Grave Digger
From Powersports Information Wiki Source
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Grave Digger (also known simply as Digger) is one of the more popular monster trucks in the world. These group of monster trucks compete in the USHRA Monster Jam series and have won their share of Monster Jam Points and World Racing Championships. The Digger's creator himself, Dennis Anderson, is its flagship driver although as of late several other drivers have piloted the truck to allow appearances at more events. Known for its high speed racing capability, insane freestyle, and awe-inspiring crashes, the Digger has continued to become one of the most influential monster trucks of all time.
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History
The conceptualization of the Grave Digger monster truck started way back in 1981 when 21-year old Dennis Anderson thought of entering a mud-bog contest in his home town of Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. Scrapping together old parts of discarted vehicles, housing it to a corroded chassis of a 1951 Ford pickup, and ran on a formerly high-performing Chevy engine, Anderson was able to come up with his very own mud-bogger. Anderson's competition, which rode bigger, newer, and much more expensive machines, never took his "home-made" vehicle seriously but he never backed down. He even challenged his competitors, saying "I'll take this old junk, & dig your grave." That fateful day marked the birth of the Grave Digger.
Anderson and his custom-built mud-bogger graced the circuit for a couple of years, all the while upgrading his vehicle's parts in order to keep up or even stay ahead of the competition. One of the major change in this vehicle is the body style as he converted to a 1951 Ford panel van which would go on and become the standard body of all his later trucks. In addition, Anderson also placed a Chevy big-block engine at the back of the truck. By 1984, Anderson made his entry to the world of monster trucking, thanks mainly to a no-show from a participant at one event. When the scheduled monster truck failed to turn out at the show, Anderson happily volunteered to the promoters to do the "dirty work" on his vehicle which was already equipped with large tractor tires. After successfully crushing the cars on his debut, Anderson went on to leave mud-bogging and pursue his new-found sport.
Taking his monster trucking career seriously, Anderson decided to build another version of the Grave Digger truck with a stronger chassis. This model was baptized as the Grave Digger 2. With the machine becoming a feature attraction in different trucking events, Anderson thought it was essential to give the Grave Digger a make over and so in 1985, he met with Norfolk, Virginia artist/auto painter Fred Bumann to discuss the machine's paint job. By 1986, the truck had already undergone a transformation with its famous black graveyard paint scheme. Anderson drove the Digger at TNT Motorsports races in 1987 and 1988, competing in the M.T.R.A. racing circuit and by then have gained popularity among monster truck fans despite the lack of major funding. One of Digger's major victories during that era was the one against Bigfoot in St. Paul, MN on a show taped for ESPN.
The Grave Digger 2, sporting a new 1950 Chevy panel van body was used by Anderson in 1989 when the points championship was put in motion. During this time, Anderson's truck became much popular and TNT, recognizing the Grave Digger's rise to fame, started to promote it heavily, especially for races on the Tuff Trax syndicated television series. Many believed that Digger also benefited from Bigfoot's absence in the points championship as the rival truck did not compete with Digger for points in 1989.
1991 marked another historic step in the development of the Grave Digger as its third version, its first four-link truck named Grave Digger 3, was born in time for the USHRA tour. With the Grave Digger's popularity continuing to escalate, Anderson decided it was time to hire other drivers to run other Grave Digger trucks and soon after, he created the Grave Diggers 4, 5 and 8 for these other drivers to ride on. Through the decade, other Grave Digger versions were also engineered with the Grave Digger 3 being succeeded by the Grave Digger 7 and driven by Anderson himself, and then eventually replaced by the Grave Digger 12, an innovated "upgrade" known as the "long wheelbase Digger" which unlike its predecessors, was sporting a shade of purple in the paintjob.
Anderson decided to sell the Grave Digger team to Clear Channel, now known as Live Nation, in 1988 but continued to pilot his brainchild in different events and remain a visible member of the team. Live Nation has also housed its own Grave Digger trucks at its shop in Grandy, NC.
