Monster Jam World Finals I

Monster Jam World Finals I
Home video logo.
Host	PACE Motorsports
League	USHRA Monster Jam
Date	March 25th, 2000
City	Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue	Sam Boyd Stadium

Monster Jam World Finals I (also written as Monster Jam World Finals 1) was the first official Monster Jam World Finals event, held on March 25th, 2000 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. This also marked the inaugural event at Sam Boyd Stadium. This event featured a sixteen truck lineup and was broadcasted on Pay-Per-View the day after the event. Tom Meents in Goldberg would become the first-ever world racing champion, defeating Scott Hartsock and Gunslinger in the championship race. Meanwhile, Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger won the first-ever world freestyle championship, scoring a perfect 40, being the only perfect score in the history of the event.

Lineup

(Note: ** indicates a truck/driver's only World Finals appearance).

1. WCW Nitro Machine** - Charlie Pauken
2. Sting - Sky Hartley**
3. Bulldozer - Guy Wood
4. nWo** - Rob Knell**
5. Avenger - Jim Koehler
6. Sudden Impact - John Seasock
7. Prowler** - Dave Pezo**
8. King Krunch - Scott Stephens**
9. Reptoid**- Jim Jack**
10. Madusa - Debra 'Madusa' Miceli
11. Gunslinger - Scott Hartsock
12. Airborne Ranger** - Joe Cypher**
13. Wrenchead.com - Lyle Hancock
14. Predator - Allen Pezo
15. Goldberg - Tom Meents
16. Grave Digger - Dennis Anderson

Track layout

The track layout was basic compared to modern standards, but it was a very large and daring track for its age. The track itself featured two trucks starting beside each other behind the stadium. Each truck would drive down an individual lane that was the length of the stadium itself, performing a U-turn before flying over the row of crush cars, crossing the finish line in the process.

Track layout.

Qualifying between Madusa and Bulldozer.

WCW Nitro Machine sliding out in qualifying.

Grave Digger crashing in qualifying.

The World Finals I intro.

Wrenchead.com at the World Finals I Celebrity Drive event.

Racing results

Round 1

Goldberg vs. WCW Nitro Machine

Bulldozer vs. Predator

Sudden Impact vs. Wrenchead.com (crashes, but successfully exits the stadium)

nWo vs. Sting

Madusa vs. Airborne Ranger (crashes)

Reptoid vs. Gunslinger

King Krunch vs. Avenger

Grave Digger vs. Prowler

Round 2

Goldberg vs. Predator (crashes, but successfully exits the stadium)

Wrenchead.com vs. Sting

Madusa vs. Gunslinger

King Krunch (slides off course, but successfully exits the stadium) vs. Grave Digger

Semi-finals

Goldberg vs. Wrenchead.com

Gunslinger vs. King Krunch (blown engine)

Championship race

Goldberg vs. Gunslinger

Wrenchead after slamming into the dumpsters at the end of the course.

Goldberg's winning race.

Airborne Ranger after spinning out and slamming against the wall.

Predator, after losing control and hitting the wall in the same spot Airborne Ranger previously did (somehow surviving the collision this time).

King Krunch slides off the track in racing, nearly hitting a tree.

Freestyle order

1. Prowler
2. Reptoid
3. Sudden Impact
4. Madusa
5. nWo
6. Avenger
7. Bulldozer
8. Sting
9. Gunslinger
10. Predator
11. Wrenchead.com
12. WCW Nitro Machine
13. Goldberg
14. Grave Digger

Freestyle results

(Note: * indicates that a truck's freestyle performances was not shown on TV or home releases).

1. Grave Digger - 40
2. Wrenchead.com - 39
3. nWo - 37
4. Goldberg - 37
5. Madusa - 34
6. Gunslinger - 34
7. Predator - 29
8. Sting - 26
9. Sudden Impact - 26
10. Avenger - 26
11. Bulldozer - 26
12. WCW Nitro Machine - 19*
13. Prowler - 16*
14. Reptoid - 4*
15. Airborne Ranger - DNF
16. King Krunch - DNF

nWo being towed off the track, being the last time the truck was seen.

S10 Avenger debuting.

Wrenchhead.com performing its iconic reverse sky wheelie.

