Stone Crusher is a 2014 Ford F-250 Super Duty monster truck owned by Monster Trucks Unlimited. Team owner Steve Sims was the primary driver of the truck from 2008, until 2020 when he began driving part-time.
Since the truck's debut in 2005, Stone Crusher has become a staple of multiple monster truck leagues, including Monster Jam, where the truck has competed in every Monster Jam World Finals from 2008 until 2015 and has also been featured in merchandise in video games.
History[]
2005[]
Stone Crusher was created after Steve Sims purchased the original Backdraft chassis from Rick Disharoon. Steve got in contact with Dennis Anderson to install countertops in his house. The name was derived from Steve's own business, the Custom Stone Company.
Steve and Tommy Powers contacted Gary Wiggins and asked if he'd like to drive the truck for them and Gary agreed. Gary and Tommy had previously known each other before this. Gary would drive Stone Crusher for the whole year while Steve and Tommy were in charge of the truck's maintenance.
2006[]
Gary would suffer a back injury following a hard landing in Pontiac during the first week of the year and would take a leave of absence. As such, Steve stepped in to drive Stone Crusher, doing so for the whole season while Gary recovered from his injuries.
In May, Gary returns in Ocala, Florida. As such, Steve and Gary shared driving roles for the remainder of the year.
2007[]
Gary goes back to being the full-time driver of Stone Crusher. Meanwhile, Steve starts running Pure Adrenaline as a teammate truck in North Charleston in the second week of the year, having acquired the name from Randy Brown. Gary drove Stone Crusher for the first quarter, except for Charlottesville where Steve drove it, having a crazy flip in racing that was nominated for the Crash Madness of the Year award.
After the World Finals, Gary moves to the new Mopar Magic, a name he himself had driven previously, which replaced Pure Adrenaline as the teammate truck and Steve would take over the driving duties of Stone Crusher full-time. Gary would retire from driving at the end of the year.
2008[]
Stone Crusher would debut a new blue paint scheme with a revised version of the caveman character that was designed by Hot Wheels. Both Steve and the truck would rise to stardom as they would be invited to compete at World Finals IX.
2009[]
Carl Van Horn drives the truck for the Back to School Monster Truck Bash in Concord, North Carolina, and would drive it again in Wildwood, New Jersey.
2010[]
The truck would reuse the 2005-2007 texture design for the new scheme in 2010.
In June, Carl Van Horn would drive the truck for a third time in Paducah, Kentucky.
2011[]
Steve Sims received a new chassis, while the original chassis would continue to compete as a second Stone Crusher, with Darren Migues and Bryan Wright sharing driving duties. Iron Outlaw driver Nick Owens ran the truck in Muskogee.
2012[]
Migues left the team to drive for 2Xtreme Racing. As for Wright, he would move to Monster Magic, while Morgan Kane, who originally drove said truck, took over the driving duties for the second Stone Crusher.
Kane and the truck would be invited to compete in the inaugural Young Guns Shootout competition at World Finals XIII, while Sims would compete in the main field of said event.
2013[]
Kane would leave the team to drive Iron Man for FELD Motorsports, leaving Sims to campaign the name himself.
In March, Sims was invited to compete at World Finals XIV.
2014[]
Stone Crusher ran an exclusive pink design for that year’s Monsters on the Beach event in Virginia Beach.
2015[]
Stone Crusher would be one of sixteen trucks selected to compete in the inaugural Fox Sports 1 Championship Series.
In March, the truck would be invited to compete at World Finals XVI, which also happened to be their final appearance in the World Finals altogether.
The truck would also compete in the league's Path of Destruction tour that summer, with Kevin Lewis driving the truck in Foxborough.
2016[]
Stone Crusher competed in the second Fox Sports 1 Championship Series.
2017[]
The truck would again be featured in the FS1 Championship Series, competing in the East Coast Series.
Later that year, the chassis would be upgraded, as the rear of the chassis would be modified to resemble a Cohen chassis.
Sean Duhon drove the truck for the Back to School Monster Truck Bash in Concord, North Carolina, and later in Trenton, New Jersey.
2018[]
Stone Crusher competed on Stadium Championship Series 1.
Meanwhile, the original chassis would be sold to Spain and became Race Monkey.
Beginning in the second quarter, Buddy Tompkins and Cole Venard would briefly share driving duties with Sims for the time being.
On July 21st, Trevor Sims would begin driving the truck, making his debut in Fisherville, Virginia.
2019[]
The truck would compete on Stadium Championship Series 1 with Steve Sims driving, although Bryan Wright would drive it in Colorado Springs and in Denver, the only arena shows on said tour.
2020[]
The truck competed on Stadium Championship Series Red, where the truck would finish 13th in the standings after the series ended prematurely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After the pandemic, Steve would only compete at only select events onwards, with Chad Tingler becoming the main Stone Crusher driver.
2021[]
Stone Crusher would receive an updated body style, being a 2014 Ford F-250 Super Duty.
Sims’ other son, Steven Sims, would drive the truck in Greenville, South Carolina.
