Soldier Fortune Black Ops was a custom futuristic military vehicle monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports. It is a spinoff of Soldier Fortune and was most famous for being driven by Tony Ochs, out of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Since its debut in 2016, the truck competed in almost every Showdown competition at the Monster Jam World Finals and has also competed in the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series from 2018-2022.
History[]
Soldier Fortune Black Ops was originally announced in 2015 as part of the 2016 Monster Jam Season Kickoff. The truck later began competition the following year with Tony Ochs as the driver. Both Ochs and the truck would be invited to compete in the Young Guns Shootout at Monster Jam World Finals XVII, where they were outsmarted by Buddy Tompkins' Razin Kane. Lupe Soza drives the truck for the military encore. Soldier Fortune, Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines & Coast Guard also competed in the military encore.
Due to the truck’s chassis being used as part of that year’s International tour, Soldier Fortune Black Ops would be put on hiatus for a majority of the 2017 season, though it ran as Superman in Saudi Arabia. Ochs and the truck would return to competition later in the season on a new chassis, competing in select stadium events throughout the fall. The truck would also run as The Punisher in Houston.
Soldier Fortune Black Ops would return to full-time competition in 2018, competing in the Triple Threat Series Central. After finishing fifth in the series standings, Ochs and the truck would be invited to compete in the Double Down Showdown at Monster Jam World Finals XIX. In the year following, Soldier Fortune Black Ops competed in the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West. During the series, Ochs and the truck would win an overall event championship in Fargo and went on to finish fourth in the series standings. They would again be invited to compete in the Showdown at Monster Jam World Finals XX. While there, they would make it all the way to the championship round (due to his opponent Nick Pagliarulo's Kraken being unable to return after crashing in the semi-finals), but would lose to Linsey Read in Scooby-Doo. Following the World Finals, the truck would be run as Soldier Fortune Ice for Triple Threat Series events in Los Angeles, San Jose and Rosemont. Zombie driver Joe Urie would serve a fill-in for the truck, after Tony was involved in an ATV accident.
In 2020, Soldier Fortune Black Ops competed in the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West again. During the series, Ochs and the truck would win three overall event championships and finished third in the series standings. After the series abruptly ended in March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ochs would be furloughed by FELD Entertainment due to budget cuts as a result of the pandemic, which resulted in Soldier Fortune Black Ops being placed into hiatus for the time being. The truck would return to competition the following summer, and competed in various arena events throughout the season.
In 2022, Soldier Fortune Black Ops competed on Monster Jam Arena Championship Series Central, with Tony and the truck claiming many competition and overall event wins. This would go on to be one of the truck's most successful seasons. During the season, Tony would notably have a rivalry with Krysten Anderson in battle for the series championship, going on to be a well documented points chase, lasting all the way to the final event of the series. He would eventually finish in second place to Krysten.
In 2023, Tony Ochs would move to the new ThunderROARus truck. However, at the Superstar Challenge in November, the truck made its final appearance as a display on Axe, as a tribute to Veterans Day because the event was on November 11.
In late 2024, the trucks bio is still on the Monster Jam website.
World Finals appearances[]
| World Finals | Year | Driver(s) | Appearance | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monster Jam World Finals XVII | 2016 | Tony Ochs
Lupe Soza |
Young Guns Showdown
Military encore |
|
| Monster Jam World Finals XIX | 2018 | Tony Ochs | Double Down Showdown |
|
| Monster Jam World Finals 20 | 2019 | Tony Ochs | Showdown |
|
| Monster Jam World Finals XXI | 2022 | N/A | Pit party only |
|
Video game appearances[]
Trivia[]
- As shown in Soldier Fortune Black Ops' renderings, the LED lights on the truck were originally intended to be red.
- Soldier Fortune Black Ops was the first truck in the Hot Wheels Monster Jam diecast line to receive the updated Monster Jam logo.
- Beginning in late 2016, the minigun turret would be removed from the truck as a result of FELD Entertainment (the promoter of Monster Jam) making the decision to censor firearms, as well as any connections with firearms on trucks.
- The chassis used for Soldier Fortune Black Ops at Monster Jam's inaugural shows at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in December 2016 would later be converted into Armando Castro's El Toro Loco for the 2017 season.
- The theme song used for Soldier Fortune Black Ops, "Pentagon" by Sean Murray, serves as the main theme song for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is considered ironic, due to the body styles of both Soldier Fortune and Black Ops being based on the Warthog vehicle from the Halo franchise, which most people consider a "rival" to the Call of Duty franchise.
Gallery[]
Main gallery[]
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Merchandise gallery[]
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