Tasmanian Devil was a monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports and driven by Nicole Johnson and Taryn Laskey from 2011-2012. The truck was renamed from Taz of the Looney Tunes franchise to the DC Comics superhero under the same name.
History[]
2011[]
Adam Anderson had left Taz to drive his new truck, Grave Digger the Legend. As such, Taz was redesigned and renamed to Tasmanian Devil after the Warner Brothers partnership fell through at the end of 2010. It would now be based on the DC Comics superhero. Rookie Nicole Johnson is placed behind the wheel in her first season.
In Albuquerque, Alex Blackwell drives the truck.
2012[]
Nicole temporarily moves to Grinder for the first five weeks of the year, filling-in for an injured Frank Krmel. As such, Taryn Laskey drives Tasmanian Devil to cover for Nicole.
After Frank returned from his injury, Nicole went back to the truck for the remainder of the season, with the truck having its final show in Nampa just before World Finals XIII, where Nicole competed in the Young Guns Shootout driving Grinder.
2013-2014[]
Nicole moves to the new Scooby-Doo truck and Taryn joins the Monster Mutt Dalmatian team.
Despite being discontinued, Tasmanian Devil is still featured in the 2014 yearbook.
Events competed[]
| 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Driver | Notes |
| January 7-8th | Trenton, NJ | Nicole Johnson | Debut show Won Racing, Show 1 |
| January 14-16th | Hidalgo, TX | Won Racing, Show 1 | |
| January 21-22nd | Albany, NY | ||
| January 28-29th | Roanoke, VA | Won Racing, Show 3 | |
| February 4-5th | Peoria, IL | Won Racing, Shows 1 and 2 | |
| February 12-13th | Denver, CO | Won Racing, all 3 shows | |
| February 19-20th | Cleveland, OH | Won Racing, Show 2 | |
| February 25-27th | Chattanooga, TN | ||
| November 12-13th | Albuquerque, NM | Alex Blackwell | |
| 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Driver | Notes |
| January 6-7th | Columbus, OH | Taryn Laskey | Won Wheelies, Show 2 |
| January 14th | Anaheim, CA | ||
| January 21st | San Diego, CA | ||
| January 28th | Phoenix, AZ | ||
| February 4th | St. Louis, MO | ||
| February 11-12th | Portland, OR | Won Wheelies, Show 1 | |
| February 17-19th | Spokane, WA | Nicole Johnson | |
| February 25th | Oakland, CA | ||
| March 3-4th | El Paso, TX | ||
| March 9-10th | Fresno, CA | Won:
| |
| March 16-17th | Nampa, ID | Final show Won Wheelies, Show 3 | |
Trivia[]
- As previously mentioned, the truck's change of identity was in response to the Warner Brothers sponsorship expiring.
- The situation with this truck is very similar to what happened with Blue Thunder. Both original designs of the trucks lost their sponsorship in 2011, and resulted in new designs. Both trucks also had different drivers drive for a short amount of time, before moving to new trucks and subsequently retiring the truck (although, Blue Thunder did return in 2013 after being retired for the 2012 season).
- Taz was originally believed to be the same truck as Tasmanian Devil, until it was discovered that the truck was based on the DC Comics superhero and not the Looney Tunes character.
- One of the 1:64 scale variants featured 2008 freestyle champion next to Tasmanian Devil’s logo, while others just have Tasmanian Devil’s logo on the tailgate without 2008 Freestyle Champion.
Gallery[]