Afterward, Chad Tingler and Charlie Pauken would take over and share the driving duties with each other for the remainder of the season. During the season, Tingler would win an overall event championship at one of the final events of the year in Bridgeport. Pauken would later leave Monster Trucks Unlimited by the end of the season to rejoin FELD Motorsports to drive Monster Mutt the following year.
2022[]
Stone Crusher competes in Monster Jam Arena Championship Series East with Tingler driving. He finished 5th. In New Orleans, Steven Sims made his Monster Jam return driving Stone Crusher.
That same year, Tommy Powers, a crew member for the truck, passed away.
In August, Steve was supposed to return to driving in Sunrise, Florida, but Steven Sims drove fsecond-ever
2023[]
Frank Krmel comes out of retirement & joins Monster Trucks Unlimited to drive Stone Crusher on Arena Championship Series East. Despite picking up two racing wins during the season the truck finished 8th.
In May, Steve Sims would return for the Monsters on the Beach events & in Delmar, Delaware.
In August, Steve would also win that year's Back to School Bash freestyle championship, with a spectacular rollover save.
In September, Travis Mowery drove the truck for the Hampton events for Monster Jam, which saw the truck perform its first backflip during the first show.
Steven Sims drove the truck in Bridgeport.
2024[]
The truck competed on the central arena tour with Alex Bardin. In Pittsburgh, Alex won the final racing competition of the weekend, making it his first win in Monster Jam. In Louisville, Alex Bardin does his first backflip at show 2. At show 3 in Southaven, Alex wins his first freestyle competition. The truck would eventually finish 6th in standings. In November, Alex departs the team to join Team Throttle Monster. The Stone Crusher name would last run at a Tour Of Destruction event in Hickory, NC in November. The name has not ran since.
2025[]
The truck begins competing as Bone Shaker with Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live, with DJ Boltz and James Calhoun sharing driving duties.
2026[]
TBA
Driver[]
- Steve Sims (2006-2020; part-time since 2021)
Former drivers[]
- Gary Wiggins (2005-2007)
- Darren Migues (2011)
- Morgan Kane (2012)
- Buddy Tompkins (2018; 2019 fill-in)
- Cole Venard (2018)
- Trevor Sims (2018-2020)
- Charlie Pauken (2021)
- Chad Tingler (2021-2022)
- Frank Krmel (2023)
- Alex Bardin (2024)
Fill-in drivers[]
- Carl Van Horn (2009 Back to School Bash, Wildwood 2009, Paducah 2010)
- Bryan Wright (2011, Miami, Jacksonville and New Weston 2014, Quarryville and West Lebanon 2019)
- Nick Owens (Muskogee 2011)
- Kevin Lewis (Foxborough 2015)
- Sean Duhon (2016 Back to School Bash, Trenton 2016)
- Steven Sims (Erie 2013, Greenville 2021, select 2022 events, Bridgeport 2023)
- Travis Mowery (Hampton 2023)
World Finals appearances[]
| Year | Driver | Results | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Steve Sims | Qualifying: 24th (DNF) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Team Suzuki | Freestyle: 11th (24) | |||||
| 2009 | Qualifying: 24th (DNQ) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Madusa | Freestyle: 6th (26) | ||||||
| 2010 | Qualifying: 21st (18.25) | Racing: defeated in round 2 by Amsoil Shock Therapy | Freestyle: 4th (28) | ||||||
| 2011 | Qualifying: 12th (16.62) | Racing: defeated Amsoil Shock Therapy in round 11 | Freestyle: 10th (24) | ||||||
| 2012 | Steve Sims Morgan Kane (Young Guns Shootout) |
Qualifying: 22nd (17.753) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Grave Digger | Freestyle: 3rd (30) | |||||
| 2013 | Steve Sims | Qualifying: 14th (17.109) | Racing: defeated in round 3 by El Toro Loco | Freestyle: 4th (27) | |||||
| 2014 | Qualifying: 27th (17.924) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Son-uva Digger | Freestyle: 21st (20) | ||||||
| 2015 | Qualifying: 31st (18.213) | Racing: defeated in round 1 by Monster Energy (Bradshaw) | Freestyle: 24th (14) | ||||||
Notes[]
1Crossed the line first, however suffered mechanical problems and couldn’t return.
Video game appearances[]
- Monster Jam: Urban Assault
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
- Monster Jam (Mobile game)
- Monster Jam Battlegrounds
- Monster Jam: Crush It!
- Monster Jam Steel Titans 2
- Monster Jam Showdown
Trivia[]
- The truck's website is http://stonecrushermonstertruck.com/ and it still works, but it hasn't been updated since 2018.
- On the Monster Jam website, Alex Bardin's last name was misspelled as ''Barden''. The error would be fixed.
- Although not being originally scheduled for Monster Jam's 2023 tours, a few days after the announcement, Sims would receive a new updated driver image, similar to all the other drivers revealed in the announcement, which caused some fans to speculate that Steve would be returning in 2023 for Monster Jam. All the lineups would be complete & Steve wouldn't be listed as a competitor, as his truck was instead driven by Frank Krmel.
- As of 2024, the Stone Crusher name has not been run since, due to the team running with Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live.
Gallery[]
.jpg "HTX010607-(29).jpg (56 KB)")
.jpg "2020 AF Stone Crusher (2).jpg (498 KB)")