Monster Trucks Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Monster Trucks Wiki
Monster Trucks Wiki
9,091
pages
in: Monster Truck Terms, World Finals, Las Vegas, Events

Last Chance Qualifying

Sign in to edit


Last Chance Qualifying (formerly called the Young Guns Shootout and Double Down Showdown or simply Showdown) is a segment of the Monster Jam World Finals where a lineup of drivers compete in a racing competition for the final main field spot at said event. The event first made its debut in 2012 at World Finals XIII was held annually held each year until 2019 at World Finals XX where the event would go on a hiatus afterwards due to World Finals XXI's initial cancellation. The event, however, to made its return in 2024 for World Finals XXIII.

History[]

The Young Guns Shootout was first inaugurated into the World Finals in 2012 for Monster Jam World Finals XIII. Originally, the competition took place on the Thursday before the main events on Friday and Saturday. The lineup saw eight trucks, all with drivers who had no World Finals experience, racing each other in bracket-style racing similar to the main racing competition. This event would see Bari Musawwir in Spider-Man come out on top, making him the very first driver to ever win said competition. However, the concept of YGS winners making the main field wasn't conceived yet, and Bari did not compete in the main field.

In 2013 for Monster Jam World Finals XIV, the line-up was increased to 12 trucks. Notably, however, the now highly coveted prize of winning the YGS was announced for the first time, where the winner would earn the final spot in the World Finals main field. This event would see Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit not only win the competition, but would see him be the first YGS winner to earn his spot in the main field. This would make the Joe the first independent truck and driver to win said competition.

In 2014, the field was increased again to 14 trucks at Monster Jam World Finals XV. It also notably was moved from Thursday to the Friday before the main events due to the all new two-day format introduced at said World Finals. This YGS would see Mike Vaters II in Overkill Evolution win the competition and earn the final spot in the main field.

In 2015 at Monster Jam World Finals XVI, the field would increase once again, becoming a 16 truck field. This year would see Coty Saucier in Monster Energy win and earn his invite.

In 2016, there were no major changes to the event and it would see Scott Liddycoat in Dragon win the competition. Notably, Scott currently remains the first and only YGS winner to earn an invite the year they won, but never compete at any other following World Finals.

In 2017, the Young Guns Shootout would see a complete rebrand, now being under the name "Double Down Showdown." This was as a result of FELD Motorsports' new rule and censorship act of omitting all gun related media and references in their material. The competition itself would remain the same, and it would see Tristan England in Earth Shaker earn his spot in the World Finals. This would also be the final DDS to have an encore at the end of competition.

In 2018, due to the World Finals weekend shortening from Thursday to Saturday, to Friday and Saturday, the DDS would return to taking place on Friday before the main show racing, making it the first to do since 2013. It would also be the final competition of its kind to be held at Sam Boyd Stadium before the World Finals moved to its current rotational schedule. This year's DDS would see Cory Rummell in the Team Scream ran Pirate's Curse earn his spot in the main field.

For Monster Jam World Finals XX, the competition would see major changes. Firstly, the competition would see another rename, now simply being shortened to just the "Showdown." Additionally, the lineup would see a major decrease, getting cut in half to only 8 competitors, being the first since its inaugural competition in 2012 to feature said amount. This would see Linsey Read in Scooby-Doo! win her main field spot, notably making her the first woman to ever win the competition. Additionally, she would go on to win the freestyle championship at the same event, making her the first winner of the Showdown to earn her invite and win a championship. In 2020, the Showdown was originally slated to return like usual for Monster Jam World Finals XXI in 2020. However, the World Finals would infamously be cancelled and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This would put the Showdown on a long hiatus, as the return of World Finals XXI in 2022, as well as the following World Finals in 2023 would not see the Showdown initially return.

In 2024, for Monster Jam World Finals XXIII after fours years of absence, the Showdown made its return under the new name "Last Chance Qualifying." The competition took place Friday before the main event on qualifying day. The competition saw its lineup increase to twelve competitors, with four drivers receiving round 1 byes. The biggest and arguably most controversial change was the addition of drivers that had previously competed in a World Finals main field, such as Chris Koehler, Jamey Garner and Chad Tingler.

Champions[]

Encores[]

From 2012 until 2017, an encore would always occur after each competition.

  • 2012-2013 - All competitors come out to perform donuts.
  • 2014-2016 - All competitors once again come out and do donuts, with certain trucks additionally do celebratory backflips.
  • 2017 - All competitors come out to do donuts and a select few did backflips. However, a new addition is the trucks having fireworks at the tailgate of their trucks.

Trivia​[]

  • As of 2024, El Toro Loco is the only truck to be in every one of these competitions. To this date, no El Toro Loco truck has won the LCQ. In 2024, there were 2 El Toro Loco's in the lineup, those being Joe Foley & Jamey Garner.
  • Scott Liddycoat and Dragon and Cory Rummell and Pirate's Curse/Rage are the only teams to have rolled in racing or freestyle the same year that they won the title.
  • Mikey Vaters, Tristan England and Linsey Read are the only Young Guns/Showdown champions to have won a world title as well. Mikey won the 2015 World Finals Freestyle championship, Tristan won the 2023 World Finals racing championship and Linsey would be the first to win freestyle the same year she won the Showdown, winning the freestyle championship the next day.
  • Scott Liddycoat in Dragon and Cory Rummell in Pirate's Curse/Rage are the only drivers to not return to the World Finals main field the year after they won their Young Guns/Showdown championships.
    • However, Cory Rummell did compete in the high jump in 2019, driving Megalodon Fire.
  • Bad Habit, Overkill Evolution & Velociraptor are the only independent trucks to win a Young Guns Shootout championship. (Though Cory Rummell won with Team Scream's Rage chassis, a Pirate's Curse body was used on it).
  • Monster Energy, Pirate's Curse (Rage) and Velociraptor are the only trucks to not lose in the first round of racing in the main show. Scooby Doo won in the first round against Ice Dragon, but could not return for the second round, due to mechanical issues.
Screenshot 2018-05-25-21-45-51-64

Grinder after the incident

  • After the encore in the 2012 YGS, Nicole Johnson's Grinder broke its transmission and burst in smoke. The smoke got so big, it almost covered half of Sam Boyd Stadium. Johnson was unharmed by the event and the smoke would eventually disappear a few moments after.
  • Blue Thunder (Matt Cody) is the first truck to break off a tire in a Young Guns Shootout. This happened in 2017 against Jester (Matt Pagliarulo).
  • Becky McDonough is the only driver to compete in the first 5 Young Guns Shootout (2012-2016) in the same truck. Coincidentally, she also currently holds the record for the most consecutive appearances at the Young Guns Shootout/Double Down Showdown. 
  • Overkill Evolution (2014), Dragon (2016) and Scooby Doo (2019) are the only trucks to win from the left lane. 
  • Tony Ochs is currently the only driver to compete in the event three non-consecutive times, in 2016, 2018 and then 2024 in ThunderROARus.
  • In the championship race of the 2018 installment of the event, Brandon Vinson (Grave Digger) red lighted, causing Cory Rummell (Pirate's Curse) to win.
  • In the 2018 DDS championship race, Pirate's Curse broke its transmission.
  • No one has won racing yet the same year they won the event.
  • Overkill Evolution and Earth Shaker are the only trucks to win the Showdown the same year they debuted.
  • Linsey Read is the only woman to win the Showdown, being in 2019.

Gallery[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Monster Trucks Wiki