u/Small_Subject8424

He got kicked out because he was abusing his son’s toys

Been on a bit of a vintage shirt hunt lately and snagged a few good ones

For those complaining about the detail in the new shirts, the paint matches the truck’s scheme still. The original photos posted by team scream pixelate the fine detail and make it hard to see.

Attended a show last night and was gifted some vintage original memorabilia by the one and only Kyle Seasock. Cards are signed by John himself and Kyle. The Seasocks are legendary. Keep monster truck history alive folks and keep the conversations going about where this sport came from! 🏁

For just $105 at 20% off currently you too could enjoy someone’s monster jam snot rag

Couple more goodies following the plush

What a crazy truck I’ve never seen it before it must be worth alot. MonsterJam sux now anyway. Cool body

Long time chase finally ends. Just need a 2001 yearbook now. Oh and there’s more coming in today🏁

BOOGEY VAN 1
CC#10

Originally constructed as a custom Vaters build in 1993, the Boogey Van monster truck chassis began its life with a unique Ford Aerostar body and design concepts adapted from the Black Stallion and Maximum Overkill chassis.

The chassis, piloted at the time by Pam Vaters (Vahle), would win its first notable race against Gene Patterson in Bigfoot in the fall of 1993 in Naples, Florida during the first round of that PENDA points series event. After competing for a little over a years worth, Boogey Van’s chassis received a major overhaul between 1994 to 1995.

In order to make the truck more practical competing on the longer outdoor tracks of the PENDA series, the chassis was bottom halved and a new spread cradle was fabricated. Michael Vaters built new experimental shocks in house and a brand new motor was installed as well. By the end of 1995, things got a little interesting for Boogey’s original chassis.

In October at the Pontiac Silverdome during a long jump attempt, Pam sent the Boogey Van flying. Unable to stop in time, the truck and chassis slammed head first into the oncoming wall. As a result, two passenger side wheels broke off the truck and Pam was injured in the process with some internal bleeding. Recovered and with the truck repaired, the Boogey Van returned to competing a short while later and a new paint scheme was introduced the following year.

Come 1999 however, the chassis was destined for a different set of hands. After a divorce, the Boogey Van was granted in ownership to Pam. The entire Boogey Van operation was then sold to Paul Shafer. With Shafer as the new owner, Pam Vahle still drove the Boogey Van truck and chassis through the year 2000, with the Monster Trux 2000 event being her final TV appearance in the chassis.

Shortly after Pam retired in 2001, various drivers such as Rodney Tweedy, Brian Townsend, Amber Walker, Sherry Harwood, Jesse Bass, and Charlie Miller took over driving until 2005, when the name was officially retired. The chassis was then converted to Captain USA (not to be confused with Jeff Bainter’s Captain USA which was also known as Captain America) piloted by Rodney Tweedy. The name actually debuted in 2004 one year before Boogey Van was completed retired. The chassis would also intermittently run as Monster Patrol.

By the time 2006 rolled around, Captain USA’s competing operations would cease, causing the chassis to run full time as Monster Patrol. Campaigning for the next 2 years, the chassis was sold again in 2008 to Clive Featherby in Australia but was actually driven by Shafer himself, notoriously at all 3 South Pacific World Finals from 2008-2010.

By the early 2010’s, Mark Gilbert of Adelaide, SA bought the chassis and would begin competing under his own rendition of Monster Patrol. The chassis from 2013 to 2015 would also variously run as the sponsored Triple M 104.7 station name piloted by Gilbert as well as Kreg Christensen at a few events. In February of 2015, the chassis also sported a sponsored “City Discount Tyres” body. By July of 2015, the chassis converted full time back to Monster Patrol. Gilbert would drive the chassis and name until his passing in 2022.

The chassis was sold again by early 2023 to Matthew McCormack, who would re-debut the Australian Monster Patrol in April of 2024. The chassis still continues to run today Under the Monster Patrol name in the land down under.

Be sure to follow if you’re on Facebook for more exciting chassis history, and who knows, maybe a suggestion of yours will be featured in a future installment! 🏁

WILD THANG 1
CC#9

The chassis that sported a revolutionary body.

