Rod Schmidt (born March 16th, 1972) is a monster truck driver and former owner who has driven several trucks (most notably Grave Digger and Monster Mutt Rottweiler) out of Charles City, Iowa. For more info, click here: https://web.archive.org/web/20111202065505/http://www.monsterjam.com/Bios/Drivers/Rod_Schmidt/
Career[]
Rod Schmidt began his career in the 1990's by driving Witch Doctor. He would then start running trucks like Temporarily Insane and Deep Fear, as well as his own version of Extreme Overkill and Carolina Crusher.
In 1999, he would briefly drive Monster Patrol for Paul Shafer Motorsports, most notably at the televised Seattle show. He drove WCW Nitro Machine at least once between 1999 & 2001.
In 2000, he ran his own version of Carolina Crusher, interchangeably with Temporarily Insane. In March, he would fill in for Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger 8, and by the end of the year, he became an official team Grave Digger driver. He would drive multiple Grave Digger trucks for the team during the 2000's, including 7, 8, 14, 18 & 19.
In 2005, he drove Safe Auto in Moline, Illinois.
In 2011, he drove Monster Mutt in Cincinnati.
In 2012, he would leave the Grave Digger team. In Ontario, he drove Maximum Destruction. In Birmingham, he drove Grave Digger the Legend.
In 2013, he started driving Monster Mutt Rottweiler.
In 2014, he drove El Toro Loco in Knoxville. In Atlanta, he almost landed a front-flip in freestyle. He would also make his first World Finals appearance.
In 2015, he drove Grave Digger #30 in Biloxi, Mississippi and Bridgeport, Connecticut for an injured Dennis Anderson. His second and final World Finals appearance as a competitor would be Monster Jam World Finals 16, once again driving Rottweiler. In Ocala, Florida, he competed on Team Bad Boys against Team Grave Digger.
In 2016, he drove Coast Guard for the World Finals 17 military encore. This would be his final full-time season in Monster Jam.
In 2019, he would return as a fill-in for Tanner Root, driving Iron Outlaw and Monster Mutt, getting his first racing win since 2013. Later that year, he would drive Bounty Hunter in Mansfield, Ohio.
In 2020, he drove The Xtermigator as a fill-in for Buddy Tompkins in St. Louis and The Rod Ryan Show on Saigon Shaker as a fill-in for Ryan Disharoon.
In 2021, he returned to driving monster trucks by driving Thrill Billy with his team truck, Redneck Rampage.
As of 2023, after selling Thrill Billy to Thomas Kimmons, he started driving Redneck Rampage in Princeton, Illinois.
In 2024, he hopes to run a new identity on the Redneck Rampage.
In 2025, he starts driving Bear Foot.
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Truck | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Grave Digger 18 | Encore only | ||
| 2014 | Monster Mutt Rottweiler | Qualifying: 21st (17.366) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Captain's Curse | Freestyle: 24th (12.5) |
| 2015 | Qualifying: 23rd (17.107) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Son-uva Digger | Freestyle: 14th (23) | |
| 2016 | Coast Guard | Freestyle encore only | ||
Gallery[]
