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Top 10 Most Influential People in the Monster Truck Industry


bkelly

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Who are the top 10 most influential drivers, announcers, mechanics, whatever?

Here's my list:

1) Bob Chandler - Built the first monster truck and continues to evolve the monster truck.

2) Dennis Anderson - Made the most successful monster truck, easily has the biggest fan base, and has numerous championships, awards, etc.

3) Dan Runte - Easily the best man to ever drive a monster truck, only thing putting him behind Dennis is that Dennis made his own brand. Runte has won numerous championships, awards, and holds many records.

4) Tom Meents - Has pushed monster trucks to the limit and continues to push the limit. Holds more World Championships than any other driver.

5) Dan Patrick - Not the best driver, but his PEI chassis is still being used and he has easily influenced chassis design. PEI chassis have won World Finals Championships and have easily stood the test of time. 

6) Army Armstrong - Easily the most iconic voice from the 80s/90s and the Monster Truck Madness Games.

7) Scott Douglas - Monster truck TV commentator since the late 80s, commented Monster Jam episodes from 1997 to 2016. I'm sure many of us grew up listening to his voice.

8) Jack Willman - Was a dominate driver and monster truck pioneer in the 80s/early 90s and many trucks today run a Willman chassis.

9) Gary Porter - Created the Carolina Crusher, dominate driver from the late 80s to 2017. While he doesn't have any World Championships, he is always a top contender and has been very consistent, plus he is a Hall of Fame Inductee.

10) Jim Koehler - His trucks are the toughest and he pushes them harder than anyone else. Easily the second-best independent team next to Bigfoot.  I was debating putting Paul Cohen here but went with Koehler, as Koehler is more successful in terms of racing and developing a pretty top-notch team with a smaller budget than Feld.

Honorable Mention: Madusa - Most successful female to drive monster trucks, Charlie Pauken - Has piloted a couple different trucks and can always win, Andy Brass - One of Bigfoot's most successful racers, multiple championships, Paul Cohen - Piloted a couple different trucks and has been to a few World Finals, although his Cohen chassis has been used by Feld and independents alike. Paul Shafer - Love him or hate him, his team was dominate throughout the mid-late 90s and his trucks have won big in the early years of MJ. Plus his team is still operating, although considerably less, today. Fed Shafer - Made the Bear Foot name and dominated in the 90s. Although he sold Bear Foot, the truck is still racing today and has lasted since the 80s.

This list was pretty tough to make, there's more guys obviously such as Pezo and Creten, but I was going for which drivers would leave the biggest legacies in monster truck racing. 

 

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1. Bob Chandler- Created Bigfoot and revolutionized the Monster truck Industry

2. Jim Kramer- The superstar of the TNT days and Co-founder of Bigfoot

3. Dennis Anderson- Created one of the biggest names in the industry and an innovator of freestyle

4. Tom Meents- 11-time champ and craziest driver in the industry.

5. Dan Runte- The best driver the Bigfoot team has ever had and has won many championships to prove it

6. Pablo Huffaker- An Innovator in the sport with is company Racesource and Being apart of Team Grave Digger for 20+ years

7. Dan Patrick- Famous for is Chassis Design and famous for owning Samson and his days driving Pullers during the TNT days

8. Pam Vaters- Driver of Boogey Van and paved the way for the female presence in Monster trucks

9. Everett Jasmer- Creator of USA-1 and one of the original founders of the Industry

10. Scott Douglass- The voice of Monster Jam

 

Honorable Mentions: Jim Koehler- One of the craziest indies out there, Gary Porter- Famous for Carolina Crusher and former team grave digger driver, Allen Pezo- Long time driver and owner of Predator, Prowler, and Pouncer, Jack Wilman- One of the originals and created the Wilman style chassis with Taurus 3, David Morris- Famous for Equalizer and a former TNT Motorsports champion, Mike Vaters- Creator of Black Stallion and multi time Thunder Nationals champion, Charlie Pauken- Driver of Excaliber and Grave Digger also the 2010 Freestyle champion, Mark Hall-Famous for being one of the fastest drivers out there, Paul Cohen-Chassis Innovator, and Fred Shafer- Creator of Bearfoot. Fred was a serious threat especially during the PENDA series and early days of the USHRA/Monster Jam

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22 minutes ago, Vaxen said:

Welcome to WatchMojo dot com and today we're taking up our list for the top 10 most influential people in the monster truck industry.

"You won't believe number 1"

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1. Bob Chandler - The creator of it all, and created one of todays most well known Monster Truck teams next to Grave Digger.

2. Dennis Anderson - Created the worlds most famous Monster Truck and is one of few drivers that is still competing from a 30+ year career.

