichael (2004?, Grave Digger 16)
- John Seasock (Cardiff 2007 Promotional, Grave Digger 18)
- Heather Williams (2008 Digger's Dungeon, Grave Digger 15)
- Conan O’Brien (Los Angeles 2012 TV Segment, Grave Digger 22)
- Luke Burbank (Tampa 2019 for CBS Sunday Morning)
Trucks[]
There have been over forty versions of Grave Digger to date (though there is no official Grave Digger 13, due to superstition regarding the number's unluckiness). The number of the truck is often displayed on the front of the hood, in the form of a Roman numeral.
- Grave Digger 1 – Originally built in 1982 as a mud racing truck. It was rebuilt in 1985 as a true monster truck. After many years of deterioration, it was semi-restored. A replica of the "red primer" mud truck and blue/silver 1951 Ford panel van were built in 2012 and 2022 respectively and are now on display in the Rust in Peace museum at Digger's Dungeon in North Carolina alongside the original Grave Digger 1. It is nicknamed "Grandma" by the team.
- Grave Digger 2 - Leaf-spring truck built in 1989 and the first to use the 1950 Chevrolet Panel Van body. The body was soon replaced with a fiberglass replica. Retired after a bad crash in late 1990 broke the frame. It was rebuilt with a new frame and the original steel body in 1994 to allow it to cross the waters of Currituck Sound in North Carolina as part of a charity stunt. It was restored in 2016, and is now on display in the Rust in Peace museum at Digger's Dungeon. It is nicknamed the "Sound Digger" by Dennis.
- Grave Digger 3 – Built in 1991 as the first tube-frame, four-link suspension Grave Digger. Converted into WCW Nitro Machine's chassis in 1999, and was run under multiple identities during the early-mid 2000's, most notably Inferno. Currently owned by Jimmy Durr. It has been converted yet again into Slag Hag.
- Grave Digger 4 – A leaf-spring chassis with fiberglass body run from 1991 to 1993 by Jack Koberna as a west coast franchise of Grave Digger. Pablo Huffaker reused the body on his second Jus' Show N Off truck when he first began running as a Grave Digger driver in mid-1993, leading some to misidentify Huffaker's truck as Grave Digger 4, even though he started driving for the Digger team after the debut of Grave Digger 8.
- Grave Digger 5 – Built in 1991, Grave Digger 5 was a leaf-spring truck that used a new frame with some running gear and the fiberglass replica body originally used on Grave Digger 2, leading to some confusion regarding its status.
- Grave Digger 6 – A street-legal display truck. Parts were reused for Ryan Anderson's mud-bogger. Currently runs as the old number six mega truck.
- Grave Digger 7 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. Driven by Dennis Anderson from 1992 to 1996. Revamped in 2000 by Dennis, after which it was nicknamed "Grave Digger 13" (although no official #13 existed); he'd win freestyle at that year's inaugural Monster Jam World Finals. Driven by Charlie Pauken from 2000 to 2001. Rod Schmidt from 2002 to 2004, and Chad Tingler in 2005. It now resides outside Digger's Dungeon, parked on its nose.
- Grave Digger 8 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger driven by Robert Parker in the latter half of the 1990's, Charlie Pauken in 1999, Rod Schmidt in 2000 and Scott Pontbriand from 2001 to 2003. Retired from competition, it became apart of an exhibition in the Museum Of Science And Industry in Chicago, Illinois. Restored in 2019, and has since been used as a display truck in Monster Jam Thunder Alley.
- Grave Digger 9 - The first Grave Digger ride truck that was built in 1994. It was sold and is now the Extinguisher ride truck.
- Grave Digger 10 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger built and driven by Pablo Huffaker from 1995 to 2001. It also ran as Radical Rescue from 2002 to 2004.
- Grave Digger 11 - The second Grave Digger ride truck built in 1996. It ran as Thrill Seeker, War Wizard, and Pure Adrenaline, then was converted back to Grave Digger ride truck in 2012. The truck has since been running by Feld Motorsports to this day.
- Grave Digger 12 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was driven by Dennis Anderson from 1996 to 2000, Todd Frolik and Norm Miller in 2000, and Gary Porter from 2001 to 2010. Most well-known for the longer wheelbase. It also ran as Grave Digger the Legend under Tony Farrell in 2011 before it was retired.
