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Grave Digger is a monster truck racing team in the Feld Entertainment Monster Jam series founded by original driver Dennis Anderson. Considered one of the most famous and recognized monster trucks of all time, Grave Digger serves as the flagship team of the Monster Jam series, with seven active Grave Digger trucks being driven by different drivers to allow a truck to appear at every Monster Jam event. Read more Below.
Grave Digger was originally built in 1982 by Dennis Anderson as a mud bogger. This first truck was assembled from salvaged parts, including the body of a red 1952 Ford pickup truck. The truck received its name when Anderson, amicably retorting trash talking from his fellow racers about the truck's salvaged parts, said, "I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it." Anderson gained a reputation for an all-or-nothing driving style and quickly became popular at local events. At one show, a scheduled monster truck failed to show up and Anderson, who already had large tractor tires on the truck, offered to crush cars in the absence of the full-size monster. The promoter accepted and Grave Digger was an instant success as a car crusher and led Anderson to leave mud bogging and pursue monster trucks instead. In 1984 Anderson rebuilt the truck as a true monster truck using a 1951 Ford panel van body originally sporting a silver and blue paint scheme.
In 1986 Grave Digger first received its famous black graveyard paint scheme. In 1987 and 1988 Anderson drove the truck primarily at TNT Motorsports races and became a crowd favorite for driving hard despite lacking major funding that better-known teams, like Bigfoot, had. In 1987, Anderson beat Bigfoot in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on a show taped for ESPN. It was the first major victory for Grave Digger.
Anderson moved to Grave Digger 2 in 1989, with a new 1950 Chevy panel van body, while his brother Leslie Anderson drove Grave Digger 1. It was during this time that the reputation for wild passes was developed, and the popularity of the truck increased. It was also during this time that "Bad To The Bone" began to be used as the truck's theme song. TNT recognized his rising popularity and began promoting Grave Digger heavily, especially for races on the Tuff Trax syndicated television series. This was helped by Bigfoot not racing for points in the 1989 championship, leaving Grave Digger as the most popular truck on the tour.
When TNT became a part of the United States Hot Rod Association in 1991, Anderson began running on the USHRA tour and debuted his first four-link truck, Grave Digger 3. Throughout the 1990s, the popularity of the truck grew and forced Anderson to hire other drivers to run other Grave Digger trucks. Grave Diggers 4, 5 and 8 were built to suit this purpose, and were never driven in any major capacity by Anderson. Anderson drove Grave Digger 7, a direct successor to 3, for most of the decade. It was replaced by Grave Digger 12, well known as the "long wheelbase Digger", which was also the first Grave Digger with purple in the paint job.
In 1993, Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger #7 were heavily featured on the TV series Monster Wars. Anderson led the beginning of the season until breakages and disqualifications; he finished 5th. That year, Anderson won the 2nd USHRA wreck of the year title after he won and rolled over in Lebanon Valley Speedway, racing UFO. There was footage inside the cab of Anderson uttering his famous catch-saying “Yea we turned er over, she’s over, that’s what the people want, that’s what they got, I got a torn up truck!”
In late 1998, Anderson sold the Grave Digger team to Pace Motorsports (now Feld Entertainment). Anderson continued to drive, being the most visible member of the team, and remained in charge of drivers and of training team members.
Anderson competed in his final event on January 14, 2017 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. On September 18, 2017, Dennis announced his full retirement from Monster Jam, stating however that he would still be behind the scenes and in the pits.
1999 Monster Jam Points Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #12)
2000 Monster Jam World Freestyle Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #7)
2002 Monster Jam Points Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #14)
2003 Monster Jam Points Champion (Randy Brown – Grave Digger #18)
2004 Monster Jam Points Champion (Gary Porter – Grave Digger #12)
2004 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #19)
2004 World Monster Truck Racing League Championship (Gary Porter – Grave Digger #12)
2006 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #20)
2010 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #20)
2010 Monster Jam Points Champion (Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger #20)
2016 Monster Jam Amsoil Series East Champion (Cole Venard – Grave Digger #31)
2016 Monster Jam Amsoil Series West Champion (Morgan Kane – Grave Digger #25)
2016 Monster Jam FS1 Series Champion (Adam Anderson – Grave Digger #32)
2016 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Morgan Kane – Grave Digger #25)
2016 Monster Jam World Freestyle Champion (Adam Anderson – Grave Digger #32)
2017 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series East Champion (Tyler Menninga – Grave Digger #23)
2017 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West Champion (Cole Venard – Grave Digger #31)
2017 Monster Jam Stadium Tour Champion (Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger #27)
2017 Monster Jam Arena Tour Champion (Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger #28)
2017 Monster Jam Arena Tour Champion (Randy Brown – Grave Digger #29)
2018 Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 2 Champion (Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger #27)
2018 Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 3 Champion (Morgan Kane – Grave Digger #33)
2018 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series Central Champion (Tyler Menninga – Grave Digger #32)
2018 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Adam Anderson – Grave Digger #35)
2019 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West Champion (Tyler Menninga – Grave Digger #36)
2019 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series Central Champion (Brandon Vinson – Grave Digger #31)
2019 Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 2 Champion (Adam Anderson – Grave Digger #35)
2019 Monster Jam Arena Championship Series Champion (Randy Brown – Grave Digger #39)
2020 Monster Jam Stadium Series Yellow Champion (Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger #27)
2020 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series East Champion (Tyler Menninga – Grave Digger #36)
2020 Monster Jam Triple Threat Series West Champion (Brandon Vinson – Grave Digger #31)
2020 Monster Jam Arena Championship Series Champion (Randy Brown – Grave Digger #39)
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Truck information
Year created
1982
Body style
1950 Chevrolet Panel Van
Chassis
Patrick Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), Cohen-designed ("in-house built"), Carroll Racing Development (CRD), and Racesource
Engine
540 cubic inch Merlin 1450hp
Transmission
Coan 2-speed transmission
Tires
BKT/66" Terra