Wild Thang’s chassis and truck debut came about in October of 1996 in Louisville, Kentucky. However, we need to back track a year or so. Mud drag racer Tony Farrell from Indiana originally began driving monster trucks in 1995 after purchasing the “Kodiak” (formerly known as “First Blood”) truck and chassis from Mark Bendler. Running the name for a select few events, Farrell quickly changed the chassis’s identity to “Blue Ribbon Bandit” for 6 months, a nod to his previous mud racer of the same name.

Wild Thang’s name and concept originated oddly enough from a student during Farrell’s time as a school bus driver. The Blue Ribbon Bandit, after finalization of his truck’s new identity, would heavily go under the knife for an extensive and thorough overhaul. In creating the crazy 3D body that would encapsulate crowds across the USHRA circuit, Farrell’s team made intricate changes to Blue Ribbon’s roll cage to accommodate the new body.

The team practically reworked the entire cage on top of the cradle from a pickup truck style cage into a more narrow and drawn-in design to fit the skull properly. Through re-fabricating and adding new supports for the body, and the door bars being widened to give support for the widened cheek bones of the skull, the chassis took on an entirely new form.

Under the brand new (and very expensive) body freshly painted, Farrell debuted the overhauled chassis and brand new truck in October of 1996 in Louisville at the USHRA Fright Night V event in Freedom Hall. Surprisingly, Tony Farrell would give another complete upgrade to the chassis again a few months later in the spring of 1997.

The frame rails were notched on the front and rear section of the chassis and that allowed the shocks to be positioned outside of the frame rails instead of inside the frame rails on the chassis. This was due in part to possible technical advances in the monster truck industry. Continuing to campaign and win over all crowds alike across the country, Farrell’s time as owning Wild Thang was coming to an end.

Paul Shafer bought the chassis and name in 1999, but Farrell continued to drive in the meantime still. This would continue until approximately mid 2000 when PACE Motorsports approached Farrell to drive for them. As Farrell left Wild Thang as well as Paul’s team, the Wild Thang chassis would be piloted by various drivers until 2003 when it was temporarily converted to “Ozz Monster”, a sponsorship truck for the Ozzfest music festival. This intermittent/shared name change on the chassis would go on throughout the 2000’s.

This original chassis’s final appearance as Wild Thang in Monster Jam would be in Miami, Florida on February 17, 2007 driven by David Brown. 2008 would mark the final year of competition for Ozz Monster on the chassis. The truck and chassis would be sold to Kirk Dabney in 2009, soon being converted into the chassis’s 3rd identity, “Undertaker”. It was also run on the temporary name “Grim Reaper” under Dabney as well. After a few years of competing in its new ownership, the chassis was sold to Mark Andrew in or around 2012.

The chassis currently sits stripped of all parts near St. Louis, Missouri.

RIP Tony Farrell. Thank you for everything you have done for the sport 🏁

WAR WIZARD 1
CC#8

A monster truck built like a dragster.

Randy Moore piloted and debuted the first War Wizard truck and chassis in Philadelphia over the weekend of February 14th-15th, 2003. Everything about the truck mirrored Moore’s previous career in drag racing.

Randy Moore would end up carrying over a majority of his drag crew, including fabricator Blaine Kilby who personally custom built the chassis and designed the suspension. Certain aspects of the roll cage and cradle independently were designed to separate and break away, taking influence from drag racing engineering. Sections of the cage were built to be replaceable or sacrificial in certain situations. The 1941 Willys body was also funny-car inspired.

The chassis made its first televised appearance in 2004 in Montreal. The following year, the truck and chassis set a new speed record for monster trucks at 84.382 mph before Dan Runte would break it 2009.

After a few seasons of competing, 2006 brought a year’s worth of headaches. In January visiting Atlanta, WW1 took a hard landing during freestyle, ripping every single shock off their mounts. The chassis at this point also suffered immense stress causing considerable damage, deeming it totaled and to be put out of commission for repairs and renovation for the remainder of the year. The War Wizard team would end up leasing the “Total Chaos” chassis from Brian Barthel to continue campaigning.