- Grave Digger 14 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2001 to 2003, as well as Jason Childress and Scott Pontbriand from 2003 to 2004, Carl Van Horn in 2005, and Chad Tingler from 2006 until 2010, when it was retired due to extensive chassis damage.
- Grave Digger 15 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was driven by Charlie Pauken from 2001 to 2008. It is now retired.
- Grave Digger 16 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger built and driven by Pablo Huffaker from 2002 to 2013.
- Grave Digger 17 – Alan Pittman's pro modified drag racer, which ran a Grave Digger paint job as part of a sponsorship. It has since retired.
- Grave Digger 18 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was driven by Randy Brown from 2003 to 2007 and Rod Schmidt from 2008 to 2012. The chassis later became El Diablo in 2013 and ran until its retirement in 2015.
- Grave Digger 19 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger and the first Grave Digger chassis designed by Paul Cohen. It was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2004 to 2005, Rod Schmidt in 2006, and Randy Brown from 2007 to 2014. Notable for its black rims and silver bead locks. Retired in 2014.
- Grave Digger 20 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was driven by Dennis Anderson from late 2005 to 2013, the longest and arguably most successful truck for Dennis. Dennis won nine straight stadium racing events and two Monster Jam World Finals racing championships in the chassis. Retired after 2013.
- Grave Digger 21 - Grave Digger Experience truck. Only has two wheels, and transported via a semi-truck trailer. Guests can climb into the cab of the truck and watch a video presentation.[4]Continues to be operated by Feld Motorsports at select events (typically Monster Jam World Finals).
- Grave Digger 22 - Originally debuted as Batman in 2006. Became Grave Digger 22 and was driven by Charlie Pauken from 2009 to 2013. It would be driven as Monster Mutt at Monster Jam World Finals XI and win the freestyle championship under Pauken. It was retired shortly after 2013.
- Grave Digger 23 - Built in 2010 and was driven by Carl Van Horn from 2011 to 2016. Revamped in 2017 and driven by Tyler Menninga. It is now retired.
- Grave Digger 24 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. Driven by Chad Tingler from 2011 to 2015. It is now retired.
- Grave Digger 25 - A four-link suspension Grave Digger. Driven by Gary Porter from 2011 to 2014 and Morgan Kane from 2015 to 2016; Kane would win the racing championship at Monster Jam World Finals XVII with this chassis. It is now retired.
- Grave Digger 26 - Was built in 2012 and driven by Jon Zimmer from 2013 to 2016. It later became his second Dragon chassis and retired after 2016.
- Grave Digger 27 - A CRD chassis built in 2013 driven by Charlie Pauken from 2014 to 2018. It retired after 2018.
- Grave Digger 28 - Racesource chassis built and driven by Pablo Huffaker from 2014 to 2018. Retired from competition in May 2018 when Huffaker himself retired. It's now a display piece, traveling with the Spin Master trailer/mobile display.
- Grave Digger 29 - Cohen chassis built in 2014 and debuted just before 2015. Driven by Randy Brown until 2017. Currently serves as a backup Grave Digger and is used on international tours.
- Grave Digger 30 - A Paul Cohen chassis that debuted in 2014. It was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2014 to 2017 up until his retirement. Revamped for 2018 and driven by Brandon Vinson for that year; it was retired shortly after and is now displayed at the Rust in Peace museum in Digger's Dungeon. It has been nicknamed "The Last Ride" by Dennis.
- Grave Digger 31 - A Paul Cohen chassis race truck. It was driven by Cole Venard from 2016 to March 2017. Taken over by Randy Brown for the 2018 season, then driven by Brandon Vinson for 2019. Retired after Monster Jam World Finals XX in 2019.
- Grave Digger 32 - A Paul Cohen chassis race truck. It was built in 2014 as the second Grave Digger the Legend chassis. Driven by Adam Anderson from 2016 to 2017; he'd win his second freestyle championship in this chassis. Tyler Menninga drove it until the end of 2018, where it'd be subsequently retired.
- Grave Digger 33 - A Paul Cohen chassis, driven by Morgan Kane from 2017 to 2020. It was returned to competition by Weston Anderson as his debut chassis. It was retired in 2022 after Weston crashed the truck in Hampton, Virginia and damaged the chassis beyond repair.
- Grave Digger 34 - A CRD chassis, driven by Krysten Anderson from 2017 to 2021. It sustained significant chassis damage in Glendale, Arizona, placing the chassis on hiatus for the first quarter of 2022 for repairs. It returned to competition at Monster Jam World Finals XXI freestyle under Adam Anderson.
