Robert David Knell (nicknamed "Cousin Rob") (February 19th, 1960-January 17th, 2024) was a monster truck driver out of Paxton, Illinois. He is most notable for being the “mystery driver” of nWo in 2000. Rob always drove under Team Meents, almost always using the former Taurus 4 chassis.
Career[]
Rob Knell first entered the monster truck industry as a crew member, going back to the early days of Tom Meents' time in Monster Patrol, on the Summer Heat tours. From here, Rob served as Tom's crew chief and head mechanic until the debut of Goldberg.
In 2000, Tom moved over to Goldberg and placed Rob in his former truck, Bulldozer, with him making his driving debut in Atlanta. Rob drove Bulldozer through the 2000 season and would also portray the "mystery driver" of nWo, but still using his Bulldozer chassis, scoring a racing victory in New Orleans over Jim Koehler in Avenger. He would get his first and only World Finals invitation that year as the nWo driver, finishing in joint third with, ironically, Tom Meents and Goldberg in freestyle. At the end of the season, an article on USHRA.com officially revealed him as the driver of the nWo, although his face had been shown on television multiple times and he was even accidentally called by name by announcer Dan Moriarty. Spokesman Chad Fortune would not allow the announcers & pit reporters to find out who the driver was.
Following the 2000 season, the nWo truck was discontinued and Rob went back to driving Bulldozer for the rest of the year. He would briefly retire from driving as his truck was turned into El Toro Loco in 2001 and wouldn't return to drive the truck as Bulldozer until the beginning of 2003.
In 2003, Rob drove High Roller in Tampa.
In 2004, Rob would continue to drive Bulldozer until that spring, when the truck was changed back to El Toro Loco.
In 2004, for the encore at the World Finals, the crowd watched tandem freestyle runs by first two Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder monster trucks, then two Maximum Destruction monster trucks, and finally, two Grave Digger monster trucks; however, despite bringing a second Bulldozer, he was missed in the encore, due to the fact that the first Bulldozer (Guy Wood) was too heavily damaged to join.
2004 Red Bluff incident/retirement[]
In late 2004, at the West Coast Monster Truck Nationals in Red Bluff, California, Rob Knell was critically injured during a qualifying pass, driving El Toro Loco. During the pass, the converter in his truck caused the transmission to explode, sending debris into fuel lines, and causing a massive explosion. The truck was completely engulfed in a raging fire as Rob Knell tried to get out for minutes. The fire was eventually extinguished, and Rob was rescued from the truck, yet had to be airlifted to the hospital. He was in critical condition, suffering 2nd degree burns over his body, a broken elbow and several broken fingers.
Despite the injury, he would eventually return mid-way through the 2005 Monster Jam season to drive Hot Wheels. Rob would drive Hot Wheels throughout January during the 2006 season, but would retire at the end of the month, with his final appearance being in Orlando.
Death[]
On January 17th, 2024, Rob passed away. He was 63 years old.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2000 - nWo
Trivia[]
- Rob was nicknamed "Cousin Rob" due to him being the cousin of Tom Meents.
- Rob served in the U.S. Army for three years prior to being a monster truck driver.
- Rob himself would give an interview once as the mystery driver of nWo on TV as opposed to the truck's spokesman (Chad Fortune) doing interviews for him.
Gallery[]
