Monster Jam World Finals IV (also written as Monster Jam World Finals 4) was the fourth annual Monster Jam World Finals, held on March 22, 2003 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event utilized a sixteen-truck lineup, and was the only event of the 2003 Monster Jam season to be televised, as Monster Jam was only able to secure a TV deal after the event had taken place and not early enough to broadcast any other events from the season. Brian Barthel in Wolverine won the world racing championship, defeating Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter. Meanwhile, Jim Koehler in Avenger would win the world freestyle championship with a score of 37, making him the first driver to not be employed by Clear Channel Entertainment-Motorsports to win a world championship.
The racing track was the same as the one from the previous year, with the freestyle track including two buses facing longways in the center, a rail car and a 30 foot tall trailer on the right side, a delivery truck and an RV added to the right lane, a rock pile and a garbage truck on the left side, and a bus and an RV on a flatbed trailer in the left lane.
Results[]
Qualifying times[]
Bounty Hunter - 16.96
Wolverine - 17.18
Grave Digger - 17.21
Blacksmith - 17.34
Gunslinger - 17.47
Spider-Man - 17.92
Monster Mutt - 18.02
Madusa - 18.10
Blue Thunder - 18.24
Sudden Impact - 19.59
SoBe - 19.69
Black Stallion - 19.78
El Toro Loco - 37.81
Maximum Destruction - DNF
Avenger - DNF
Power Forward - DNQ
Racing[]
Round 1[]
Bounty Hunter vs. Power Forward
Madusa vs. Blue Thunder
Spider Man vs. SoBe
Blacksmith vs. El Toro Loco
Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction
Gunslinger vs. Black Stallion (crashes)
Sudden Impact vs. Monster Mutt
Wolverine vs. Avenger
Gunslinger breaking Tom Meents' 13 race streak.
Round 2[]
Bounty Hunter vs. Madusa
Spider Man vs. Blacksmith
Maximum Destruction vs. Gunslinger
Sudden Impact vs. Wolverine
Semi-finals[]
Gunslinger vs. Wolverine
Bounty Hunter vs. Blacksmith
Championship race[]
Bounty Hunter vs. Wolverine
Freestyle order[]
Blacksmith
Sudden Impact
Wolverine
SoBe
Power Forward
El Toro Loco
Monster Mutt
Spider-Man
Avenger
Madusa
Black Stallion
Bounty Hunter
Blue Thunder
Grave Digger
Maximum Destruction
Freestyle scores[]
Avenger - 37
El Toro Loco - 36
Monster Mutt's first World Finals freestyle.
Blue Thunder - 34
Madusa - 32
Black Stallion - 30
Power Forward - 29
Sudden Impact - 27
Blacksmith - 24
SoBe - 22
Spider Man - 22
Grave Digger - 20
Wolverine - 16
Bounty Hunter - 14
Maximum Destruction - 13
Monster Mutt - 9
Gunslinger - DNS
Encore[]
Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction 2, and two Blue Thunders performed a bonus freestyle. The encore started with Lyle Hancock returning to the track with his Blue Thunder, still damaged from freestyle. After driving back and forth across the track, going over the car stacks with great speed, Hancock brought the truck over to the corner of the stadium where he lined up to go over the trailer. As he did this, Tony Farrell brought out the second Blue Thunder truck in unison with Hancock's jump. As the two went over more obstacles, Pablo Huffaker and Tom Meents brought out Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction, with Huffaker entering the traditional way, and Meents leaping the trailer, which previously ended his freestyle at the end of the freestyle competition. It was at this point that Farrell's Blue Thunder rolled over after going over the container obstacle due to a missing car. Grave Digger hit the car stack one time, and Maximum Destruction flew over the center bus obstacle, before the trucks were shut off.
Lyle Hancock's Blue Thunder.
Blue Thunder jumps the trailer.
Tony Farrell's Blue Thunder.
Maximum Destruction enters the stadium by jumping the trailer.
The second Blue Thunder rolling over.