- Grave Digger 35 - A Paul Cohen chassis unveiled at SEMA 2017. It is currently driven by Adam Anderson since 2018. He'd win his third racing championship in this chassis.
- Grave Digger 36 - A CRD chassis driven by Tyler Menninga from October 2018 to 2021, and currently by Brandon Vinson since 2022. It would be used by Dennis Anderson during his final lap for the Class of 2020 induction ceremony at the Monster Jam Hall Of Fame event in Orlando, Florida in 2021.
- Grave Digger 37 - A CRD chassis that Randy Brown debuted in South America events in 2018. The chassis was used for overseas displays and competition. After the retirement of Grave Digger 33, it is now driven by Weston Anderson since 2022.
- Grave Digger 38- A CRD chassis that Morgan Kane debuted in late 2018 arena events. It was driven by Charlie Pauken from 2019 to 2020 and by Randy Brown in 2022. Matt Cody took over driving in 2023 in international events.
- Grave Digger 39 - A CRD chassis that Randy Brown debuted for the 2019 Arena Championship Series. As of 2022, Tyler Menninga still drives this truck.
- Grave Digger 40 – The third and newest Grave Digger ride truck built in 2019. Notably ironic for its absurdly large hood while also being numbered Grave Digger XL.
- Grave Digger 41 - A CRD chassis that Brandon Vinson debuted in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2019 and ran for the 2020 Triple Threat West series. Krysten Anderson took over driving it in 2021 following the retirement of Grave Digger 34 (which would eventually return to competition for freestyle at Monster Jam World Finals XXI).
Unofficial trucks[]
- Grave Digger's Boneyard Shuttle - A temporary repaint of Sam Sturges's Kool Bus, themed to match the team.
- K'nex Grave Digger - A display truck built entirely out of K'nex pieces, based on the green 30th Anniversary design. Mainly featured in pit parties throughout 2012.[5]
- Grave Digger 25.5 - A black FELD chassis piloted by Paul Cohen in the 2012 Lexington, Kentucky shows. The original Grave Digger was unable to appear at the event due to scheduling changes.
- NASCAR Ford Mustang #4 Grave Digger - A special Grave Digger-themed NASCAR livery driven by Kevin Harvick for Stewart-Haas Racing at the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 20, 2021.
Designs[]
Design | Description | Picture |
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"Red primer" mud truck | Original Grave Digger body from 1982-1983, made out of a 1951 Ford F-1 pickup truck that reportedly cost $500. Its first paint scheme was a weathered gray color with natural rust and a hand-painted black spray paint logo by Dennis Anderson. It was then painted with its famous red primer paint color and professional yellowing lettering shortly after its debut.
Replicas of this design have appeared in the Monster Jam World Finals XI and Monster Jam World Finals XXI encores, though these were full-sized monster trucks rather than smaller, mud-bogging trucks. A proper replica also appeared in the Monster Jam World Finals 13 encore and is now on display at the Rust in Peace museum at Digger's Dungeon. |
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Blue/silver panel van
(Nicknamed: 'The Legend') |
The second Grave Digger body from 1984 and the first to use a 1951 Ford panel van. At the time, most farm vehicles in the area were blue and silver, so Dennis received the paint scheme for free as a result. This design has been replicated many times in the past. It has made several appearances at Monster Jam World Finals encores (XI, XIII, XVIII, XXI) and later became the base the design for Grave Digger the Legend. A replica of the blue/silver Grave Digger is now featured at the Rust in Peace museum in Digger's Dungeon. | |
"Spooky" paint scheme | Conceived by Dennis' friend Fred Bumann in 1985, this is the longest-lasting and most recognizable Grave Digger design. While the major hallmarks of it have largely remained the same (green fog, tombstones with trucks' names on them, haunted house with a full moon, horse-drawn carriage, dead tree, skull-like ghost head, bloody logo, green hood flames, and red headlights); the details of it have greatly changed over the years.
