Monster Jam World Finals XVIII

Monster Jam World Finals XVIII
Promotional logo.
Host	FELD Motorsports
League	Monster Jam
Date	March 23-25th, 2017
City	Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue	Sam Boyd Stadium

Monster Jam World Finals XVIII (Also written as Monster Jam World Finals 18) was the eighteenth Monster Jam World Finals, held on March 23-25th, 2017 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. A thirty-two truck lineup was featured for the main event, with five of the competitors being the champions in both of that year's Fox Sports 1 Championship Series and Monster Jam Triple Threat Series, respectively. Meanwhile, a sixteen-truck lineup was featured for the Double Down Showdown. The event was broadcast on Fox Sports 1 after it took place. Tristan England in Earth Shaker won the Double Down Showdown Championship, defeating Eric Swanson in Obsessed. For the main event, Ryan Anderson in Son-Uva Digger won his first world championship in racing, defeating Tyler Menninga in Grave Digger. Meanwhile, Lee O'Donnell in VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist won the world freestyle championship, while also performing the first-ever frontflip in competition, with a score of 9.355.

Lineups

Double Down Showdown

1. Grave Digger - Krysten Anderson (Double Down Showdown debut)
2. Blue Thunder - Matt Cody (Double Down Showdown debut)
3. Zombie - Ami Houde (Double Down Showdown debut)
4. Alien Invasion - Bernard Lyght (Double Down Showdown debut)
5. Pirate's Curse - Camden Murphy (Double Down Showdown debut)
6. Max-D - Jared Eichelberger
7. Monster Mutt Dalmatian - Cynthia Gauthier
8. El Toro Loco - Mark List (Double Down Showdown debut)
9. El Toro Loco - Kayla Blood
10. Earth Shaker - Tristan England (Double Down Showdown debut)
11. Scooby Doo - Bailey Shea
12. Stinger - Zane Rettew (Double Down Showdown debut)
13. Jester - Matt Pagliarulo (Double Down Showdown debut)
14. Rage - Cory Rummell (Double Down Showdown debut)
15. Obsessed - Eric Swanson
16. Saigon Shaker - Ryan Disharoon

Main event

1. Grave Digger - Adam Anderson

   

   Monster Energy crashing during qualifying.

2. Grave Digger - Morgan Kane
3. Avenger - Jim Koehler
4. Northern Nightmare - Cam McQueen
5. Bounty Hunter - Jimmy Creten
6. Overkill Evolution - Mike Vaters II
7. Monster Mutt - Charlie Pauken
8. Son-Uva Digger - Ryan Anderson
9. Monster Energy (F-150) - Coty Saucier
10. Max-D - Neil Elliott
11. Team Hot Wheels Firestorm (Graffiti) - Scott Buetow

    

    Coty Saucier, fastest qualifier.

12. El Toro Loco - Marc McDonald
13. Monster Mutt Dalmatian - Candice Jolly
14. Dragon - Jon Zimmer
15. Gas Monkey Garage - BJ Johnson
16. Scooby-Doo! - Brianna Mahon
17. Metal Mulisha - Matt Buyten (World Finals debut; only World Finals appearance)
18. Zombie - Bari Musawwir
19. Soldier Fortune - Chad Fortune (Last World Finals appearance)
20. VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist - Lee O'Donnell
21. Max-D - Colton Eichelberger
22. FS1 Cleatus - Colt Stephens (World Finals debut)
23. Wild Flower - Rosalee Ramer (World Finals debut)
24. Great Clips Mohawk Warrior - Bryce Kenny (World Finals debut)
25. El Toro Loco - Becky McDonough (World Finals debut)
26. Razin' Kane - Buddy Tompkins (World Finals debut)
27. Grave Digger #29 - Randy Brown
28. Lucas Oil Crusader - Linsey Weenk (Fox Sports 1 Points Series East champion)
29. Monster Energy (Escalade) - Todd LeDuc (Fox Sports 1 Points Series West champion)
30. Grave Digger #23 - Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat Series East champion; World Finals debut)
31. Megalodon - Alex Blackwell (Last World Finals appearance)
32. Earth Shaker - Tristan England (Double Down Showdown champion; World Finals debut)

