The competitors posing for a picture. Notice the 2002-early 04 Hot Wheels design not used during the actual competition.
Monster Jam World Finals V (Also written as Monster Jam World Finals 5) was the fifth annual Monster Jam World Finals, held on March 20, 2004 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event utilized a sixteen-truck lineup and was broadcasted on Speed Channel after the actual event.
Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger won his first World Racing Championship against teammate Pablo Huffaker in Blacksmith. Meanwhile, this event would become most notable for being the only World Finals in history to feature a three-way tie in Freestyle, with Madusa, Tom Meents, and Lupe Soza all winning the World Freestyle Championship, each with a score of 31.
The freestyle layout included a rock pile and bus stack on the left, a rail-car jump on the center, and a box van stack and 30 foot tall trailer on the right with a camper added towards the far end and the trailer/bed combo in the right lane.
Special Paint Schemes
(Note: * indicates a non-competing truck)
Advance Auto Parts Metal Monster debuts*
Ameriquest Freedom debuts*
Avenger ran an orange body
Blacksmith debuted a new Sparks body
Hot Wheels debuts a new orange body
King Krunch Debuts a new cartoon body
Little Tiger ran a special hood which read "2003 World Finals Racing Champion"
Results
Qualifying Times
Maximum Destruction - 16.12
Grave Digger - 16.91
Bounty Hunter - 16.94
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 17.24
Power Forward - 17.38
Monster Mutt - 17.81
El Toro Loco - 17.81
Madusa - 17.98
Bulldozer - 18.09
King Krunch - 18.29
Little Tiger - 19.78
Blacksmith - 20.28
Blue Thunder - 21.78
Avenger - 35.76
Team Suzuki - DNF
Hot Wheels - DNQ
Racing
Round One
Maximum Destruction vs. Hot Wheels
Monster Mutt vs. Bulldozer
Power Forward vs. Blacksmith
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Blue Thunder
Bounty Hunter vs. Avenger
Little Tiger vs. Madusa (wins but crashes and cannot return)
King Krunch vs. El Toro Loco (crashes)
Grave Digger vs. Team Suzuki
Round Two
Maximum Destruction vs. Monster Mutt
El Toro Loco's Crash
Blacksmith vs. Blue Thunder
Bounty Hunter vs. Little Tiger (blew a tire)
King Krunch vs. Grave Digger
Semi Finals
Maximum Destruction vs. Blacksmith
Bounty Hunter vs. Grave Digger
Championship Race
Blacksmith vs. Grave Digger
Freestyle Order
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
King Krunch
Team Suzuki
Little Tiger
Hot Wheels
Bounty Hunter
Bulldozer
Monster Mutt
Power Forward
Blacksmith
Blue Thunder
El Toro Loco
Madusa
Maximum Destruction
Grave Digger
Avenger
Freestyle Scores
El Toro Loco - 31
Madusa - 31
Maximum Destruction - 31
Bounty Hunter - 30
Grave Digger - 30
King Krunch - 27
Blacksmith - 26
Hot Wheels - 25
Little Tiger - 23
Bulldozer - 20
Monster Mutt - 19
Power Forward - 14
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 11
Team Suzuki - 9
Blue Thunder - 9
Avenger - 9
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles going over the buses, notably not on the DVD or recording
Ditto
Encore
2 Grave Diggers during the Encore
2 Blue Thunders during the Encore
3 tandem freestyle performances were performed, one at a time. The first performance featured two Blue Thunder trucks, being driven by Tony Farrell and George Balhan. This was followed by two Maximum Destruction trucks, being driven by Tom Meents and Neil Elliott. The final performance featured 2 Grave Digger trucks, being driven by Charlie Pauken and Dennis Anderson..
This event marked the first of the following occurrences:
The first World Finals in which the defending Freestyle Champion would end up recording the lowest score, being Jim Koehler in Avenger.
To add to that, Koehler was also the first (and so far only) driver to have recorded the lowest score at a World Finals and then went on the win the title the next year. All of this happening prior to this year's World Finals.
The first World Finals in which none of the trucks scored higher than 35 in freestyle.
The first World Finals to be commentated by Ken Stout.
The first World Finals in which Avenger featured a special paint scheme for the occasion, which has become a tradition ever since.
The first World Finals in which the racing times for each winner were publically released.
This event marked the only occurrences of the following:
The only World Finals to utilize "The Thirty-Second Rule", in which a truck could resume if they had rolled the truck within 30 seconds of its freestyle performance.
On a related note, Blue Thunder was one of the trucks that rolled over in the first 30 seconds, but did not continue due to a broken four-link bar at the very start of its run.
The only World Finals event in which both Bulldozer and El Toro Loco competed.
All but one of the races in this World Finals (due to El Toro Loco crashing) were won by the driver in the right hand lane.
Madusa won against Little Tiger due to the latter hitting a turning pole and getting a 5 second penalty. However, Madusa crashed after the race and was unable to return, meaning Little Tiger was reinstated.
This was the first year where Pablo Huffaker's freestyle run would end because of the middle ramp. Pablo would then have an unlucky streak of going over because of the middle, most of them from the left side of the ramp, before World Finals 10 where the streak finally ended for him.
Brutus did an exhibition run down the track before the show began, despite not being invited as a competitor.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually had two crashes in freestyle, even though only one was shown on the DVD. It was implied that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crashed in the first 30 seconds, but did not continue, but actually did continue and crashed again (Remember: this World Finals had the rule where a truck could resume, if possible, if they rolled in the first 30 seconds of freestyle).
Team Suzuki as well had part of its run cut from its DVD and TV appearances. The run cuts off after Suzuki drives to the end of the track, when in actuality, the truck made third run at the van stack before shutting down
This event was also the debut of the new "spark-themed" Blacksmith design. Its driver, Pablo Huffaker, reportedly did not care for the new paint job.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles World Finals 5 Freestyle
The third Blue Thunder (the one that lost its hood) in the encore was run on the Advance Auto Parts Metal Monster chassis, and the third Maximum Destruction (rear-engined) was run on the Ameriquest Freedom/Demolition Man chassis.
Lupe Soza's freestyle run was originally scored a 27. However, due to overwhelming displeasure from the crowd, the judges adjusted their scores for Lupe and awarded him 31 points, giving him his freestyle championship. This would be the first and currently only occurrence of a score change for a World Finals freestyle run.
The second Maximum Destruction in the encore (The rear engined Ameriquest Freedom chassis) strangely ran one of the 2003 Maximum Destruction bodies, characterized by its lighter color scheme.
This World Finals has so far had the most trucks left on the field for freestyle with 9 out of the 16 trucks being left on the field after their freestyle runs.
The SPEED Broadcast of this event is the only remaining known footage of Belgium 2004 and Nokia N-GAGE.
During the 2004 winter season, Tom Meents ran a special Maximum Destruction body that featured electricity instead of flames. However, the body was not placed on the truck until before racing began, instead sporting the regular body that Neil Elliott's truck would use for the group photo and the pit party.