In 1989, the body changed from a 1951 Ford panel van to a 1950 Chevrolet panel van. In 1997, the paint job was revised, with the addition of purple mist and a horizontal logo. In the modern era, each Grave Digger is painted by Jim McShea at Feld Studios and uses a stencil layout. Prior to stencils being used, each design of the ghost would be different since it was freehanded. A new roof resign was introduced in 2008, with green flames, a stacked Grave Digger logo, "Bad to the Bone" and artwork of either the "Grim" mascot or ghost (as of 2020 only Grim is used). Before then, the truck usually ran a blank roof with the "Bad to the Bone" quote. |
Part-time or Anniversary designs[]
Design | Description | Picture |
---|---|---|
20th Anniversary | Run by Dennis Anderson in 2002 to celebrate Grave Digger's 20th anniversary, this design was painted directly over a standard Grave Digger body and featured several tombstones with images of the truck from previous years, as well as a unique logo. During the 20th anniversary season, the standard design Grave Diggers would run the 20th anniversary decal on their roofs. | |
"Green Ghost" | An alternate version of the regular design, in which the gray/purple ghost has been replaced by a bright green one with red eyes (hence the name). This design also featured a graveyard with wispy green flames, a special roof design, and a unique flame pattern on the hood. This design was introduced alongside Grave Digger 20 at Minneapolis 2005, and mainly run throughout 2006 and 2007. It's most famous for its appearance at Monster Jam World Finals VII, where Dennis would win the racing championship. In 2007, it would also run 25th anniversary ribbons on the side panels as well as a "2006 Racing Champion" decal on its roof before being retired. It has been nicknamed "Seaweed" Grave Digger by the Anderson family. | |
25th Anniversary | For the 2007 season, two separate designs were created to celebrate Grave Digger's 25th anniversary:
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30th Anniversary | For the 2012 season, three new designs were run to celebrate Grave Digger's 30th anniversary:
A replica of the chrome purple body appeared in the Monster Jam World Finals XXI freestyle encore under Jon Zimmer, where it would be partially destroyed by Adam Anderson after his encore stunt. Originally was thought to be body used by Dennis in 2012, but it was revealed that Jim McShea repainted new bodies to reflect modern sponsors (such as Spin Master) in the tombstones. The grim faces used on the replica would also be tinted gold instead of chrome. |
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"Grandma" | A replica of the original 1985-1998 graveyard design, exclusively used for the 30th, 35th, and 40th Anniversary encores at the Monster Jam World Finals. It's been run by Charlie Pauken on Grave Digger 22, Krysten Anderson on Grave Digger 34, and Tyler Menninga on Grave Digger 39, respectively. It reuses Grave Digger the Legend's body mold. | |
Monster Jam World FInals XVI | As the first Monster Jam World Finals event to feature multiple drivers representing the same identity, Charlie Pauken and Colton Eichelberger would run two special Grave Digger schemes, while Dennis ran the regular one.
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Chrome | A special variation of the regular Grave Digger design, with a chrome body. Dennis would run this design throughout the 2016 season. The body would return under Ryan Anderson on Grave Digger 30 at the Monster Jam World Finals XVIII Grave Digger 35th anniversary encore. | |
Monster Jam World Finals XVII | Similar to Monster Jam World Finals XVI, Morgan Kane and Cole Venard would run two new Grave Digger designs, while Dennis ran the chrome body and Adam ran the regular one.
After this event, no unique Grave Digger designs would be made for the next four Monster Jam World Finals. Each driver would run the standard design, but with driver name flags to differentiate. |
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35th Anniversary | No special design was run to celebrate Grave Digger's 35th anniversary, aside from a roof logo. According to Adam, special bodies for Monster Jam World Finals XVIII were planned but never came to be. There were three different roof designs:
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Fire & Ice | As part of the new Fire & Ice team element introduced in 2019, Grave Digger became the only truck to represent both teams:
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40th Anniversary | Throughout 2022, a modified version of the regular design was run to celebrate Grave Digger's 40th anniversary. It first debuted during the 2022 Monster Jam Season Announcement. A special logo replaced the normal one (the same logo present on Dennis's 30th Anniversary designs, this time with a white outline), and a "40th Anniversary" logo replaced the haunted house and full moon of the standard design. Additionally, it featured a special roof design with a tombstone reading "40th Anniversary" and a Grim mascot head. Like the 35th anniversary, the 40th anniversary roof design would not feature the "Bad to the Bone" quote. Starting in week 4, all Grave Digger trucks would run purple bead locks for the rest of the year, as opposed to the usual green color. | |
