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Megalodon

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Megalodon is a custom 3D shark body monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports. Since its debut in 2017, the truck has been driven by multiple drivers over the course of its career, with its most notable being Justin Sipes, Cory Rummell, Alex Blackwell and many others. Its current drivers include Todd LeDuc, Ashley Sanford, Mikayla Tulachka, Charlie Pauken for select international shows, Angelina Nock & the newest driver, Kevin Crocker. Megalodon has become a major staple and fan favorite in Monster Jam since its introduction, having competed in four Monster Jam World Finals events and also having been campaigned by various teams on various chassis. The truck has also won two Triple Threat Series championships.

History[]

Megalodon was first announced in 2016 as one of two new trucks, alongside Earth Shaker, for the 2017 Monster Jam season. The truck entered competition the following year with Justin Sipes and Alex Blackwell as the drivers. Sipes would compete in the Triple Threat Series Central, and Blackwell would compete in Arena Championship Series 6. Sipes would win his series, resulting in him receiving an automatic invite to Monster Jam World Finals XVIII. However, due to failing a breathalyzer test, Sipes would be unable to compete in the World Finals, resulting in Blackwell driving the truck in his place.

In 2018, Blackwell competed in Stadium Championship Series 1, while Sipes competed in the Triple Threat Series East. Meanwhile, two more trucks would be added to the team, driven by Trent Montgomery on the Razin Kane chassis and Travis Groth on the Trouble Maker chassis. Both drivers would compete in the Triple Threat Series Central and West, respectively. Sipes would again win his series, resulting in him being automatically invited to Monster Jam World Finals XIX. Both truck and driver would be eliminated in round 2 of racing by Ryan Anderson and Son-Uva Digger, but would finish fifth in freestyle. They would later make their first stadium appearance in June, at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, and would later compete in that year’s Australian tour. Meanwhile, a fifth Megalodon would be added to the team, being driven by Chad Tingler in events throughout South America.

In 2019, Sipes competed in Stadium Championship Series 1. Razin Kane Monster Trucks would move their Megalodon to the FTI Torque chassis, with Jack Brown driving in the Triple Threat Series East. Two more trucks would be added to the team. The first would be driven by Austin Minton on the Jekyll & Hyde chassis, and the second, Megalodon Fire, would be campaigned by Cory Rummell on the Rage chassis. Both drivers would compete in the Triple Threat Series West and Stadium Championship Series 3, respectively. Sipes would be invited to compete in the main field of Monster Jam World Finals XX, while Rummell would be invited to compete in the High Jump competition. Later that year, Minton would suffer an injury, and would later temporarily drive for Vaters Motorsports while sharing driving duties with rookie driver David Olfert. Meanwhile, Rummell and Megalodon Fire would compete in the inaugural All-Star Challenge in October at Las Vegas, NV. Prior to said event, however, Justin Sipes would drive Megalodon Fire on his chassis for the October shows in Glendale. He would win racing over Ryan Anderson in Son Uva Digger.

In 2020, Rummell would campaign the standard Megalodon in Stadium Championship Series Green. Meanwhile, Sipes would return to the Triple Threat Series to compete in the Central tour, while Brown and Minton would compete in the Triple Threat Series East and West, respectively. Meanwhile, a fifth Megalodon would be campaigned by Devin Jones on the Barbarian chassis for select arena shows. After the entire Monster Jam season prematurely ended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Megalodon would be left without a full-time driver, as Sipes and Blackwell would be furloughed by FELD Entertainment due to budget cuts as a result of the pandemic. Adam Anderson would temporarily take over the driving duties for the time being, and both truck and driver would set a new record for most trucks jumped. Anderson would also drive Megalodon for Monster Jam’s return event in Arlington, Texas.

In 2021, Anderson and the truck competed in the Stadium Championship Series. After Anderson would return to driving Grave Digger in the summer, Tristan England would take over the driving duties for the time being, before returning to his original truck, Earth Shaker, the following year. Although still driving Earth Shaker, Tristan still often drives Megalodon at select events to this day.

In 2022, the truck would debut new LED light eyes for the truck's shark body. Former Alien Invasion driver Bernard Lyght would take over the driving duties, competing on Arena Championship Series West. For the Vancouver events, Randy Brown drove Bernard's truck. Meanwhile, Cory Rummell would return to driving the truck on Rage, competing in Stadium Championship Series Yellow. During the series, Cory would be very notable for his racing success, but also for making numerous final round appearances, yet not winning any of them. Bernard finished 6th and Cory would finish in fifth place. Cory would receive an invite to World Finals XXI. Tristan England returned to driving the truck at the London event as Peter Nyman was driving Earth Shaker. Tristan will be doing other international events in the truck for the rest of the year. Rookie Ashley Sanford makes her debut in Spokane.

