Game-Changing Monster Trucks That'll Take You Back

If massive suspension systems and 66-inch tires are your thing, if you can't get excited about an engine unless it has four-digit horsepower, if watching junkyard cars get squashed like bugs makes you feel like a kid again, you're probably a monster truck fan. What started as a friendly rivalry between two regular guys with a penchant for trucks that were anything but regular became a billion-dollar industry with fans all over the world.  These are the trucks that defined the sport, captured the imagination of fans everywhere, and earned a place among the greatest monster trucks of all time.

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Bob Chandler is considered the godfather of monster trucks. In the late 1970s, Chandler painted his nickname "Bigfoot" on the side of his modified 1974 Ford F-250, which the bigger-better-badder-obsessed truck fiend and four-wheel-drive shop owner had souped-up with outsized axles and tires. 

Local promoters began paying Chandler to bring his attention-grabbing Bigfoot truck to their events, and in 1981, he invented a gimmick that would start an entertainment revolution and become the calling card of monster truck events forever. Chandler placed two beat-up junker cars in a field and ran them over with Bigfoot. A motorsports promoter saw a videotape of the feat and asked Chandler to perform the stunt again in front of a live audience. The monster truck era had begun and Bigfoot would go on to become the most famous and influential monster truck in history. 

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Known for its trademark ghoulish ghost-and-graveyard paint job, Grave Digger's lineage dates back to the dawn of the sport in 1983, when its engine first transitioned from small block to big block. Grave Digger is now actually a team of several trucks that run in the Monster Jam series, the flagship of which is still driven by Grave Digger's original creator, Dennis Anderson. The truck was a pioneer and it serves as a link between today's professional, corporatized monster truck series and the wild and raucous arena events of the sport's earliest days. In 1986, Grave Digger defeated Bigfoot on national TV and in 1987, its 2,000-horsepower Rodeck engine was outlawed on the circuit. The legendary truck celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2017. 

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Predator was called Lone Eagle when owner, designer, and monster truck legend Allen Pezo built his first monster truck from a brand new 1984 Chevy Silverado. It did one thing and one thing only — run over cars. In 1988, Lone Eagle got a makeover, a new skill set, and a new name: Predator. Allen built several other trucks also called Predator throughout the '90s and early 2000s. They got lighter, faster, and tougher, and their color schemes changed over time, but one thing remained the same. No Predator truck could ever be confused with something else thanks to its panther body and eyes.

With roots dating back to 1988, Towasaurus Wrex was designed as one of the only tow truck monster trucks in the entire sport. Built from a 1946 Chevy tow truck, the throwback tow is powered by a 428-cubic-inch engine. A fan favorite worldwide — Towasaurus could never be confused with another truck — the one-of-a-kind wheeled monster still performs in the United States and across the world. 

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Bulldozer became famous for the massive, 3-D bull horns that protruded from its roof. If that sounds familiar, you know your monster trucks. Bulldozer started its journey to monster truck superstardom as a promotional truck when it was first created in 1997. As its star rose, however, Bulldozer moved into full-time competition. Bulldozer appeared in four Monster Jam World Finals in the early 2000s before retiring in 2009 as one of history's most exciting and beloved trucks. Actually, it never truly retired. Bulldozer — and its 3-D horns — was converted into El Toro Loco.

The 5-ton raging bull known as El Toro Loco is instantly recognizable because, well, it's shaped like a raging bull — and it's bright orange. In 2001, the truck that would become El Toro Loco made its debut in Lafayette, Louisiana, dazzling crowds as one of the first trucks to compete with a 3-D body shell. It quickly became a fan favorite and in 2003, it raced in its first-ever Monster Jam World Finals. Its stable of drivers are some of the best in the world, and The Crazy Bull is now its third decade of monster truck fame. 

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If you're ever at a United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) Monster Jam series event and you see a group of people wearing floppy-eared dog hats, those people are Monster Mutt fans. Standing 12 feet tall with 6-foot tires, Monster Mutt is unmistakable thanks to its 3-D canine tail and drooping dog ears. It debuted in 2003, and in the ensuing years, it's spawned several spinoffs, including Monster Mutt Dalmatian, Monster Mutt Junkyard Dog, and Monster Mutt Rottweiler.

Known by fans as Max-D, Maximum Destruction is officially classified as a "futuristic SUV" — and no other truck on the circuit looks quite like it. Its unmistakable features, which include the Max-D trademark orange-and-silver paint job, is not the only reason it stands out from the crowd. Max-D is widely considered the fastest truck in the entire sport. Even that, however, is not the only driving force behind Max-D's glory. Its daredevil driver Tom Meents has won six Monster Jam World Racing Championships and five Monster Jam World Freestyle Championships. No other driver had ever won both in the same year, and Meents pulled off that feat twice. 

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Tony Dixon is the owner and driver of Swamp Thing and he remains one of the only European drivers ever to perform in a Monster Jam event. Weighing in at more than 6 tons and standing nearly 12 feet tall, the beast measures in at 19 feet long. Dixon came up with the name on a trip to the Florida Everglades, a remote, mysterious, dangerous, and most certainly swampy part of the state. Fittingly, it's known worldwide for its green alligator paint job. 

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