Finishing up 2006 and reimplementing the renovated chassis back into competition, War Wizard variously ran across the country for the 2007 season. Behind the scenes of rebuilding the original, a new PEI chassis was being constructed as well for the incoming season and the Wizard debuted a new paint scheme as well for the end of ‘07/beginning of ‘08. The original and rebuilt chassis of War Wizard was sold, and began a new life under the body of an actual Toyota Tundra.

The chassis fell into the hands of Steve Zion, owner of Toyota of Wallingford in Connecticut. The chassis essentially does not exist today as an actual cradle/roll cage monster truck chassis. The roll cage was removed and a completely outfitted Toyota Tundra steel body with a fully loaded interior now sits on top of the wide, stretched box-style cradle. Clark planetaries on heavy duty axles drive the truck and the original 4 link arms still exist. There is another Toyota dealership monster truck as well, with a different cradle design and lesser axle and suspension components.

Pat Summa, former driver of “Thrasher”, used to drive the “War Wizard Toyota” for car crushing exhibitions at the dealership and give rides for events. With Pat now fully retired, the truck is still used from time to time for dealership promotions and entertainment.

GOLDBERG 2
CC#7

The seventh installment of Chasing Chassis brings arguably Tom Meents’s most famous and battled chassis, Goldberg 2.

Built and designed by Meents himself in Paxton, Illinois in 2000 and debuting in the late fall of 2000, Goldberg 2 was a workhorse from the start.

After much success throughout the year 2000 and capturing his first World Finals championship (in racing), Meents continued his domination under a new chassis similar to Goldberg 1. Jack Willman chassis were a heavy inspiration from his days piloting the old Taurus 4/Monster Patrol 1 chassis.

Goldberg 2 carried Tom into World Finals 2 in March of 2001, earning him his first double down victory, winning both racing and freestyle (notably from that lovely sprinkler accident causing a racing course layout change). A newer gold-flake paint job was sported on the chassis for WF2. Throughout the rest of the 2001 season, Meents would make various appearances on G2 while G1 was mainly driven by Eldon Depew for smaller arena shows and other non-televised events. Tom’s spotlight under Goldberg however was soon coming to a close.

Goldberg 2 made one of its last appearances at the Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia on September 22, 2001 hosted by CFP for the Monster Truck Nationals. The chassis paraded an American flag in remembrance for the victims of 9/11. Following this show, Goldberg 2 went under the knife for the few remaining months of 2001, that is until December 1st.

At the beginning of the 2002 season, the contracted partnership between the WCW and monster jam would cease, bringing an end to its fleet of wrestling sponsored trucks. Hiding away the chassis and truck for the pit party, Meents would debut on December 1, 2001 in Minneapolis, Minnesota his next rendition of Goldberg 2’s chassis, “Team Meents” 1. G1’s chassis would become the 2nd Team Meents truck. This name and scheme was never originally planned as Goldberg‘s successor.

The events of September 11th caused the original plans of Maximum Destruction’s debut to deviate a little bit as the general consensus was that “Maximum Destruction” would be too insensitive at the time. “Team Meents” was put in place as a buffer for one season. Nonetheless, Meents still dominated and G2 doubled down at World Finals 3 yet again. Competing for the rest of 2002 across the country, Tom made many appearances campaigning the last of what people would see of Team Meents as well as G1 running another Team Meents truck in smaller arena shows still and other untelevised events. Eldon Depew and Steve Reynolds would variously drive G1.

December 7th, 2002 marked the last show for a Team Meents truck after campaigning for one whole year. Meents announced at the show that something new is arriving coming the new year.

January 4th, 2003 marked the official debut of “Maximum Destruction” in Houston, Texas. This would become Tom’s most notable and recognized truck of his career. G2 as Maximum Destruction 1 would double down at the event, sparking an explosive introduction to G2’s new identity. Over the course of the next 7 years, Tom would pilot G2 into 2 more freestyle championships in 2004 and 2006, and one last racing championship under G2 in 2009. 2010 marked the last year of competition under Meents and Neil Elliot would pilot G2 in 2011 briefly before the chassis’s full retirement.

Put under many extreme conditions of abuse and shot into the spotlight of fame, Goldberg 2 faired a deep history of success and many famous moments. The chassis is presumably still under Tom’s ownership on his property near Paxton, IL to this day.

