Wild Thang is a "1997 Custom cranium" monster truck owned by Triple B Motorsports. The truck was originally owned and created by the late Tony Farrell, who owned and operated the truck from 1996 until joining PACE/SFX Motorsports (now FELD Motorsports) in late 2000.
Following Farrell's departure, the Wild Thang name was owned by Paul Shafer until being acquired by James Trantina in 2022. Since its creation, Wild Thang has been known for being one of the first fully custom 3D bodied monster trucks and has been a staple of multiple leagues, including Monster Jam. Despite not having a decorated career in terms of victories and championships, its unique design kept it frequently featured on Monster Jam's televised programs such as Inside Monster Jam and later Motor Madness.
History[]
Background[]
The design for Wild Thang was one of the few designs that was drawn by a kid in high school that rode Tony Farrell’s bus when he was a school bus driver. Farrell handed out all the designs to the kids on his bus and one of the drawings illustrated a 3D skull with sunglasses, which was what all the kids picked out. During an episode of Inside Monster Jam, Farrell stated that the student requested that he didn’t want his name to be known despite Farrell wanting to promote him by putting the student’s name on the truck. Tony took his Blue Ribbon Bandit truck to have the chassis modified which made changes to the roll cage and added a halo roll bar on the back due to the fact the truck was being converted from a standard pickup truck body to a 3D skull.
1996[]
Tony made history during his first official Wild Thang monster truck debut in October of 1996 at the USHRA fright night 5 in the Louisville Freedom Hall, almost performing a sidewall donut trying to save it but the truck rolled over and later losing the front half of the body racing against Grave Digger.
According to Tony, the body was still “brand new and was its first weekend on it.” At the time of its debut, the design of the skull was more yellow and was airbrushed in which that gave it a more realistic skull-like appearance and was only ran once during the event. The paintwork on the body was done by Brian Ashley and was actually attending its debut show when he and Tony had to make quick repairs to the paint after the truck’s first rollover. The 2nd design was the most commonly known scheme which was the one used from early 1997 until its retirement.
1997[]
In February of 1997, Lyle Hancock filled in as a driver for Wild Thang at a show in the Houston Astrodome because Tony Farrell was injured. During a race against Grave Digger 12, Lyle rolled wild thang and broke a 4-link bar and won crash of the year award.
Shortly after, Farrell overhauled the Wild Thang chassis to be modified again, which was when the frame rails were notched on the front and rear section of the chassis and that allowed the shocks to be positioned outside of the frame rails instead of inside the frame rails on the chassis, possibly due to technological advances in the monster truck industry. Those changes gave Farrell’s truck a different setup than it was originally and competed at a couple of shows which were Pittsburgh and Jacksonville when finally, the new setup on Wild Thang was actually shown during a segment of Inside Monster Jam at the 1997 U.S. Truck Fest Tony was discussing about suspension in monster trucks.
2000[]
Farrell continued to drive Wild Thang at a few Monster Jam shows until he was approached by PACE Motorsports (now FELD Motorsports) to have the opportunity to drive for them. He sold Wild Thang to Paul Shafer Motorsports and went on to drive Sting in 2001.
2001[]
Wild Thang was under the ownership of Paul Shafer, who had bought the truck and name from Farrell.
After being purchased by Shafer, Wild Thang would be driven by Brian Harwood, Doug Charles, Mike Harper, Dave Harwood and Dave Brown.
2003[]
In 2003, the truck would be converted into Ozz Monster as a sponsorship for the music festival Ozzfest. Wild Thang and Ozz Monster would switch off intermittently throughout the 2000's, with the former being the only one to compete at Monster Jam events.
2008[]
Ozz Monster's last year of competition on the original chassis would be in 2008, with the truck being sold to Kirk Dabney as Wild Thang the following year and then converted into Undertaker soon afterwards. After a few years competing as Undertaker and Grim Reaper, it was sold to Mark Andrew, where it currently sits unused and stripped of all parts.
2014[]
Paul Shafer leased the Wild Thang name to Doug Charles, being a former driver of the truck.
2015[]
In May, original owner Tony Farrell would pass away after being hit by a drunk driver in an SUV at a local concert.
2016[]
In 2016, the truck would celebrate its 2Oth anniversary of competition. The truck would also return to Monster Jam under Charles ownership competing in multiple arena shows that year. The truck ran a special 20th anniversary sticker near the back of the truck.
2017[]
After competing on Arena Championship Series 4, the chassis was sold the following year due to financial issues that kept the team from competing. Said chassis would ultimately be acquired by Vern House and converted into Dysfunctional.
2022[]
On January 27th, 2022, James Trantina of Triple B Motorsports would buy the entirety of Paul Shafer Motorsports, the previous owner of the Wild Thang name.
James Trantina's Wild Thang debuted on May 13th, 2022, driven by Jeremiah Crane and running on the former Ozz Monster "rollover" chassis and body. The truck sustained significant damage in a crash during said event but returned to competition in July. In October that same year, the truck would once again sustain significant damage from a crash during an event, ironically on the same track that the first crash earlier in the year took place.
2024[]
After a two-year hiatus, the truck would return in August temporarily on the original trophy truck USA-1 body and chassis, driven by Thomas Kimmons in Sandusky, Ohio. The cranium chassis is currently undergoing repairs in Triple B's shop.
Drivers[]
- Tony Farrell (1996-2000)
- Doyle Schmidt (2000)
- Mike Harper (2001)
- Jesse Bass (2001)
- Brian Harwood (2003-2008)
- David Brown (2007)
- Jeremy Shipman
- Jeremiah Crane (2022)
Fill-in drivers[]
- Lyle Hancock (Houston 1997)
- Thomas Kimmons (Sandusky 2024)
World Finals appearances[]
- 2014 - none (display only)
- 2015 - none (display only)
- 2016 - none (display only)
- 2017 - none (display only)
Video game appearances[]
Trivia[]
- The design for Wild Thang was originally drawn by one of Farrell's students that rode his school bus during his time as a bus driver.
- Farrell jokingly stated to Mark Bendler before he even bought the original chassis that he was trying to get a sponsorship with Oakley Sunglasses and put giant sunglasses on the windshield. This could also be an inspiration for the design as well.
- The original chassis went through modifications between 1996-2000 and later under Shafer’s ownership got frequent upgrades to fix and prevent damages.
- A Spin Master 1:64 scale diecast of Wild Thang was planned to be released in 2019, but was cancelled for unknown reasons.
- During the 2000's, Wild Thang was the only truck owned by Paul Shafer Motorsports that had a merchandise deal with Monster Jam and Hot Wheels, while all of Shafer's other trucks had a deal with Milestone Motorsports.
- Lyle Hancock would fill in for Farrell in 1997 at a show in the Houston Astrodome and rolled over and received the crash of the year award in the 1997 Monster Jam yearbook.
- The truck started out as one of Mark Bendler's Kodiak trucks.
- Months before the sale to Triple B, Vern House had announced the return of Wild Thang for 2022, driven by Don Borders, but the sale of Paul Shafer Motorsports in January and disapproval by new owner James Trantina would prevent this from happening.
Gallery[]
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