Monster Jam World Finals XXII | For the first time since 2016, several recolored versions of the standard Grave Digger design were run at Monster Jam World Finals XXII in Nashville, Tennessee. While Adam ran the regular design, all four other drivers had different-colored flames, ghosts, rims and flags:
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Nitro | A blue, green, and pink recolor of the standard Grave Digger design, first released in 2023 under the Nitro Neon line. It appeared in the Superstar Challenge as part of Team Nitro. Tyler Menninga would win all 3 competitions. | |
Neon | A green, blue and orange recolor of the standard Grave Digger design. It appeared in the Superstar Challenge as part of Team Neon. Adam Anderson would successfully complete a reverse backflip during the best trick competition. |
Miscellaneous[]
Design | Description | Picture |
---|---|---|
"Grim" / Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger | A Hot Wheels concept toy, first released in 2004. This design prominently featured the "Grim" mascot character on both sides, as well as several ghosts, some unnamed tombstones, the haunted house, and a unique version of the Grave Digger logo, featuring Dennis Anderson's name above it. The roof had a skull and crossbones-style version of Grim, as well as a "Bad to the Bone" logo. The 2006 and 2007 releases had a chrome body. It is unknown if either version of this design was ever planned to be made in real life. Both pieces of Grim mascot artwork would later appear on the real-life truck's roof over the years. | |
Halloween | A Hot Wheels concept toy, released in 2015 as a Monster Jam Superstore exclusive. This design featured a pumpkin patch in place of the graveyard; each pumpkin has a truck's logo carved into it. Additionally, the ghost has a jack-o-lantern face, a scarecrow is present, the Grim mascot is carved into a pumpkin on the roof, the flame color was changed to purple and a witch is flying over the haunted house. Only 5,000 units were produced. It is considered the rarest of the Halloween series trucks. | |
Zombie | A Spin Master concept toy, first released in 2020 under the Zombie Invasion/Zombie vs. Hunter line. This design had a red and toxic green color scheme and depicted several zombies trudging through a graveyard. This design also featured a red, screaming, zombified-version of the regular ghost, as well as blood instead of flames. While it was stated in late 2019 that two trucks from this line would be made in real life, none of them ever came to reality at all.[7] | |
Galaxy | A Spin Master concept toy, first released in 2021 under the Gears and Galaxies line. This design had a purple and blue color scheme, includes stars all around the paint scheme, and depicts the classic graveyard on the moon (instead of Earth) as well as the Earth instead of the full moon in the background. No trucks from this line were made in real life, aside from Monster Mutt Dalmatian Galaxy. | |
Surf | A Spin Master concept toy, first released in 2022 under the Earth vs. Surf line. This design had a light blue color scheme and depicted a shipwreck in place of the graveyard. Nicknamed "Wave Digger" by fans. | |
Nitro |
Championships[]
- 1999 - Dennis Anderson (Points)
- 2000 - Dennis Anderson (WF freestyle)
- 2002 - Dennis Anderson (Points)
- 2003 - Randy Brown (Points)
- 2004 - Dennis Anderson (WF racing)
- 2006 - Dennis Anderson (WF racing)
- 2010 - Dennis Anderson (WF racing)
- 2016 - Morgan Kane (WF racing and AMSOIL West), Adam Anderson (WF freestyle and FS1 Series), Cole Venard (AMSOIL East)
- 2017 - Cole Venard (Triple Threat - West), Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat - East), Randy Brown (Arena Tour #4), Pablo Huffaker (Arena Tour #5), Charlie Pauken (Stadium Tour #4)
- 2018 - Charlie Pauken (Stadium Championship Series 2), Morgan Kane (Stadium Championship Series 3), Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat - Central), Adam Anderson (WF racing)
- 2019 - Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat - West), Brandon Vinson (Triple Threat - Central), Adam Anderson (Stadium Championship Series 2), Randy Brown (Arena Tour)
- 2020 - Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat- East), Brandon Vinson (Triple Threat- West), Randy Brown (Arena Series), Charlie Pauken (Stadium Series- Yellow)
- 2022 - Brandon Vinson (Arena Series- West, WF racing), Krysten Anderson (Arena Series- Central), Weston Anderson (Arena Series- East)
- 2023 - Weston Anderson (Arena Tour East), Brandon Vinson (Arena Tour Central), Adam Anderson (Stadium Tour Red), Tyler Menninga (Stadium Tour Blue and WF skills challenge)
- 2024 - Matt Cody (Arena Tour West) (driver for WF unknown since he is on the international tour)
Monster Jam World Finals appearances[]
World Finals | Year | Driver(s) | Appearance | Performance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monster Jam World Finals I | 2000 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals II | 2001 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals III | 2002 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals IV | 2003 | Pablo Huffaker | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals V | 2004 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals VI | 2005 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals VII | 2006 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals VIII | 2007 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals IX | 2008 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals X | 2009 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XI | 2010 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XII | 2011 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XIII | 2012 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XIV | 2013 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XV | 2014 | Dennis Anderson | Main field |