​Hosts (Announcers)

• Ryan LaCosse: Primary announcer
• Leslie Mears: Pit reporter, Stadium main stage (freestyle only)
• Scott Douglass: 2017 awards ceremony (Stadium main stage- Friday only)
• Keith Jones: Pit party, NGK main stage
• Jody Donnelly: Entertainment Zone
• Taylor Mock: Stands- right lane
• Michael Navarro: Stands- left lane
• Scott Jordan: RC World Finals (Pit party)
• Ken Navitsky: NGK main stage
• K. Yung: NGK main stage

Special paint schemes

• Avenger ran a special dark green with chrome logo scheme for the World Finals.
• Team Hot Wheels Firestorm debuted a graffiti paint design.
• Obsessed debuted a new retro body style.
• Jester ran a special hood graphic with the words "Welcome to Fabulous Monster Jam Las Vegas" in place of the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" words on the famous Las Vegas sign.
• Wonder Woman debuts. *Non competing.

On the 2018 Hot Wheels toy. Note the added "Monster Jam" Words on the sign.

Double Down Showdown racing

Round 1

Max-D vs. Pirate's Curse (Pirate's Curse crossed the line first, but red lighted. Max-D would advance on.)

Obsessed vs. Scooby Doo!

Saigon Shaker (Crash) vs. Grave Digger

Rage vs. El Toro Loco (Blood)

Zombie vs. El Toro Loco (List)

Blue Thunder (wins, but was unable to continue due to damage) vs. Jester

Earth Shaker vs. Alien Invasion

Monster Mutt Dalmatian vs. Stinger

Round 2

Saigon Shaker vs. EL Toro Loco (Blood)

Max-D vs. Obsessed

Earth Shaker vs. Monster Mutt Dalmatian (crash)

Jester vs. El Toro Loco (List)

Semi finals

El Toro Loco (List) vs. Earth Shaker

Obsessed vs. Saigon Shaker

Championship race

Earth Shaker vs. Obsessed (crash)

The champion, Earth Shaker.

Double Down Showdown encore

All DDS competitors come out to do donuts. Unlike the previous years, this time the trucks would have fireworks at the tailgate of their trucks.

Qualifying times

1. Monster Energy (Saucier) - 15.841
2. Son-Uva Digger - 15.898
3. Max-D (Elliott) - 16.201
4. Grave Digger (Anderson) - 16.236
5. Gas Monkey Garage - 16.336
6. Monster Energy (LeDuc) - 16.338
7. Fox Sports 1 Cleatus - 16.360
8. Grave Digger (Kane) - 16.389
9. Grave Digger (Menninga) - 16.435
10. Max-D (Eichelberger) - 16.483
11. Dragon - 16.487
12. Team Hot Wheels Firestorm - 16.569
13. Megalodon - 16.574
14. Avenger - 16.664
15. Earth Shaker - n/a
16. Mad Scientist - 16.710
17. El Toro Loco (McDonald) - 16.716
18. Grave Digger (Brown) - 16.732
19. Zombie - 16.748
20. Monster Mutt Dalmatian - 16.764
21. Metal Mulisha - 16.772
22. Overkill Evolution - 16.799
23. El Toro Loco (McDonough) - 16.800
24. Monster Mutt - 16.883
25. Northern Nightmare - 16.950
26. Wild Flower - 16.966
27. Scooby-Doo - 17.059
28. Razin Kane - 17.155
29. Lucas Oil Crusader - 17.307
30. Soldier Fortune - 17.435
31. Bounty Hunter - 17.453
32. Great Clips Mohawk Warrior - 17.475

World Finals racing

Original render of the racing track.

Round 1

Monster Energy (Saucier) vs. Great Clips Mohawk Warrior

El Toro Loco (McDonald) vs. The Mad Scientist (wins, but got disqualified for a red light)

Monster Mutt (red lights, disqualified) vs. Grave Digger (Menninga)

Grave Digger (Kane) vs. Northern Nightmare

Gas Monkey Garage vs. Razin Kane

Grave Digger spins out and slams into the wall.

