Frank Krmel Jr. (born December 20th, 1978) is a monster truck driver, crew member and former broadcast commentator out of Detroit, Michigan. He is a driver for Monster Trucks Unlimited, but was known for driving a plethora of trucks such as Donkey Kong, Grinder, and Fox Sports 1 Cleatus. Frank has been confirmed to have driven at least 38 different trucks, the 4th most of any driver in monster truck history.
Career[]
Frank Krmel got his start crewing for Scott Stephens.
In 2001, Frank moved to Team Scream and even filled in driving for them on several occasions with Avenger being his first truck. He also drove for other teams such as Patrick Racing and Perrin Motorsports.
In 2002, Frank drove Willy Badd for a few shows when Jocelyn Perrin was pregnant.
In 2003, Frank moved to Randy Brown Motorsports to drive Pure Adrenaline on tour with Randy's Grave Digger 18. This was his first full time ride.
In 2004, Frank began competing for Monster Jam by driving Demolition Man until its retirement in February, after which he moved back to Pure Adrenaline until the summer. He later drove Exhaust Works for Team Scream in Joliet, Illinois.
In 2005, Frank moved to Power Forward in the last year for the truck, making his World Finals debut at World Finals VI. He would also debut Cowboy for Scott Hartsock in Ennis, Montana and drive Hot Wheels on the European Tour, picking up his first stadium racing victory at the second show in Arnhem, Netherlands.
In 2006, Frank drove the new Del Scorcho until its retirement in May. At World Finals VII he finished fourth in the freestyle competition after coming out second. He later drove Batman in West Lebanon as the truck had no full time driver at the time, El Toro Loco on the European Tour and Blue Thunder in Hamilton, Ontario.
In 2007, Frank drove a second Hot Wheels for the first quarter and then piloted Team Suzuki for freestyle at World Finals VIII after Bobby Parr drove it for racing. In the off-season, he drove Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle over the summer, El Toro Loco on the European Tour again where he won racing at the first show in Gothenburg and Blue Thunder in Hamilton again for the second year in a row. In December, Frank debuted Donkey Kong in Minneapolis, which became his longest full time identity at the time.
In 2008, Frank drove Bob & Tom at the Monster Truck Thunder Drags event in Springfield, Missouri in May, winning racing at one of the shows. In July, he would drive one of two Blue Thunder trucks at the Monsters on Mainstreet event in Houston, Texas.
In 2009, Frank won his first stadium freestyle competition at the second Anaheim show and would be the fastest qualifier at World Finals X. He won the Extreme Air of the Year award that year. In August, Frank officially joined the Blue Thunder team following the various fill-ins, making his debut as the second full-time driver of Blue Thunder in Glendale, before running his last show in Donkey Kong in Arnhem the following month.
In 2010, Frank won racing at both of the first two Anaheim shows and would appear in the encore at World Finals XI, marking the first time since 2004 that Frank was not invited to the World Finals as a competitor. He also won the Humanitarian of the Year award at the end of the season along with various other drivers. For the European Tour that year, he would drive Taz in Copenhagen, Denmark and Cardiff, Wales and then Spider-Man in Manchester, England and Arnhem.
In 2011, Frank moved to the Advance Auto Parts Grinder team alongside John Seasock. He won racing in Atlanta which was notable as he broke Dennis Anderson's undefeated streak that had lasted for eight events straight. At World Finals XII, Frank competed in the racing competition but Lupe Soza would drive Grinder for freestyle. Later in the year, he drove Batman again in Fishersville, Virginia, Traxxas E-Maxx in Barcelona, Spain, Spider-Man again in Arnhem and Wrocław, Poland and Iron Man in Monterrey, Mexico.
In 2012, Frank missed the first five weeks of the year due to an injury and Nicole Johnson would fill-in for him in the meantime; Frank returned in Rosemont, Illinois in February. He later drove Superman in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Inferno for the encore in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Wolverine for the Mexico Tour.
In 2013, Frank drove Superman again in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Quincy, Illinois as well as Thor in Arnhem and Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2014, Frank debuted Fox Sports 1 Cleatus following Monster Jam's move to Fox Sports. He won his second stadium freestyle competition at the second Houston show and would be invited to World Finals XV, taking part in his first World Finals freestyle competition since 2009. In September, he drove Captain America for the Mexico Tour. It was rumored that he was the Doom's Day driver in the encore at the third Anaheim show, but Frank himself has denied this speculation.
