Great Clips Mohawk Warrior (originally and simply known as Mohawk Warrior until 2017) was a 2004 Cadillac Escalade monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports and driven by Bryce Kenny. Created by George Balhan and introduced in the World Finals 11 encore in 2010, Mohawk Warrior started out as An Escalade's successor and a tribute to the "Mohawk Nation": Balhan's fanbase who’d style their hair in his image. Following Balhan’s retirement in late 2016, it had since served as a sponsorship for the Great Clips hair salon chain. Mohawk Warrior has become a staple of Monster Jam events and is best known for the giant mohawk on its roof, made out of fiberglass-laced broom bristles.
History[]
Mohawk Warrior originally debuted at Monster Jam World Finals XI on March 27, 2010, as an encore truck, with George Balhan driving. At the time of its debut, the truck was run on the Obsession chassis. The truck would later begin competition as the successor to Balhan’s previous truck, An Escalade.
In 2011, the truck entered its first full year of competition. Balhan and the truck would later be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals XII. During said event, Balhan and the truck would be eliminated in the semi-final round of racing by Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter, and finished sixth in freestyle. In Arnhem for show 3, Chad Tingler was the driver.
In 2012, Balhan and Mohawk Warrior would again be invited to compete at World Finals XIII. Despite being eliminated in round one of racing by Creten, both truck and driver would be most notable for performing a double consecutive backflip during its freestyle performance.
In 2013, Mohawk Warrior would receive a new chassis. Joe Miller drove the truck for the January show in Minneapolis of 2013.
In 2014, a second Mohawk Warrior was added to the team, with BJ Johnson driving. Johnson and the truck would later be invited to compete in the Young Guns Shootout at Monster Jam World Finals XV, with Balhan competing in the main event. Meanwhile BJ's chassis was lent to Donald Epidendio after his truck was destroyed in qualifying.
In 2015, George competed on Team Bad Boys vs Team Grave Digger in Ocala, Florida.
In 2016, Johnson left the team to drive the recently introduced Gas Monkey Garage, Balhan was left to re-assume full-time driving duties for Mohawk Warrior. That same year, the truck received sponsorship from Moto Metal and was later given special wheels for that occasion. 2016 would also mark Balhan’s final year of driving the truck, as he retired from competition by the end of the season. Following his retirement, Bryce Kenny took over the driving duties as the truck also received another sponsorship from Great Clips, resulting in the truck being rebranded as Great Clips Mohawk Warrior.
In 2017, Great Clips Mohawk Warrior competed in the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West. During the series, Kenny and the truck would win an overall event championship in Tucson and finished sixth in the series standings. They would later be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals XVIII. Meanwhile, an exclusive purple Mohawk Warrior would be featured at Monster Jam’s inaugural event in Saudi Arabia, with Steven Sims driving. Then-Pirate's Curse driver Camden Murphy also drove the truck at that year's Foxborough event due to Kenny taking time off to have a child. By the end of the season, the Moto Metal sponsorship would expire, resulting in Mohawk Warrior resuming using its original wheels.
In 2018, Great Clips Mohawk Warrior competed in Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 1. Kenny and the truck would later be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals XIX. Following the World Finals, they would win two freestyle championships, being in Syracuse and Houston, respectively.
In 2019, the truck competed in Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 2. During the series, Kenny and the truck won two freestyle championships in Oakland and Syracuse, respectively, and finished fifth in the series standings. They would later be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals XX, and later the inaugural All-Star Challenge in October, being drafted into Team Fire. For that occasion, the truck received a special fire paint scheme.
In 2020, the truck competed in Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series Red. During the series, Kenny and the truck won two racing championships, as well as a Skills Challenge championship in Atlanta and an overall event championship in San Antonio. This ultimately resulted in Great Clips Mohawk Warrior finishing fifth in the series standings again. After the entire Monster Jam season abruptly ended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the truck was placed on hiatus for the time being. It would, however, be featured in Monster Jam Breaking World Records, where it set a new speed record in monster trucks at 100.3 mph, breaking the previous record held by Mark Hall in Raminator at 99.1 mph. This would later be beaten by Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit in 2022. It would also be featured at Monster Jam’s return event in Arlington.
In 2021, the truck competed in the Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series. During the series, they would win racing in Houston, as well as the skills challenge competition in Tampa. They would ultimately finish fifth in the series standings yet again and would also receive a new chassis later in the season. The trucks most famous moment of the year would come in Indianapolis during one of the skills challenges, where the truck would lean too far forward and, in an attempt, to save the truck, it fell on its side and spun around, still trying to save it, but failed. Meanwhile, a second truck was added to the team, being driven by Elvis Lainez. He continued to drive the truck until the end of the season when he returned to driving El Toro Loco.
In 2022, the truck competed on Stadium Championship Series Red, picking up a skills win in the second Minneapolis show, a racing win in the first Detroit show, and a freestyle win in the Philadelphia show, famously completing two consecutive backflips, ironically a decade after it was originally done in 2012. He would finish fifth in the point standings and would receive an invite to World Finals XXI.
In 2023, Bryce drives the truck on the red stadium tour again & finishes 4th. Bryce would later be invited to World Finals 22. During the event, he would finish last in freestyle after stalling before hitting any obstacles. Bryce competed in the Superstar Challenge for Team Nitro in Anaheim on November 11.
In 2024, Bryce and the truck competed on the east stadium tour, finishing 4th. At show 2 in St. Louis, Bryce won freestyle with 2 consecutive backflips. At the Saturday night show in Atlanta, he won freestyle with a massive leap that might be one of the highest ever in Monster Jam. Bryce would win Extreme Air of Year for this. He would be invited to World Finals XXlll in Los Angeles. It is rumored the truck will be retiring at the end of the year, as Bryce is not scheduled to drive the truck in 2025. The trucks last scheduled show was in Vancouver at the end of September.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2010 - George Balhan (encore only)
- 2011 - George Balhan
- 2012 - George Balhan
- 2013 - George Balhan
- 2014 - George Balhan (main field) / BJ Johnson (Young Guns Shootout)
- 2015 - George Balhan (main field) / BJ Johnson (Young Guns Shootout)
- 2016 - George Balhan
- 2017 - Bryce Kenny
- 2018 - Bryce Kenny
- 2019 - Bryce Kenny (main field)
- 2022 - Bryce Kenny (main field)
- 2023 - Bryce Kenny (main field & high jump)
- 2024 - Bryce Kenny (main field/high jump)
All-Star Challenge/Superstar Challenge appearances[]
- 2019- Bryce Kenny (Team Fire)
- 2023 - Bryce Kenny (Team Nitro)
Video game appearances[]
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
- Monster Jam (mobile game)
- Monster Jam Battlegrounds
- Monster Jam: Crush It!
- Monster Jam Steel Titans
- Monster Jam Steel Titans 2
- Monster Jam Showdown
Trivia[]
- Mohawk Warrior is not actually the only FELD-owned truck to have had two sponsors at once. In 2017, it was sponsored by both Moto Metal and Great Clips. SoBe was the first and only other known truck to have/be a truck with two sponsors, the other sponsor was Suzuki, which is what SoBe became after the sponsorship ended after 2003.
- The regular version appears in Monster Jam Showdown, along with the Fire version & the purple version.