Team Hot Wheels Firestorm vs. Metal Mulisha

Megalodon vs. Monster Mutt Dalmatian

Grave Digger (Anderson) vs. Lucas Oil Crusader

Max-D (Elliott) vs. Soldier Fortune

Zombie vs. Avenger

Dragon (wins, but got disqualified for a red light) vs. Overkill Evolution

Monster Energy (Leduc) vs. Scooby Doo!

Fox Sports 1 Cleatus vs. Wild Flower

Max-D (Eichelberger) vs. El Toro Loco (McDonough) (wins, but crashes and could not return)

Earth Shaker vs. Grave Digger (Brown)

Son-uva Digger vs. Bounty Hunter

Round 2

El Toro Loco (McDonald) vs. Monster Energy (Saucier)

Grave Digger (Menninga) vs. Grave Digger (Kane)

Team Hot Wheels Firestorm vs. Gas Monkey Garage

Lucas Oil Crusader vs. Megalodon

Avenger vs. Max-D (Elliot)

Overkill Evolution vs. Monster Energy (Leduc)

Grave Digger (Brown) vs. Son Uva Digger

Max-D (Eichelberger) vs. Fox Sports 1 Cleatus

Quarter finals

Grave Digger (Menninga) vs. Monster Energy (Saucier) (red lights, disqualified)

Gas Monkey Garage vs. Megalodon

Overkill Evolution vs. Avenger

Son-Uva Digger vs. Max-D (Eichelberger)

Semi finals

Grave Digger (Menninga) vs. Gas Monkey Garage

Avenger vs. Son-Uva Digger

Championship race

Grave Digger (Menninga) vs. Son-Uva Digger

Racing encore

All racing competitors come out and line the track. The Monster Jam 25th Anniversary truck came out, and circled the track, before doing a backflip over Son-Uva Digger. Then, all Young Guns, and other displays came out onto the track. There is debate as to whether or not the said backflip was planned. Due to the metallic ramp that was featured on the dirt, which appeared similar to the one Tom Meents used for his frontflip in East Rutherford 2015, it is believed that the initial plan was for a frontflip, not a backflip. In fact, the metallic ramp does not appear to serve any significant purpose for a backflip, and so some fans believe that the ramp did not work properly and gave out, which did not throw the truck forward, but instead it continued to flip backward. However, this can be disproved as Tom Meents went into the stands after the encore and yelled, "Who do you think did it first?", implying that Tom had, in fact, tested this several times, and that it was meant to happen, as well as the fact that team actually successfully performed this stunt several times at Monster Jam University.

Freestyle order

1. Megalodon
2. Great Clips Mohawk Warrior
3. Grave Digger (Brown)
4. El Toro Loco (McDonough)
5. Earth Shaker
6. Gas Monkey Garage
7. FS1 Cleatus
8. Bounty Hunter
9. Metal Mulisha
10. Razin' Kane
11. Dragon
12. Grave Digger (Menninga)
13. Avenger
14. Monster Mutt Dalmatian
15. Wild Flower
16. Max-D (Eichelberger)
17. VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist
18. Zombie
19. Monster Energy (Saucier)
20. Scooby-Doo!
21. Soldier Fortune
22. Northern Nightmare
23. Grave Digger (Kane)
24. El Toro Loco (McDonald)
25. Lucas Oil Crusader
26. Son-uva Digger
27. Team Hot Wheels Firestorm
28. Monster Mutt
29. Grave Digger (Anderson)
30. Overkill Evolution
31. Max-D (Elliot)
32. Monster Energy (LeDuc)

Freestyle scores

Original render of the freestyle track.

1. VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist- 9.355
2. Max D (Elliott) - 9.316
3. Avenger - 9.240
4. Northern Nightmare - 9.000
5. Team Hot Wheels Firestorm - 8.786
6. Grave Digger 33 (Kane) - 8.193
7. Wild Flower - 8.155
8. Great Clips Mohawk Warrior- 8.100
9. Son-uva Digger- 8.043
10. FS1 Cleatus- 7.864
11. Grave Digger 29 (Brown) - 7.800
12. Monster Energy (LeDuc) - 7.500
13. Grave Digger 32 (A. Anderson) - 7.390
14. Scooby Doo - 7.268
15. Zombie - 7.166
16. El Toro Loco (McDonald) - 7.163
17. Grave Digger 23 (Menninga) - 7.105
18. Bounty Hunter - 7.098
19. Metal Mulisha - 7.094
20. El Toro Loco (McDonough) - 7.073
21. Earth Shaker - 6.888
22. Monster Energy (Saucier) - 6.814
23. Megalodon - 6.799
24. Lucas Oil Crusader - 6.675
25. Overkill Evolution- 6.591
26. Dragon - 6.289
27. Max-D (Eichelberger) - 6.186
28. Monster Mutt Dalmatian - 6.143
29. Razin Kane - 5.800
30. Monster Mutt - 5.217
31. Soldier Fortune - 4.448
32. Gas Monkey Garage - 4.341

Freestyle encore

The Anderson children (Adam, Ryan & Krysten) came out and did donuts followed by one after the other backflips. They were then joined by the other four available Grave Diggers and they all did a side by side jump from one end of the track to the other and kept driving until all the trucks either rolled or couldn't continue.

• Retro Grave Digger (Blue) (on Grave Digger #27): Adam Anderson
• "Grandma" Grave Digger (on Grave Digger 31): Krysten Anderson
• Chrome Grave Digger #30: Ryan Anderson
• Grave Digger #34: Carl Van Horn
• Grave Digger #23: Tyler Menninga
• Grave Digger #33: Morgan Kane
• Grave Digger #29: Randy Brown

Other awards

Matt Pagliarulo, Rising Star of 2017.

These awards were given out on the night of March 24th 2017, before the racing competition began.

• Rising Star of the Year: Matt Pagliarulo, Jester
• Technician of the Year: Buddy Young, Stinger/Master of Disaster  
• Rookie of the Year: Camden Murphy, Pirate's Curse
• Stadium Wheelie of the Year: Kelvin Ramer, Time Flys
• Arena Wheelie of the Year: Tyler Menninga, Grave Digger
• Donut of the Year: Tom Meents, Max-D
• Arena Freestyle of the Year: Alex Blackwell, Megalodon
• Stadium Freestyle of the Year: Todd LeDuc, Monster Energy
• Crash Madness: Dave Radzierez, Xtreme Diesel
• Save of the Year: Kelvin Ramer, Time Fly's
• Wow Factor: Chuck Werner, El Toro Loco
• Extreme Air: Jim Koehler, Avenger

Reception

World Finals 18 has been generally well received and has been seen as a vast improvement over previous World Finals, particularly the last two years. The track this year has been praised for its increased use of crush cars and for adding a bus, as well as the addition of a water fountain. Other praised aspects include its exciting Double Down racing event, racing encore, and freestyle encore. Koehler's Avenger paint scheme and the new Hot Wheels paint scheme were also praised. On the flip-side, there was still some criticism to this World Finals, particularly the absence of Tom Meents and Dennis Anderson, as both were out for injury this year. The judging was still controversial this year, although it was not as harshly panned as it was the previous two years. Fans also found the Double Down encore to be rather underwhelming and criticized the track for using the same color scheme as the previous year. The use of multiple trucks, particularly the four Grave Diggers (would have been up to six had Krysten Anderson won the Double Down Showdown and had Dennis Anderson been competing) was also criticized.

Later reception for the event has been considered even more postive with the event often being considered one of the best World Finals in it's history. In 2022 the Monster Truck Youtuber MonsterTalk ranked it as his second best Monster Jam show of all time behind only Monster Jam World Finals IX.