Maximum Destruction leaps the center bus stack before the trucks are shut off.
Team of the Year - Racesource Race Team, Pablo, Tina & Ryan Huffaker, Carl Van Horn, Grave Digger & Blacksmith
Special Recognition for Innovations in the Sport - Patrick Enterprises (Samson), Racesource Race Team (Grave Digger & Blacksmith), 2Xtreme Racing (Bounty Hunter & Scarlet Bandit) & Deist Safety
Special Recognition Award - Special T Tracks, Pro Tracks, & Dirt Wurx
Sponsor of the Year - Ford
Freestyle of the Year - Tom Meents, Maximum Destruction
This Monster Jam World Finals had the fewest crashes of any Monster Jam World Finals event with five crashes in total (one in racing, three in freestyle, and one in the encore).
This event marked the first of the following occurrences:
The first and (currently) only time where a truck would record the lowest score at the previous World Finals, and would then go on to win the competition the next year, in this case, being Avenger.
The first World Finals where a non-corporate-owned truck won a championship, being Jim Koehler in Avenger.
The first World Finals in which Tom Meents would not win anything.
The first World Finals to have someone start their freestyle from the other side of the track coming out of Thunder Alley. That driver was Tom Meents. The other drivers hit the yellow car on the one side of Thunder Alley. Tom came out on the other side, by hitting the camper on the trailer, which ended his run.
The first World Finals in which Dennis Anderson would not compete.
The first World Finals in which the winning truck would finish the full amount of allotted time and not roll over or crash.
The first World Finals to have multiple crush cars left intact at the end of the entire show, as the backside of the semi trailer stack was never jumped, even before El Toro Loco got stuck, unlike the previous year, where it was hit from both ways & totally destroyed.
The first World Finals to feature the slot machine containing balloons inside. Carl Van Horn in Blacksmith would be the first truck to hit said obstacle.
This World Finals marked the only occurrences of the following:
The only World Finals to feature Todd Frolik as a competitor.
The only World Finals to be announced by Joe Lowe.
This World Finals marked the last of the following occurrences:
The last televised appearance of Lyle Hancock and Todd Frolik, as both retired after this event was broadcasted.
The last World Finals event to have Spider-Man and Wolverine before 2010 when Spider Man returned and 2012 with Wolverine.
Additionally, this was the only World Finals event to have
the original versions of both Marvel trucks compete for both racing and freestyle.
It is debatable as to if this the only World Finals won entirely by independent teams. Brian Barthel (racing) owned the Wolverine chassis, but was working with a corporate sponsorship (Marvel). Jim Koehler (freestyle) being fully independent. The fastest qualifying pass was also by an independent team, being Bounty Hunter.
Pablo Huffaker was planned to drive Grave Digger 14. Huffaker could not reach the controls well, and ended up crashing through Thunder Alley during practice runs. As a result, he drove Grave Digger 16 instead for the rest of the show. He would drive Grave Digger 14 during the encore though.
Additionally, both Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction would lose control and break break through the fences at Thunder Alley during practice and qualifying. Avenger would spin out during qualifying, but not hit the fence.
Dennis Anderson would be unable to compete in the World Finals due to a broken hand. He was, however, in the broadcast booth for both the racing and freestyle shows on SPEED.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was intended to debut at this event. However, the body was not finished in time for the show, resulting in the debut being postponed.
This was the first World Finals where the two eventual champions (Wolverine and Avenger) faced against each other in racing.
Some of the shots shown in freestyle were shown in high resolution possibly meant to be used for the cancelled Monster Jam: The Movie. These runs include Sudden Impact, Black Stallion, Grave Digger, Avenger and Maximum Destruction respectively.
Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter once again used a flag from Scarlet Bandit, even though Dawn Creten was not a competitor.
This was the only World Finals were the championship race featured two independent drivers. Brian Barthel was driving Wolverine, which was a Clear Channel (Monster Jam)/Marvel sponsored body.
There is an error saying that Pablo Huffaker is from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina rather than Tomball, Texas on its home video release.