3.Tom Meents - Only 11 time world champion and the craziest driver in the sport.

4. Jack Willman Sr. - The creator of the famous Taurus and the inventor of the first Willman chassis run by many like Tom Meents and Chuck Werner today.

5. Everett Jasmer - one of the original drivers and world champions and the creator of USA-1

6. Dan Patrick - The man who evolved in the first ever tube chassis making the trucks as tough and durable as they are today.

7. Scott Douglas - the voice of Monster Jam 1997-2016. Now he's behind the scenes at shows.

8. Dan Runte - easily the bigfoot teams best and most winning driver, one of Dennis' biggest rivals back in the early to late 90's on the PENDA points series and 1997-1998 on TNN Monster Jam

9. Jim Koehler - Known for his crazy driving style in freestyle, and the creator of some of the toughest chassis the MT world has ever seen.

10. Ryan Anderson - Maybe he's only been driving since 2011, but he is evolving the sport with his way of doing saves and evolving tricks like the moonwalk (which he created) into many fashon's.

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I actually haven't been around that long to know history of the sport from way back (70's and 80's) but I can say that Cam McQueen is a big influence in Canada with the monster truck industry. I think it all started when Monster Jam introduced the Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour back in 2012, and it got a bunch of fans up here hyped for it. Once we realized that we had a truck designed for our country (Northern Nigthmare) and Cam McQueen was driving it, we felt like we could get even more attracted to the sport. His freestyle run in World Finals 13 is still one of my favourite World Finals moments of all time. I guarantee you that there will be a significant boost in Canadian drivers in Monster Jam for years to come.

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1 hour ago, Matthew_Strome18 said:

I actually haven't been around that long to know history of the sport from way back (70's and 80's) but I can say that Cam McQueen is a big influence in Canada with the monster truck industry. I think it all started when Monster Jam introduced the Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour back in 2012, and it got a bunch of fans up here hyped for it. Once we realized that we had a truck designed for our country (Northern Nigthmare) and Cam McQueen was driving it, we felt like we could get even more attracted to the sport. His freestyle run in World Finals 13 is still one of my favourite World Finals moments of all time. I guarantee you that there will be a significant boost in Canadian drivers in Monster Jam for years to come.

I see your point but monster trucks have been in Canada for decades. Monster Jam has been going to Toronto since the late 90s and I think USA Motorsports did events in Vancouver for a while in the early-mid 90s, not to mention Canadian drivers like Don Frankish, Linsey Weenk, and Nathan Weenk. But I'd agree in saying that McQueen is a huge Canadian influence for monster trucks.

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1 hour ago, bkelly said:

I see your point but monster trucks have been in Canada for decades. Monster Jam has been going to Toronto since the late 90s and I think USA Motorsports did events in Vancouver for a while in the early-mid 90s, not to mention Canadian drivers like Don Frankish, Linsey Weenk, and Nathan Weenk. But I'd agree in saying that McQueen is a huge Canadian influence for monster trucks.

Like I said, I haven't been alive for that long (only born in 2003) so I don't know much about what happened during the 90's and stuff like that. I know Don Frankish was pretty popular in Western Canada, I think Linsey Weenk deserves a championship sooner or later, and I don't know too much about Nathan. I know he was televised back in 2008, but that's about it.

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No love for Andy Brass? (Well, to be fair Kozak hasn't been here yet) He was Bigfoot's main driver during their famous transitional period from leafspring to nitrogen and made them a winning juggernaut in the early 90s. Also Jeff Dane needs a mention here since he was a part of the original 4 with King Kong. Also Gary Lee and Joe Lowe need some love too since they were also big announcers in the 90s. Steve Cook as well since he made the MTHOF and sort of kickstarted the leafer revival we've been seeing

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29 minutes ago, Pink Guy said:

No love for Andy Brass? (Well, to be fair Kozak hasn't been here yet) He was Bigfoot's main driver during their famous transitional period from leafspring to nitrogen and made them a winning juggernaut in the early 90s. Also Jeff Dane needs a mention here since he was a part of the original 4 with King Kong. Also Gary Lee and Joe Lowe need some love too since they were also big announcers in the 90s. Steve Cook as well since he made the MTHOF and sort of kickstarted the leafer revival we've been seeing

The unfortunate part about Bigfoot drivers is that they can perform at the same level of Dennis Anderson but they don't get the same exposure. 

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Mary Garza: builds trucks with absolute science, physics, and math. He's had a  huge part in a lot of chassis designs and ideas in the early years.

 

Jack Koberna: 1st person to introduce the 4Link suspension that we still use today.

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