NOTE* I want to add that there’s extracurricular research going on pertaining to Tom in G2’s last official show actually being Wildwood, NJ 2001 instead. If you have info or photos, send em in.

THRASHER 1
CC#6

Per requested, a full post from my page “Chasing Chassis” on here. This one was fun.

⚠️A forewarning:
This feature will deviate away a little from the direct path of Thrasher 1’s chassis as there’s A LOT of great information to cover. However, I feel it’s all necessary to include because this story deserves it and it’s just so interesting. Special thanks to Gage Bursey for some valuable insight and much appreciated generosity from Pat and his wife themselves. Sit back and enjoy folks 🏁

To begin the timeline leading to the first chassis that became Thrasher, we have to talk about a blue 1978 Ford F-250 in the early to mid 1980’s.

Originating in the Danbury, Connecticut area, Pat Summa had himself a built up mud truck titled “Above n Beyond” that he would bring to events and mud holes to wheel around in. As car crushing became more popular (as well as racing for monster trucks), Summa began his monster truck transformation. 5 ton axles were added as well as tubular trussing to the stock F-250 frame. The front half was closely designed to that of Bigfoot 4, while the rear mirrored the quarter elliptical leaf spring set up of the Jersey Outlaw monster truck at the time.

Alongside 4 massive monster truck tires, planetaries were then fixated to the 5T axles. An updated appearance as well was given to Above n Beyond after launching into the monster truck world. A brand new white Ford fiberglass body was made, and the beefed up chassis/frame was painted blue. The original steel blue F-250 body was scrapped. This was arguably Above n Beyond’s most recognizable setup competing through various circuits and events.

After a few years running the upgraded F-250 frame and new fiberglass body, the original chassis/frame was scrapped and Pat Summa purchased the Towasaurus Wrex 3 chassis, which was fully built and completed but never saw competition.

Gary DeMauro (original Towasaurus creator and driver) had broken his back in an accident and decided to sell. Jeff Bursey from Massachusetts had shown interest in purchasing Towasaurus 2 around 1988. After arriving to purchase and haul back Towasaurus 2 and spotting Gary’s 3rd Towasaurus complete truck, he inquired about this one as well, only to be told Pat Summa had already purchased just the chassis itself.

Towasaurus 3’s engine would eventually sell to Dennis Anderson and go into Grave Digger number 7 while the brand new Towasaurus 3 body would go back with Jeff Bursey, but that’s for another day.

*There are virtually no photos available for public viewing of the complete Towasaurus 3 being it never saw competition as such before being dismantled and sold off.

Eventually utilized for Summa’s Above n Beyond 2, this new and improved chassis came with 106 axles equipped with planetaries and 18 inch Kuster shocks. Summa also debuted a slightly different paint scheme on the Ford body. Above n Beyond’s engine, profab transfer case, and transmission were all transferred over from the original F-250 chassis/frame. Come 1993 however, a new identity was in order.

The original “Thrasher” debuted on the Towasaurus 3/Above n Beyond 2 chassis running one of (if not possibly the first) Toyota monster truck body styles, that being a sheet metal Toyota Tundra. By 2000 the frame was painted black, the engine was re-configured into the rear of the truck, and the chassis sported a new Tacoma body following the Tundra.

Eventually by 2002, Thrasher received another refresh. A new Ford F-150 body was created and the Towasaurus 3/Thrasher 1 chassis was sold off to Jim Leahy who eventually created “The Broker” monster truck out of New Jersey.

The chassis under “The Broker” made its first appearance on May 1, 2002 in Stafford Township at a “Kops n’ Kids” event as a display piece. Its first competition debut was July 31, 2002. The Broker truck and chassis ran for many years, appearing in one televised event on Speed in the Pontiac Silverdome in 2006. Retiring fully in 2009, The Broker sat in storage for quite some time under its second driver, Lou Antonozzi.

In 2018 monster truck driver, owner, and promoter Mike Harper purchased the truck and chassis.

Decisively and quickly however, the chassis was sold again and still runs to this day under Kevin Lubsen variously as “Wadded Up” and “Robo Shark”. Wadded Up originally debuted in November of 2018. Robo Shark debuted in April of 2025.