Accomplishments
- 1999 Monster Jam Points Champion (Dennis Anderson)
- 2000 Monster Jam Freestyle champion (Dennis Anderson)
- 2002 Monster Jam Points Champion (Dennis Anderson)
- 2003 Monster Jam Points Champion (Gary Porter)
- 2004 Monster Jam Points Champion (Randy Brown)
- 2004 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Dennis Anderson)
- 2006 Monster Jam World Racing Champion (Dennis Anderson)
Related Titles
- 2004 WMTRL Championship (Gary Porter, Grave Digger #12)
- 2007 Monster Jam Freestyle Championship (Pablo Huffaker, Captain's Curse)
Trucks
List of Grave Digger trucks developed and built through the years
- Grave Digger 1 - Original truck. Truck has been taken apart and sits in back of the shop. (Recently made an appearance at World Finals 8 (2007)
- Grave Digger 2 - Leaf-sprung race truck. Currently rebuilt and out front of the shop to draw in visitors.
- Grave Digger 3 - 4-link race truck. Rebuilt into Inferno in 1999, later ran as Pastrana 199.
- Grave Digger 4 - Leaf-sprung race truck, only run for a few months.
- Grave Digger 5 - Race truck, only run for a few months. Chassis sold to another monster truck operator, body sits in the team store for children to climb on.
- Grave Digger 6 - Rebuilt as Son Of A Digger mud bogger.
- Grave Digger 7 - 4-link race truck. Retired. Currently on display at the team's headquarters, Digger's Dungeon.
- Grave Digger 8 - 4-link race truck. Retired from competition, was on display as part of a temporary museum exhibit in Chicago.
- Grave Digger 9 - Ride truck, sold and is now the "Extinguisher" ride truck.
- Grave Digger 10 - 4-link race truck. Run by Pablo Huffaker, has been retired and scrapped.
- Grave Digger 11 - Ride truck, sold and is now the War Wizard ride truck.
- Grave Digger 12 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Gary Porter.
***The numbering scheme skips 13 because of superstition.***
- Grave Digger 14 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Chad Tingler.
- Grave Digger 15 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Charlie Pauken.
- Grave Digger 16 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Pablo Huffaker.
- Grave Digger 17 - Pro Modified drag racer sponsored by the team. (The IHRA and USHRA are under the same ownership.) No longer racing.
- Grave Digger 18 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Rod Schmidt.
- Grave Digger 19 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Randy Brown.
- Grave Digger 20 - 4-link race truck. Currently driven by Dennis Anderson.
- Grave Digger 21 - "Advance Auto Parts Grave Digger Experience" truck, a custom built 4-link truck which allows people to climb into the cab, where there is a video presentation. This truck is used as a display truck for Advance, and is unique in that it is trailered with the monster tires on, thus needing narrowed axles and other components.
Trademarks
- Body - the 1950 Chevy Panel Van body used is not likely to change anytime soon.
- Paintwork - green flames, letters dripping blood, a foggy graveyard scene with tombstones bearing names of competitors, a haunted house silhouetted by a full moon, and a giant skull shaped mountainside make up the truck's paint scheme.
- Headlights - red headlights which are turned on whenever the truck is in competition.
- Rivalry - Grave Digger has sort of developed a rivalry with Bigfoot over the title of "Most Popular Monster Truck" although they only race each other a few times each year.
World Finals Scores
| Year | World Finals | Score |
| 2000 | World Finals | 40 |
| 2001 | World Finals II | 36 |
| 2002 | World Finals III | 36 |
| 2003 | World Finals IV | 20 |
| 2004 | World Finals V | 30 |
| 2005 | World Finals VI | 25 |
| 2006 | World Finals VII | 33 |
| 2007 | World Finals VIII | 30 |
Drivers
| Driver Name | Hometown | Driving Digger Since | Championships |
| Dennis Anderson | Kill Devil Hills, NC | 1982 | 2000 Freestyle & 2004, 2006 Racing Monster Jam Champion |
| Pablo Huffaker | Tomball, TX | 1991 | 2007 Freestyle Monster Jam Champion (in Captain's Curse) |
| Charlie Pauken | Maurnee, OH | late 90's | None |
| Randy Brown | Camden, NC | 2000 | None |
| Gary Porter | Wadesboro, NC | 2002 | None |
| Rod Schmidt | Charles City, IA | 2003 | None |
| Chad Tingler | Stuarts Draft, VA | 2006 | None |
| Adam Anderson | Poplar Branch, NC | 2007 | None |
Videos
| Grave Digger at the 2008 Monster Jam in San Antonio. |
