Thrasher was a 2009 Toyota Tundra monster truck originally owned and driven by Pat Summa out of Danbury, Connecticut. The truck was a staple during the early years of Monster Jam and has even competed in various leagues throughout its career. In 2015, Summa sold the truck to Shawn Oblen of NJ Motorsports out of Hackettstown, New Jersey. Oblen ran the truck until 2017.
History[]
1993[]
At the time of its creation, the truck served as the successor to Summa’s previous truck, Above N Beyond. The truck also originally featured a Toyota Tundra body style, which was run until 2000, when it received a new Toyota Tacoma body style along with an updated paint scheme.
1997[]
John Seasock drove the truck in Baltimore due to Pat being with his wife who delivered their newborn baby.
2001[]
Mike Nitzke filled in for Summa during the Sunday racing competition in Durham, after Summa injured his thumb and wrist after a hard landing.[1]
2002[]
Thrasher received a new design, featuring a Ford F-150 body style.
2005[]
Rick Raab would fill-in for Pat at the first Pontiac show. The truck would receive another new paint scheme four years later, and would also partake in Monster Jam’s final event at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac that same year.
2008[]
The truck would receive a new Toyota Tundra body style for the 2008 season, and would then receive a new paint scheme the following year. Larry Birch III drove the truck in San Antonio and East Rutherford.
2013[]
Thrasher would receive a new green paint scheme, which was created to pay tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
2014[]
Shawn Oblen first drives the truck at Stafford Springs. Meanwhile, the truck continued to operate under Summa’s ownership until 2015.
2015-2017[]
The entire operation was acquired by NJ Motorsports. Following the acquisition, the truck also received a new black-and-orange paint scheme. Summa would continue to share driving duties with rookie driver and team owner Shawn Oblen until his retirement sometime later. As for Oblen, he would continue to drive Thrasher until 2017, when the truck was succeeded by Zombie Sniper.
2018[]
Hot Wheels releases a "flashback" to the yellow and blue Thrasher.
2020[]
Spin Master releases a Thrasher diecast based on the black and orange design, which was the most recent version.
Video game appearances[]
- Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction
- Monster 4X4: Masters of Metal (Planned, but canceled)
Trivia[]
- Thrasher was originally planned to be featured in Monster 4X4: Masters of Metal, but was dropped from the game for unknown reasons.
- Thrasher was originally intended to receive a new red paint scheme for the 2013 season. Said scheme was eventually scrapped in favor of the Sandy Hook tribute paint scheme.
- According to an Instagram post comment from 2020, Oblen has stated that he does have plans to return Thrasher to competition sometime in the future.
- Fiberglass of the truck was featured inside of the Randy's Wooster St. Pizza restaurant, located in Hartford, Connecticut. The restaurant was most famous for being featured in the "Man Vs Food" episode "Adam V. The Stuffed Pizza Challenge."[2]
- One of the tires was used on Monster Mutt for a show in 2008.
Gallery[]
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