George Balhan (Born February 1st, 1972) is a former driver out of Chicago, Illinois, best known for driving An Escalade and Mohawk Warrior. George was famous for having a unique style in comparison to the other drivers both on and off the track. He was always known for his trademark mohawk hairstyle, which he sported for the majority of his career and in pit parties, George would usually use a couch for autograph sessions alongside his own personal models, as well as having loudspeakers set up which played music.
History[]
Before monster trucks, George raced motorbikes and ATV's. He also competed in Quad Wars at various events; this allowed him to become friends with others in the industry.
In 2003, George began his driving career and he would drive a multitude of trucks for his debut year. His first show was in Dallas at the start of January where he would drive Spider-Man, which was being campaigned by Bobby Zee at the time. George would drive Spider-Man for the following two weeks in Columbus and Reno, winning racing once in Columbus and three times in Reno. For the two weeks afterwards, George would campaign Vette King in Miami and Orlando, before driving Spider-Man again in Hampton. He won the Rookie of the Year award at the end of season, sharing the achievement with Rick Raab. In August, George would debut Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in Hamburg and would make his television debut at the 2004 season opener in Montreal. In September, he had his first show in Blue Thunder in Franklin.
In 2004, George was hand-picked personally by Ford executives to drive the second Blue Thunder full-time as they had been impressed with his performances the previous year. He would replace Lyle Hancock, who had retired. George mainly drove at arena events and non-televised shows, though he was able to secure a television appearance in New Orleans and appeared in a few Around the USHRA segments. At World Finals V, he appeared in the encore where he did a dual-freestyle alongside Tony Farrell with both Blue Thunder trucks.
In 2005, George would leave Blue Thunder and was given his own truck, which was unique compared to other trucks in Monster Jam in that it sported spinning rims and a simple black paint scheme with no decals. It debuted in Atlanta and was not referred to by name, with George just being billed by his surname 'Balhan'. As the season progressed, the truck was referred to by multiple names before it was simply named An Escalade after George told everyone not to worry about the truck's name and instead focus on him driving it. George was invited to World Finals VI, his first of many appearances to come at the World Finals. The day before the event, he would shave his hair into a mohawk, which became his signature style and a look he sported for the rest of his career. He later drove Monster Mutt in Helsinki and Stockholm on the European Tour.
In 2006, George won his first stadium freestyle competition in San Diego; also being his first stadium victory overall, and ran a special pearl white body on An Escalade for World Finals VII. Later in the year, he briefly returned to drive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on the European Tour.
In 2007, George won his first stadium racing competition in San Francisco and returned to Blue Thunder for Calgary and West Lebanon. He then won racing in Cardiff on the European Tour.
In 2008, George won racing at the second Anaheim show.
In 2009, George ran the 106.7 The Fox body for Detroit and drove Backwards Bob on the European Tour.
In 2010, George finished second in freestyle at World Finals XI in what would be his final event in An Escalade. During the encore at the end of the show, he debuted Mohawk Warrior, a truck that was themed after him.
In 2012, George did two consecutive backflips after time expired in freestyle at World Finals XIII.
In 2013, George drove Monster Energy in Mexico.
In 2015, he competed on Team Bad Boys vs Team Grave Digger in Ocala, Florida. George drove Bauhaus in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2016, George drove The Rod Ryan Show in Houston. He also drove Zombie for the European Tour.
George retired from driving just before the 2017 season, although he drove Bounty Hunter as a fill-in for Todd Morey in Anaheim.
In February 2025, George took part in an interview with fellow Mohawk Warrior driver Bryce Kenny where he revealed that he now lives in California.
Trivia[]
- On Monster Jam episodes, Mark Schroeder referred to George as "The punk with all the junk".
- Whenever George did not drive An Escalade, mostly on European Tours, he did not use his couch and music set up during pit parties and instead stood in the traditional way like the other drivers and wore a hat to cover up his mohawk. This was due to the other trucks not being fitting for George's more well-known setup.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20111202065309/http://www.monsterjam.com/Bios/Drivers/George_Balhan/
- In European episodes of Monster Jam, George was billed from Minooka, Illinois and/or Plainfield, Illinois.
- George has said that the World Finals should have stayed in Las Vegas.
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Truck | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Blue Thunder | Encore only | ||
| 2005 | An Escalade | Qualifying: 4th (17.78) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Grave Digger | Freestyle: 7th (25) |
| 2006 | Qualifying: 9th (17.41) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Safe Auto Minimizer | Freestyle: 13th (20) | |
| 2007 | Qualifying: 10th (16.65) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Grave Digger | Freestyle: 18th (16) | |
| 2008 | Qualifying: 12th (17.24) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Safe Auto Minimizer | Freestyle: 15th (18) | |
| 2009 | Qualifying: 11th (17.07) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Monster Mutt | Freestyle: 22nd (8) | |
| 2010 | An Escalade | Qualifying: 16th (16.88) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Spider-Man | Freestyle: 2nd (31) |
| Mohawk Warrior | Encore only | |||
| 2011 | Mohawk Warrior | Qualifying: 17th (17.03) | Racing: defeated in semi-finals by Bounty Hunter | Freestyle: 6th (28) |
| 2012 | Qualifying: 18th (17.193) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Bounty Hunter | Freestyle: 10th (25) | |
| 2013 | Qualifying: 12th (16.992) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Grave Digger the Legend | Freestyle: 23rd (8) | |
| 2014 | Qualifying: 14th (16.949) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Max-D | Freestyle: 25th (12) | |
| 2015 | Qualifying: 10th (16.697) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Monster Mutt Rottweiler | Freestyle: 29th (8.5) | |
| 2016 | Qualifying: 20th (16.518) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Grave Digger (Adam) | Freestyle: 23rd (19) | |
Awards[]
- 2003 Rookie of the Year (With Rick Raab)
- 2010 Fan-Tastic award
- 2011 Stadium Wheelie of the Year
- 2015 Stadium Wheelie of the Year
Gallery[]