Anti-FELD graffiti

As shown in social media pictures, several fans protested FELD's business practices (believed to be including but not limited to lack of crush cars, PPV, use of fan judges, spiked ticket prices, and FELD removing several Monster Jam related YouTube videos recorded by fans at various shows) by writing several anti-FELD statements such as "FELD IS A**", "FELD IS RUINING MJ", and "FELD SUCKS A**" on the turning post cars in the pit party's "graffiti zone".

Trivia

• The fastest qualifier was Coty Saucier in Monster Energy.
• After their final qualifying pass Team Hot Wheels clipped a back tire of LeDuc's Monster Energy which upset the suspension of LeDuc's truck which in turn caused the truck to roll.
• Neither Tom Meents or Dennis Anderson competed in this World Finals as both were out due to injuries. This makes it the first World Finals without both Meents and Anderson, the first without Tom Meents and the first without Dennis Anderson since Monster Jam World Finals 4: these statistics include World Finals 0, in-which both drivers competed (in Meents' case, in Bulldozer). This meant that Jim Koehler is now the only driver to compete in every World Finals since 2000.
• During the freestyle encore, Dennis Anderson revealed that he will no longer compete in the World Finals. However, he is not officially retired. Though later that year, he announced that he would officially step away from driving.
• The Triple Threat Series Central and West champions, Cole Venard and Justin Sipes respectively, were originally going to compete in the event, but were unexpectedly dropped for various reasons.
  • On April 3rd 2017, Venard revealed that he had a new daughter and retired from monster truck driving to raise his new daughter. This would be temporary, as later that year he would announced to be driving The Black Pearl).
  • Sipes' reason is due to having failed a breathalyzer test. He was still present at the event during the Pit Party however.
• Alex Blackwell drove Megalodon for Justin Sipes, while Randy Brown drove Grave Digger for Cole Vernard’s absence.
• This was the first World Finals since Monster Jam World Finals 11 to have a fountain obstacle. This is likely for two reasons: to commemorate Avenger's 20th anniversary, as well as complaints of previous tracks lacking a fountain, causing Koehler to provide his own water feature himself.
• This year's Young Guns Shootout (a.k.a. Double Down Showdown) was the first to have a truck lose a tire (Matt Cody's Blue Thunder in round 1 against Jester, sending Jester to the next round despite losing).
• This was the first year two of the same truck faced off in racing: the two trucks would be Tyler Menninga and Morgan Kane in Grave Digger, with Menninga getting the win. This situation almost happened in 2016 at World Finals 17 between Damon Bradshaw and Coty Saucier's Monster Energy trucks, but Bradshaw would have technical problems, giving Saucier a pass-by victory.
• There was a shooting in Las Vegas the same day the World Finals took place (freestyle) that caused a lock-down on the near-by Vegas strip: one person died. The World Finals itself was unaffected by the incident.
• Obsessed used the truck's original body in the racing encore instead of the brand new Ford F-100 he debuted a day before. This would be because of his crash in the final round of the Double Down Showdown
• Colton Eichelberger used Tom Meents' chassis for this World Finals.
• The first ever monster truck frontflip during competition was pulled off by Lee O'Donnell, winning him the freestyle championship. The first ever frontflip was performed by Charlie Pauken in An Escalade, filling in for George Balhan in Virginia 2008, as the stunt is almost similar fashion to Lee's stunt, but it clipped another set of crushed cars, before going back to its wheels. The second one was performed by Tom Meents and Max-D, but only as an encore. On top of that, Meents did not officially land the flip, as it stuck the tailgate before the wheels. O'Donnell, however, did land it.
• Team Hot Wheels Firestorm would set another record by landing 4 backflips beating his record of 3 at last year's World Finals.
• This was the first World Finals to not use judges (due to the controversial scores from the previous 2 world finals): instead, the audience scored the freestyles with the Judges Zone system.
• This would also be the first World Finals in which the then defending Young Guns Shootout champion (Scott Liddycoat) would not return, due to being part of an international tour. Liddycoat would eventually retire from monster trucks altogether before the start of the 2018 season.
• VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist is the first truck to win the World Finals freestyle competition using the Judges Zone website for scoring, which had a high score of only 10 instead of 40.
• With a total of four, there was a record number of red lights this year, eliminating top contenders from the racing bracket.
• Camden Murphy and Pirate's Curse red lit three times during the DDS, twice in qualifying and one in round one.
• Soldier Fortune lost a wheel part way into the run, the wheel came completely off during a hit and bounced off the roof the truck after it landed.
• After the Grave Digger 35th anniversary encore, one of the fireworks launchers malfunctioned and shot the fireworks into the side of the bus ramp instead of shooting up them over the track.
• This World Finals had a total of ten announcers, more then any other before.
• This would be the very last show for Metal Mulisha due to the contract expiring.
• This was the first World Finals to date to not have its own home video release.
• This would be the only World Finals appearance of Razin' Kane as a competitor for the main event to date.
• This would be the first year the term "Double Down Showdown" was used in place of the old "Young Guns Shootout".
• This was the last time the wheelie of the year award was featured at the awards ceremony as it was rebranded as the Two-wheel skill of the year award in 2018.
• Obsessed's crash in the Double Down Showdown final round is similar to Taz's crash 7 years ago when he beat Gunslinger in the second round of racing.
• There were muddy conditions on certain areas of the track in freestyle. This was because several trucks ran through or landed in the fountain, splashing water into the right corner of the track.
• For some odd reason, the full Double Down Showdown competition was not shown on the TV broadcasts despite the previous and future Young Guns competitions being broadcast on TV. However, the full competition is available on YouTube and can be viewed here.
• This was the last World Finals to have Scott Douglass do the TV commentary.
• This was the first world finals to have two El Toro Loco's in the main field.