Unaired freestyle runs

Despite the event being broadcast over pay-per-view, being the first Monster Jam event to do so, the event was not broadcast live. It was instead shown on a tape delay the day after the event took place, presumably for reasons of experiencing Pay-Per-View broadcasting for the first time. Even then, the event was not shown in an uncut live form, as certain segments had been edited for time or removed entirely, which included three freestyles that all ended in under 10 seconds, being Prowler, Reptoid, and WCW Nitro Machine's runs. Their runs were also later not shown on the TV broadcast and the home video releases. For a long time their runs would be lost, until Prowler and Reptoid's runs were found on highlight and montage videos. However, Nitro Machine's is still lost and yet to have footage be released, as only few photos of the run still exist.

Prowler's unaired run.

Reptoid's unaired run, breaking before hitting any obstacles.

The replay for WCW Nitro Machine's unseen freestyle and the immediate aftermath.

WCW Nitro Machine being taken off the track after its freestyle.

Trivia

• This World Finals had an average score of 28.07 (excluding the trucks that did not compete in freestyle), the second highest in World Finals history.
  • Including the DNS trucks, the average score was 24.56, the highest average in WF history in this category.
• This event marked the only occurrences of the following:
  • The only World Finals to take place in Las Vegas to not feature encore performances at the end of the event.
  • The only World Finals appearances, truck-wise, for Airborne Ranger, nWo, Prowler, and Reptoid (although Reptoid did compete in the 1999 World Finals). However, at later World Finals events, Airborne Ranger and Prowler would only make pit party appearances.
  • The only World Finals appearances, driver-wise, for Joe Cypher, Scott Stephens, Rob Knell, Dave Pezo, Jim Jack, and Sky Hartley (although Scott Stephens competed in the 1998 World Finals, and both Scott Stephens and Jim Jack competed in the 1999 World Finals).
  • The only World Finals event where a truck would compete but not touch any obstacles at all aside from practice and qualifying (Airborne Ranger).
  • The only World Finals event where a truck would receive a score despite not hitting any obstacles.
  • The only World Finals event where a truck would receive a score of 40.
• This event also featured freestyle motocross featuring Mike Metzger and Brian Deegan. Metzger would win the three rounds of competition. This was only seen on the PPV broadcast.
  • Ironically enough, Brian Deegan would later join Monster Jam again, driving Metal Mulisha in 2012.
  • Supercross' Robbie Floyd was in attendance, broadcasting the freestyle motocross portion of the show.
• This event would feature the debut of the updated Chevrolet S10 body style for Avenger.
• With Madusa being the only woman in the field, it would make her the first woman to compete in the World Finals.
• Monster Jam World Finals 1 would be the final show for nWo before the truck would be retired afterwards.
• Guy Wood and Charlie Pauken would be the only drivers not to be invited to World Finals II the following year, but get an invite to a later World Finals, with Wood returning in 2002, and Pauken returning in 2006.
• King Krunch would be the only truck in the field to not be invited to World Finals II the following year, but get an invite to a later World Finals event, as it returned in 2004 with David Smith as its driver as well as a very different body design.
• Both Airborne Ranger and Predator had the same type of racing crash during racing, but ironically, Predator had the least amount of damage sustained in the collision with one of the stadium's walls.
• Bill Goldberg was in attendance, watching Tom Meents drive his truck. He also joined the broadcast booth twice during racing.
• According to an interview with Lyle Hancock during the first Minneapolis show of the 2001 season, his original plans for freestyle at World Finals 1 were to hit the container in reverse and do a 360, possibly meaning a reverse backflip.

• Michael Vaters, driver of Black Stallion, was scheduled to be at the event in attendance, but was booked for a Thunder Nationals event in Richmond, Virginia and was unavailable to attend.
  • Vaters would, however, later compete in the following World Finals in 2001.

• The event was originally supposed to have a twelve-truck lineup, with the first six trucks making it into the event based on points and the next six being voted in through the "Wrenchead.com Pick Six Sweepstakes". However, the event would instead feature 16 competing trucks. It is believed that the decision to make the event feature 16 trucks was a last-minute decision.
• Dennis Anderson brought Grave Digger XII to serve as a back up truck in case the truck he drove, VII, suffered mechanical issues. However, XII was never used.
• Dave Pezo in Prowler would be the first driver to ever freestyle in the World Finals.

Pit party

• Bounty Hunter
• Extreme Team
• Goldberg (display)
• Scarlet Bandit
• Grave Digger XII

Rare Quad race.

The unused Grave Digger XII.