Monster Jam Trivia

Monster Jam has worked with Warner Brothers on a number of truck designs that have included Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and even Scooby Doo. So far there's been no Disney partnership, and that means there's been no Lion King.

Monster Jam truck seats are generally center-mounted, which is actually something you'll find in super cars now and then as well. It allows the driver an increased range of vision so they can see what's coming at them from the sides better as well as a more clear view of the front.

Just like a race car driver, a Monster Jam truck driver is strapped in with a five-point racing harness to ensure maximum safety behind the wheel. The five-point harness is actually the same principle behind child safety seats in cars as well.

At any given Monster Jam show, there are radio operators positioned in the crowd at various points surrounding the arena to offer them a full view of events. Each operator has the ability to kill a truck's engine in the rare event of a serious emergency.

Any serious off-roading vehicle can make use of nitrogen shocks and Monster Jam trucks definitely need them. Shocks generate heat when they're working so you need a gas like nitrogen to help keep them cool under the stress a monster truck puts them through. Some trucks have two per tire.

The bodies of Monster Jam trucks are generally made of fiberglass, and they can get pretty exotic. The Megalodon truck features a massive shark-shaped body and Wolf's Head looks like a giant werewolf's head come to life.

You'd use the term cut tires to describe tires that have had their treads shaved down. Why would you do that? To increase traction and also reduce the overall weight. It can take up to 50 hours per tire to do this because it needs to be done by hand.

Monster Jam is becoming a truly international phenomenon after spending its formative years as a uniquely American event. In 2017. it held events in Saudi Arabia, China and Argentina for the first time. Other events have taken place in Japan, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Philippines and more.

When the truck's rear tires go up, the nose dips down and it's on its front tires alone, it's called a stoppie. If the driver puts it in reverse at this point it can then moonwalk, which is driving in reverse on the front tires only.

Grave Digger dates all the way back to 1982. It was originally made out of a red 1957 Ford pickup truck. Nowadays there are actually nine different Grave Diggers in operation to ensure that fans all over the world get a chance to see it.

A sky wheelie is what happens when a truck manages to do a wheelie on its rear wheels that gets to a perfectly straight 90-degree angle with the front tires up in the air. The risk of this is, of course, the truck could keep going and flip backward.

Trucks at a Monster Jam competition compete on two fronts. First will be racing head to head where the winner is pretty obvious. Second is freestyle, in which drivers are free to do stunts, tricks and generally show off where judges determine the overall winner.

For a dog that solves mysteries, Scooby Doo is a dominant force in Monster Jam, taking the showdown competition in 2019 as well as freestyle. Scooby Doo was also entered in the racing competition but broke down in the first round.

A monster truck engine draws an insane 1500 horsepower. Compare that to something like the 2020 Ford Mustang which is rated at 310 horsepower or even the F150 truck which has 450 horsepower making it the highest available for passenger trucks on the road.

At every show a truck is going to be torn apart to the tune of about $10,000. That damage all needs to be repaired within a few days, as there will be another show right around the corner. This is part of the reason why some of the more popular trucks actually have different versions.

They don't call these trucks monsters for no reason. A monster truck has to weigh 10,000 pounds to compete and some will weigh up to about 12,000 pounds or around 6 tons. That's about the same weight as your average full-grown African bull elephant.

Your average monster truck tire has a 66-inch diameter and is also 43 inches wide. That makes them 5 and a half feet tall, which makes them taller than the average adult from Japan where men average 5'2" and women average 4'9".

It takes about 10 liters or 2.6 gallons of methanol to do a single run in a monster truck, which is 80 meters or 87 yards. Basically, from one side of a stadium to the other. These are definitely not built for long haul driving.

Goldberg was the truck that took it all at the very first World Championships. In the final round, Goldberg beat Gunslinger to claim the title. This was after it defeated Wrenchhead.com, Predator, and WCW: Nitro Machine in earlier rounds.

Monster Jam actually allows fans to judge the competitions. Fans are able to log into a website on their mobile devices during competitions and they have a 20-second window to log their scores for the performances they've watched. The highest-rated truck wins.

A single monster truck tire costs $2,500. Most tires on Monster Jam trucks are made by a company called BKT tires that, aside from monster trucks, also provides tires for heavy duty industrial and agricultural vehicles.

Obviously, a monster truck is not running on the same engine as a Prius. These engines are custom-built, supercharged, methanol-injected monsters that will cost around $50,000 apiece. If that doesn't seem like enough, don't worry, they go through about 5 of them a year.

Monster trucks come with monster price tags. Obviously there's no one set price, and some trucks with exceptionally detailed designs are going to cost more but, on average, you're looking at around $250,000 if you want your own.

In any given year, over 4 million fans will turn out for Monster Jam events. These take place on 6 continents and dozens of countries around the world, but most of them take place in the United States and Canada.

Average, everyday cars usually fall victim to Monster Jam trucks, but you'll also see buses and ambulances and all kinds of other vehicles being destroyed under those massive tires. Around 3,000 cars per year will be run over.

There are 13 women currently driving for Monster Jam out of the sport's 83-driver roster. Krysten Anderson is one of the drivers of Grave Digger, and for her, it's a family business as the truck was made by her father Dennis Anderson.

When at their best, a Monster Jam truck can fly like a bird for a stunning 125 to 130 feet. At that distance, they can sail clear over 14 parked cars and they do so at a height of about 35 feet up in the air.

Typically, a truck is outfitted with three fire extinguishers. One will be accessible from the cockpit while the other two will be mounted inside, directed at the engine and able to be activated remotely by switches in case anything goes wrong.

According to Monster Jam, its fan base is an even split 50/50 between men and women. This is thanks, in part, to the fact there are a number of women who drive Monster Jam trucks head to head against male drivers in competition.

Back in 2014, the truck Raminator managed a stunning world record by hitting just a smidge shy of 100 mph. That's not fast for a super car, but for a truck that weighs 6 tons that's absolutely amazing.

Although monster truck racing, rallies, and assorted events have been around for decades now, Monster Jam itself dates back to 1992. The organization is run by the United States Hot Rod Association and stages events mostly in the US and Canada with the odd international event now and then.

About 60 man-hours go into making a single Grave Digger truck. That same truck can then be utterly destroyed in a matter of minutes when it's out on the track flying through the air and doing tricks that tear it to pieces.

Bigfoot was arguably the most famous monster truck in the world back in the day but it is not a Monster Jam truck. For a time Bigfoot ran with Monster Jam events, but in 1998 a dispute over licensing cause them to part ways and the truck has not returned since.

Monster Jam events take place in arenas not meant for Monster Jam events. Often, these are stadiums where hockey and football are usually played. A crew of at least 8 will take upward of 20 hours to create the track out of truckloads of dirt for the trucks so that it won't damage the arena.

They say the bigger they are the harder they fall, and that goes double for these trucks. Under the right conditions, when a Monster Jam truck hits the ground it's doing so with a whopping 240,000 pounds of force.