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Monster Jam World Finals XVI | 2015 |
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Main field | Anderson:
Pauken:
Eichelberger:
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Monster Jam World Finals XVII | 2016 |
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Main field | D. Anderson:
A. Anderson:
Venard:
Kane:
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Monster Jam World Finals XVIII | 2017 |
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A. Anderson:
Kane:
Brown:
Menninga:
K. Anderson:
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Monster Jam World Finals XIX | 2018 |
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A. Anderson:
Pauken:
Kane:
Menninga:
K. Anderson:
Vinson:
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Monster Jam World Finals XX | 2019 |
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A. Anderson:
Menninga:
Kane:
Brown:
Vinson:
K. Anderson:
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Monster Jam World Finals XXI | 2022 |
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A. Anderson:
Menninga:
W. Anderson:
Vinson:
K. Anderson:
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Monster Jam World Finals XXII | 2023 |
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A. Anderson:
Menninga:
W. Anderson:
Vinson:
K. Anderson:
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Monster Jam All Star/Superstar Challenge appearances[]
Event | Year | Driver(s) | Appearance | Performance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monster Jam All Star Challenge | 2019 |
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Main field | A. Anderson:
Menninga:
Pauken:
K. Anderson:
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Video game appearances[]
- Monster Truck Wars
- Monster Truck Madness
- Monster Truck Madness 2
- Monster Truck Madness 64
- Monster Truck Madness (GBA)
- Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction
- Monster 4X4: Masters of Metal
- 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
- Monster Jam Steel Titans 2
- Monster Jam Showdown
Digger's Dungeon[]
Digger's Dungeon in Poplar Branch, North Carolina, serves as the official home and workshop of Grave Digger. It houses other various FELD vehicles from time to time. It features a gift shop and the "Rust in Peace" museum, which opened inside the compound in late 2022 and contains replicas of Grave Digger 1 (blue/silver), "red primer" Grave Digger, the original Grave Digger 1 ("Grandma) and many other displays, photographs and memorabilia from over the 40+ years of the truck's existence. The Digger's Diner restaurant sits nearby, with autographed Grave Digger hoods on the interior ceiling. Krysten Anderson still serves food there when she is not on tour.
Trivia[]
- An official website based on and dedicated to Grave Digger used to exist, though it was closed in early 2017 and the URL now redirects to the truck's page on the official Monster Jam website. Despite its closure, archives of it are still accessible via the Wayback Machine.*
- Each Grave Digger body is hand-painted and lettered by New Jersey native Jim McShea. It takes about fifty hours to complete each one.[8]
- As a result, no two Grave Digger bodies are the exact same. The fog designs are slightly different, akin to the lightning designs on Blue Thunder.
- The original Grave Digger body cost $500 to be hand-painted by airbrush.
- The 25th anniversary chrome body took about 60 hours to spray completely chrome.[9]
- In recent years, the bodies are painted using stencils to achieve a uniform look and continuity.
- The tombstones on the side of Grave Digger represent many different things:
- Trucks that Grave Digger has defeated in racing throughout the years.
- Anderson family drivers that have competed in Monster Jam tours (Dennis on his own tombstone, Adam, Ryan, Krysten, and Weston on one tombstone).
- Spin Master (Hot Wheels prior to 2019), Monster Jam, Monster Jam's website, gravedigger.com (even after its closure), and Jim McShea's signature.
- Grave Digger is one of the few trucks to have competed in every Monster Jam season since the official start of the league in 1992. Additionally, Grave Digger is the only truck that has been released every single year in both the Hot Wheels and Spin Master Monster Jam toy-line. Along with El Toro Loco and Blue Thunder, the truck has also appeared in every Monster Jam video game to this day and is the only truck to be in every single game licensed by the USHRA, along with some other games, namely the Monster Truck Madness series.
- By definition, this makes Grave Digger one of only two FELD-owned trucks that have officially been in the same game as Bigfoot, the other being Bulldozer.