In 2023, the truck runs on all six tours (being the only truck other than Grave Digger to do so). Todd LeDuc joins the team on the red stadium tour, Cory Rummell continues to drive the truck on his Rage chassis on the blue stadium tour and Bernard Lyght also continues to drive his version, this time on Arena Series East. Mikayla Tulachka runs the truck on the Just Get Er Done chassis on Arena Series Central and rookie Ashley Sanford drives the truck on Arena Series West. Charlie Pauken also drives the truck at select international shows. Todd's truck would dominate Detroit on Saturday night by winning every competition. In Tuscon, Brandon Arthur drives the truck for Ashley Sanford. Mikayla Tulachka would finish in 8th place on Arena Tour Central. In Glendale, Cory Rummell wins his first freestyle & overall event championship of the year. Bernard Lyght finishes 5th on Arena Tour East & rookie Ashley Sanford finished 6th on Arena Tour West. Todd Leduc finishes 6th on Stadium Tour Red. Todd Leduc would state on his Instagram that his truck doesn't like Megalodon on it & would rather have a Blue Thunder, Metal Mulisha or Monster Energy body on it instead. Cory Rummell finished 4th on Stadium Tour Blue. Todd and Cory would later receive invites to the World Finals, making it the first one to feature 2 Megalodons. During the World Finals, LeDuc's Megalodon received a Nitro Neon counterpart, being Megalodon Neon. In freestyle, he would complete a very high backflip. He was going for a double backflip, but backed out of the throttle during the attempt. In late August, the trailer with Ashley Sanford's truck, along with Loghan Ashline's Scooby-Doo! caught fire. There were no injuries. Devin Winfield would drive Megalodon for Ashley on the Kamikaze chassis for the weekend's events. New driver, Angelina Nock makes her debut in the truck in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In 2024, Ashley Sanford once again competed on the west arena tour, but finished 5th this time. Mikayla Tulachka competed on the central arena tour again & finished 7th. Todd Leduc drove the truck on the east stadium tour, finishing 3rd. Cory Rummell competed on the west stadium tour, finishing 6th. Angelina Nock competed on Arena Championship Series East, finishing 6th & Charlie Pauken continued to drive the truck for international shows. In Tacoma, Ashley Sanford would win both Sunday donut competitions on her birthday. Angelina wins one of the donut competitions in Baltimore, which would be her first win. Loghan Ashline fills-in for Ashley Sanford in Denver. Bernard Lyght returns to driving the truck in Tucson, Arizona to fill-in for Ashley. Blake Granger drives Charlie's truck when Matt drove Grave Digger in the US. Ashley gets her first career racing win at show 2 in Albany. Blake Granger drives the truck at certain international shows when Charlie drove Grave Digger. Todd LeDuc & Cory Rummell are invited to World Finals XXlll in Los Angeles. Cory would return to driving Megalodon Fire for the event. Ashley Sanford competes in the Last Chance Qualifying event at the World Finals. Mikayla's brother Brandan will take over for her for the end of August as she will be returning to nursing school, leading Alex Bardin to take over his truck. Later in the year, Kevin Crocker was posted on the Monster Jam website as a driver of the truck for next year, but was quickly taken down due to controversy over a driver leaving the team.

In 2025, Kevin Crocker returned to Team Scream Racing to replace Cory Rummell on the east stadium tour. Todd Leduc will compete on the west stadium tour. Mikayla Tulachka will compete on the east arena tour, Angelina Nock will compete on the central arena tour & Ashley Sanford will drive the truck on the west arena tour once again.

List of drivers[]

Current drivers[]

Former drivers[]

Trucks ran as Megalodon[]

World Finals appearances[]

  • 2017 - Alex Blackwell
  • 2018 - Justin Sipes
  • 2019 - Justin Sipes (main field only), Cory Rummell (Fire) (high jump only)
  • 2022 - Cory Rummell (main field & high jump)
  • 2023 - Todd LeDuc, Cory Rummell (main field)
  • 2024 - Todd LeDuc & Cory Rummell (main field), Ashley Sanford (LCQ), Mikayla Tulachka (Display)

All-Star Challenge appearances[]

  • 2019 - Cory Rummell (Fire) (Team Fire)

Superstar Challenge appearances[]

  • 2023 - Todd LeDuc (Neon) (Team Neon)

Video game appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Megalodon's prototype name was "Shark" when it was first announced, which was quite literal.
  • Megalodon & Alex Blackwell were the first truck & driver to be fan-judged on judgeszone.com, which was first introduced at World Finals XVIII.
  • During an event in Hampton, Virginia in 2017, the transmission in Blackwell's truck blew during the racing portion of the event. The crew was able to change the transmission in only 11 minutes so he could return for the wheelie competition.
  • The Megalodon Fire and Monster Mutt touring duo for 2019 are nicknamed "Team MeglaMutt".
  • The body used for Megalodon features a foam surface with fiberglass as a base.
  • The theme song used for Megalodon is a metal cover of the main theme from the movie Jaws, by YouTuber 331Erock.
  • The original render used for Megalodon featured blue beadlocks and the display in Monster Jam: Thunder Alley features them as well. Other photos for ads & when the truck is displayed on the jumbotron at shows always features the blue beadlocks, even though most of the trucks don't use them. However, they had never been used in competition until 2023, with Mikayla Tulachka's version using them. As of 2024, Tulachka's Megalodon is still the only one to run blue beadlocks.
  • When LED light eyes first debuted in 2022, they were originally exclusively featured in Lyght's truck until late February of that year, when Rummell's truck began sporting the blue LED's. Now all of the versions have the blue eyes.
  • In August 2018, the truck was temporarily renamed to The Meg to promote the upcoming movie of the same name. The truck was going to compete that weekend as The Meg in Los Angeles, but for unknown reasons, it went back to the standard Megalodon body. A second movie called Meg 2: The Trench was released in 2023 & the truck didn't compete as The Meg for the weekend of the release of that movie either.
  • Megalodon is one of the most popular in Monster Jam & is usually at each show, just like El Toro Loco & Grave Digger.
  • The bodies for Megalodon are the ones that are produced more than any other by Starr Creations.
  • Even though is was retired in 2019, Cory Rummell still uses his Megalodon Fire helmet.
  • Monster Jam's YouTube banner photo featured Megalodon & Monster Mutt Dalmatian racing at the World Finals for a long time. It was finally changed in 2024 for World Finals 23 in Los Angeles.
  • In Monster Jam Showdown, the regular version is a playable truck, along with the Zombie, Fire, Neon, Galaxy & a new brown/sand version. It is unknown if the brown version will compete in real life.

Gallery[]

Main gallery[]

Merchandise gallery[]

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