In 2015, Frank returned to El Toro Loco in El Paso, Texas and drove Backwards Bob in Moline, Illinois. He would make his final World Finals appearance at World Finals XVI.
In 2016, Frank ran his last year in Cleatus before Colt Stephens would take his place at the end of the year. He later drove Zombie in Santiago, Chile before announcing his retirement in late 2016.
In 2022, Frank came out of retirement to drive Bad News Travels Fast in Washington D.C. on Arena Series East.
In 2023, Frank made his full-time return driving Stone Crusher on Arena Championship Series East, but would finish 8th. Afterwards, Frank started driving Hooked.
In 2024, Frank drove Zombie on Arena Championship Series Central and finished 8th again. He would win a donut competition in Columbus, Ohio, which would be his only win of the season.
In 2025, Frank did not compete for the first quarter of Monster Jam, but Monster Trucks Unlimited competed in the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Tour. He would start also start driving Mega-Wrex that year.
Fill-in trucks[]
Frank is also known for his various fill-in identities. These he drove for one-off shows, as a temporary fill-in and during the off-season.
- Avenger (Unknown 2001 show)
- Willy Badd (2002 fill-in)
- Exhaust Works (Joliet 2004)
- Cowboy (Ennis 2005)
- Batman (West Lebanon 2006 & Fisherville 2011)
- El Toro Loco (European Tour 2006-2007; El Paso 2015)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Summer 2007)
- Team Suzuki (World Finals VIII freestyle)
- Bob & Tom (Springfield 2008)
- Taz (Copenhagen & Cardiff 2010)
- Spider-Man (Manchester & Arnhem 2010; Arnhem & Wrocław 2011)
- Traxxas E-Maxx (Barcelona 2011)
- Iron Man (Monterrey 2011)
- Superman (Halifax 2012; Abu Dhabi & Quincy 2013)
- Inferno (East Rutherford 2012 encore)
- Wolverine (Mexico City & Monterrey 2012)
- Thor (Arnhem & Stockholm 2013)
- Captain America (Mexico City & Monterrey 2014)
- Backwards Bob (Moline 2015)
- Bad News Travels Fast (Washington D.C. 2022)
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Truck | Results | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Power Forward | Qualifying: 10th (18.19) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Blue Thunder | Freestyle: 11th (23) | ||||||
| 2006 | Del Scorcho | Qualifying: 11th (17.53) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Blacksmith | Freestyle: 4th (29) | ||||||
| 2007 | Team Suzuki | Qualifying: N/A | Racing: N/A | Freestyle: 7th (26) | ||||||
| 2008 | Donkey Kong | Qualifying: 10th (17.07) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Grave Digger | Freestyle: 9th (26) | ||||||
| 2009 | Qualifying: 1st (16.50) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Madusa | Freestyle: 13th (21) | |||||||
| 2010 | Blue Thunder | Encore only | ||||||||
| 2011 | Advance Auto Parts Grinder1 | Qualifying: 11th (16.60) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by El Toro Loco | Freestyle: N/A | ||||||
| 2014 | Fox Sports 1 Cleatus | Qualifying: 24th (17.583) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Lucas Oil Crusader | Freestyle: 15th (24) | ||||||
| 2015 | Qualifying: 28th (17.711) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Grave Digger the Legend | Freestyle: 20th (17) | |||||||
Notes[]
1Also competed in encore.
Trivia[]
- Frank drove the same chassis (C26) from 2004-2007, comprising of Demolition Man, Power Forward, Del Scorcho and Hot Wheels, and would do so again in 2009-2016, after getting a new chassis, this time comprising of Donkey Kong, Blue Thunder, Grinder and Fox Sports 1 Cleatus.
- All of Frank's World Finals appearances have had him drive a truck that was sponsored at the time.
- Frank has driven every superhero truck (that competed full-time) at least once, with the exceptions of Hulk, Wonder Woman and Black Panther.
- Frank has driven the second most amount of trucks at the World Finals with 7, putting him behind Pablo Huffaker who has driven 8.
- In 2010, Frank appeared on the season 2 episode 7 of Ultimate Cake Off.
Accomplishments[]
- 2009 Extreme Air of the Year
- 2010 Humanitarian of the Year (alongside John Seasock, Lupe Soza, Charles Benns, Kathy Wills, and Dennis Anderson)
Gallery[]