- Grave Digger is also the only FELD-owned truck to be present at every Monster Jam World Finals, and is only one of two in total to make it to every Monster Jam World Finals event since its inception. The other is Avenger.
- Additionally, Grave Digger was the only truck to have both a Fire and Ice version, as well as a toy that is half-fire, half-ice.[10]
- Grave Digger's theme song, "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, is also the truck's motto. The tolling bell in the intro of "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC is also played before the truck comes out.
- However, this wasn't always the case. Its original slogan was "We ain't bad but the bad don't mess with us!!", then "We're not the baddest but the bad don't mess with us!", then later became "Bad to the Bone".
- Coincidentally, both the truck and its theme song were made in 1982.
- In 2002, an original theme song was written for the truck, named "Six Feet Under". It was made by Clear Channel Studio Musicians, who also made themes for Team Meents, Power Forward, and Gunslinger. Its only known use at an event was Fargo 2007,[11] though it was also featured in the end credits of the Grave Digger 20th Anniversary VHS.
- Grave Digger is the only "boss" truck in the Path of Destruction video game to have its real-life theme song; the rest of the soundtrack is made up of original compositions.[12]
- Grave Digger is one of the three trucks owned by FELD that was sold to them, rather than built by them. The other two are Bulldozer (prior to 2022) and Son-Uva Digger.
- Dennis Anderson was the only driver in the Grave Digger team to win multiple world titles until 2013, when Adam won his second title in Grave Digger the Legend. The truck has had a total of 8 world championship titles and the team as a whole has 14 championships as of 2023 (Adam has 5, Dennis has 4, Morgan, Charlie, Brandon, Tyler and Pablo all have one each).
- Grave Digger is also the only truck so far to have multiple drivers win Monster Jam World Finals championships in it (Dennis, Adam, Brandon Vinson and Morgan Kane).
- As of 2023, the Grave Digger team collectively has as many World Finals championships as Tom Meents does by himself.
- Grave Digger's mascot character, referred to as "Grim", was designed by former Senior Monster Jam designer Neil Vandenberg in the early 2000's.[13] Vandenberg has also created several different paint schemes for the truck, including the "Green Ghost" and Zombie designs, as well as the current logo.[14][15]
- Over the years, the truck has had many fill-in drivers, including Tom Meents, Jim Koehler (Philadelphia 2003), Marc McDonald (Indianapolis 2014), Daron Basl (Portland 2012), Eldon DePew, Paul Cohen (various 2012), Mike Vaters and others. Jon Zimmer also served as a fill-in before becoming a full-time member.
- Grave Digger's red headlights originally came from a school bus that Dennis was modifying into a hauling rig.[16]
- Grave Digger 37 was the first Grave Digger to debut overseas for the 2018 Latin American Tour.
- At SEMA 2017, Grave Digger's iconic ghost had flames added to its eyes and was displayed with its original zoomies.[17] A year later, for promoting a 2018 NBC special, Jim McShaw painted the NBC Logo on one of the tombstones of a Grave Digger body.[18] These designs were reverted back to normal and were never run at any events.
- It is contested whether Grave Digger 5 should be considered its own chassis or not, despite the fact that the frame was specially built for it and Grave Digger 2 never moved from its Currituck chassis.
- While an official Grave Digger 13 was never built, 12 was actually the thirteenth chassis to run as Grave Digger because of Pablo running his second Jus' Show-N-Off chassis as a Grave Digger truck. Grave Digger "13" did not turn out unlucky after all, as it stood out for being Grave Digger's longest tenured tube chassis, and was the first to feature the updated paint scheme in 1997.
- Adam Anderson temporarily shelved his Grave Digger truck in 2021 as he switched to Megalodon on a spare CRD 3.0 chassis, but returned to Grave Digger 35 at Indianapolis on June 12-13, 2021. He proceeded to celebrate his return to Grave Digger 35 by winning the freestyle at Indianapolis event 1 by 0.014 points (9.513 to Linsey Read's 9.499), the Indianapolis event 1 overall championship by virtue of freestyle tiebreaker, and won racing in Indianapolis event 2 .
- Ryan Anderson is technically apart of the Grave Digger team, but is considered separate from its core members, running his own truck instead of another Grave Digger.
- Grave Digger appears in There Goes a Monster Truck. The event shown is Salt Lake City 1995 and Pablo Huffaker was driving.