• Jim Koehler managed to win more rounds of racing in this World Finals than he had ever won in his entire career at the World Finals combined. Prior to World Finals 18, he had won a grand total of 3 rounds of racing and never made it past round 2 in racing. This year, he managed to accumulate 3 racing wins and made it all the way to the semi finals.
  • Ironically, since this, he has yet to win a round of racing in the World Finals (barring his automatic advancement to round 2 in Monster Jam World Finals XXII due to Armando Castro and El Toro Loco being unable to make the call in round 1).

Errors

The erroneous claim.

• On Monster Jam's official website, after the final race between Anderson and Menninga they stated that "No two Team Grave Digger Drivers have ever gone head-to-head in the final round of racing at Monster Jam World Finals". However, this is false: Pablo Huffaker (a team Grave Digger driver at the time) faced Dennis Anderson in the final round of Monster Jam World Finals 5, with Anderson getting the win.

Exhibition trucks

Ride trucks

• BKT
• Grave Digger #11
• Mighty Monster Bus
• Wheels of Freedom

Displays

• Airborne Ranger
• Barbarian
• Big Kahuna
• BKT
• 2nd Bounty Hunter
• Brutus
• Carolina Crusher
• Cyclops
• Cyclops (restored classic)
• Devastator
• D'Sturbed
• Enforcer
• Extinguisher
• "Grandma" Grave Digger
• Grave Digger the Legend
• Hillbilly Deluxe
• Ice Cream Man
• Illuminator
• Iron Outlaw
• Jail Bird
• Joey Strong
• Master of Disaster
• Maniac
• Midnight Rider
• Monster Jam 25th Anniversary
• Monster Patrol
• Monster Patrol (Phelp's Ride)
• New Earth Authority (N.E.A Police)
• Nitro Menace
• Obsession
• Over Bored
• Paddy Wagon (ride truck) 
• Play'n For Keeps
• Quadzilla
• Rat Attack
• Reptoid
• Scarlet Bandit
• Stealth
• 2nd Team Hot Wheels Firestorm
• The Law (Thomas)
• Time Flys
• T-Maxxx
• T-Wrecks
• Unnamed & Untamed
• USA-1
• War Machine
• Warrior
• Wild Thang
• Wonder Woman
• Xtreme Diesel
• The Xtermigator

Pit party trucks that did not appear

• McGruff
• Wrecking Crew (was switched for Joey Strong)

​Entertainment zone

• FMX
• BMX
• Freestyle Sport Bikes
• Drifter