- In the first event at Tampere in 2022, Tyler Menninga recorded the lowest winning scores in both the two-wheel skills challenge and freestyle competitions, scoring a 5.494 and 5.444, respectively.
- Saudi Arabia 2017 was one of the few Monster Jam shows in recent years to not have Grave Digger whatsoever, due to religious reasons.
- A Grave Digger Wild Trax truck was planned many years ago, but never came to be. It was mentioned by Dennis in the 25th Anniversary DVD.
- An RC similar to the original idea was released by Spin Master in 2023.
- Grave Digger has made several non-Monster Jam television appearances, both official and unofficial:
- In the House, M.D. episode "Sports Medicine", characters Gregory House and Allison Caeron go to a monster truck rally and pass by Grave Digger, as House states that "Grave Digger never disappoints".[19] House is depicted as being a fan of monster trucks throughout the show, even driving one in a later episode.[20]
- Dennis and Grave Digger 20, alongside several other trucks, appeared on America's Toughest Jobs in 2008. In the episode, Dennis attempted to coach several contestants on the basics of monster truck driving, from acceleration to tire-switching. However, because many of the contestants were very unfamiliar with monster trucks, they'd often fail these tasks, breaking a jack and nearly running over some officials; as a result, Dennis frequently got very angry at them, swearing several times and demanding that they get out of the trucks.[21]
- Dennis and Grave Digger 20 appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien's 2009 Halloween episode, where he crushed the world's largest pumpkin;[22] footage of this episode was later used to promote Cincinnati 2010.[23] Three years later, Conan would try to drive Grave Digger 22 himself and crushed an RV.[24]
- Dennis and Grave Digger 20, alongside Tom Meents and Maximum Destruction, appeared on Destroy Build Destroy in 2010. In the episode, Dennis and three teenagers built a coffin-shaped battering ram (nicknamed "GD 21") to compete against Tom and his team. Grave Digger won the competition, and Max-D's battering ram would be destroyed by an explosive briefcase.[25]
- In a Family Guy episode "Bri-Da", an unnamed, purple-flamed Grave Digger parody was briefly seen in a commercial for the 28th Annual Quahog Monster Truck Rally and Gun Show.[26] Grave Digger's name would also be mentioned in the episode "Carny Knowledge", with Brian Griffin's girlfriend Amber breaking up with Brian saying that he doesn't know any Kid Rock lyrics or monster truck names. Brian mistakes the truck's name as "Grave Maker", but Amber angrily corrects it.[27]
- Grave Digger is 1 of 3 trucks usually seen at every show. The others are El Toro Loco & Megalodon.
Gallery[]
Designs[]
Merchandise[]
Miscellaneous[]
References[]
- ↑ File:Ef98e759-7160-4496-a57a-5138e7fcb175.jpg
- ↑ Next Qualifier for Monster Jam World Finals XX
- ↑ Monster Jam on Instagram: “Congratulations @brandonvinsongd on winning Monster Jam Triple Threat Series Central!...”
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCajS8Gqwns
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWa5ZRauTtI
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hHFkPzW88
- ↑ https://youtu.be/_jro97mdxiI?t=149
- ↑ https://wtop.com/entertainment/2022/06/monster-truck-driver-marks-40-years-of-grave-digger-as-monster-jam-revs-into-fedex-field/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPgOWl063nE
- ↑ File:2020 Fire & Ice Color Windshields (5).jpg
- ↑ Fargo 2007 footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DlASx39Dqg
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMSDYJ92wWc
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm26Yp2jsde/?hl=en
- ↑ Green Ghost mention: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp1hiCdN2sS/?img_index=1
- ↑ Zombie: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIyjE7Whs0E/?hl=en
- ↑ https://youtu.be/PFKrqtVr7QY?t=1109
- ↑ Ghost with flaming eyes: File:Sema1.jpg
- ↑ NBC tombstone: File:IMG 8158.jpg
- ↑ https://youtu.be/X7Uzesrtj7w?t=367
- ↑ https://youtu.be/2t5WgH6Pvhk?t=225
- ↑ Compilation of Dennis getting angry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUTWpaNK43w
- ↑ NBC airing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIX-2iP604
- ↑ Cincinnati 2010 promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8lCFXYQpI
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E00esr6QGjE
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4QBKhCs-qA
- ↑ https://youtu.be/2vaLmPFT9cM?t=59; The description for this video names the wrong episode.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpXl4GDRJw4