Who invented the grave digger

Yes, we are talking about monster trucks that we can see in freestyle motorsport. Nothing can give our article a great start than discussing the mammoth Grave Digger Monster Jam Truck.

There is no denying that it is indeed the king of all the monster trucks in freestyle motorsport. This monstrous vehicle weighs around 10, pounds and has inches tall tires. It has gone through many changes and enhancements since when it first came into existence.

The wild reputation of the Grave Digger is the result of its paint scheme that includes green flames, blood dripping alphabets, a giant skull, etc. The most noticeable feature is its red headlights that shine throughout whenever the truck is competing. It is considered to be one of the most acclaimed monster trucks of all time with seven active Grave Digger Jam trucks participating in every Monster Jam series. Dennis Anderson created the Grave Digger truck in and drove it till his retirement in During the s, he used to participate in mud bog racing with his old pickup built using parts of the scrap yard.

Since then, it became a craze among the masses. He built the truck using a Ford pickup. In the event, he crushed several cars through his monster truck. This success led him to pursue a career in monster trucks. Dennis Anderson. Over the years, Grave Digger has undergone numerous modifications beginning from where it received its trademark black graveyard paint.

In the year , Anderson was forced to sell the Grave Digger team to Pace Motorsports due to financial issues. Even after selling it off, he remained the most popular driver of the Grave Digger Jam Truck. The success of Grave Digger is proportionate to the efforts of its proficient drivers, who proved their mettle on the racing track, time and again. Let us talk about some of its prominent active drivers who have kept its fame soaring.

Currently, he drives Grave Digger He made his debut in Grave Digger has a history that dates back almost 40 years. The original Grave Digger was built in by Dennis Anderson, who eventually spent about 35 years driving Grave Digger. Anderson created Grave Digger using a Ford pickup truck, and at first, he used it primarily as a mud bogger. However, during one of his early mud bogging shows, there was a monster truck that was supposed to make an appearance and never showed.

Anderson told the promoter of the show that he would be happy to use Grave Digger, which had large tractor tires on it at the time, to crush some cars. The promoter allowed him to do it, and Grave Digger was a hit right from the start. Thanks to all of his hard work and his unique and exciting driving style he was able to gain a huge following even without any sponsorships. Sponsorships that his competitors did have. Eventually, thanks to his skill and determination he received an offer from TNT Motorsports, the monster truck PR company at the time.

This offer meant that Anderson would now have a guaranteed payday every time he raced and TNT Motorsports started to promote the truck for its syndicated television series, Tuff Trax. Anderson is now retired, his last event was in Tampa, Florida on January 14, ; but during the entirety of his career he never lost his balls to the walls racing style that he had from the beginning.

He always remained the guy that fans loved to watch. He crushed some cars, the crowd went wild and the event producer went on to include the Grave Digger in subsequent events. After that, Anderson decided to leave mud bogging and pursue monster truck driving instead. In the Grave Digger became a true monster truck when the Ford pickup was replaced by a Ford Panel van and had an even larger engine and tires.

That look appeared in after Dennis commissioned his friend to create the iconic paint scheme, which was inspired by s horror comics.

Although the dates for when Anderson and the Grave Digger rose to true fame vary among fans, most people recognize as the break out year. It was in that Anderson and his Digger took on Bigfoot, a rival monster truck. The rivalry between Grave Digger and Bigfoot quickly became one of the strongest in the sport. Producers played up the rivalry between these two drivers and their trucks to help create drama—and it worked. The tables began to turn and Grave Digger skyrocketed in fame when Anderson and his Digger beat Bigfoot during a competition in Minnesota.

Bigfoot was number one, the guy to beat…and the Grave Digger beat him. To this day the Grave Digger vs. A feature that has been there since the beginning, a feature that has always signaled to Grave Digger fans that something amazing is about to happen. Early on in his career Anderson figured out that the red taillights from a school bus fit perfectly on his truck, and the rest, as they say, is history. When he was still competing in TNT, Army Armstrong, one of the announcers at these events started a rumor that whenever the red lights were switched on, it meant that the truck was ready to go into action and that its driver—Dennis Anderson—would go all the way.

Fans immediately began to notice this fact. Anderson responded by ensuring that the lights were off if something was not right with his monster truck. But, this lead to his team receiving letters from fans expressing concern about the lights being off during certain events. This caused the team to make some changes and led to them ensuring that the those signature red headlights remained on for all of their shows. Anderson created the first Grave Digger in , and drove the truck until he retired in Active for 39 years, there are 8 competing Grave Digger trucks with 9 current competing drivers on the Monster Jam circuit.

Anderson's family continues to be heavily involved, with members of the family serving as drivers and Anderson's shop, Digger's Dungeon , building and operating most of the trucks. Before his retirement, Pablo Huffaker 's Racesource also owned select chassis. Alongside Bigfoot , Grave Digger is arguably the most famous and widely known monster truck anywhere in the world, and is considered to be Monster Jam's flagship truck. The truck is also well known for its on-track rivalry with the Maximum Destruction team, especially when the trucks were driven by Dennis Anderson and Max-D founder Tom Meents ; the two enjoyed a long-standing friendly rivalry due to their respective on-track success.

Blue and silver Grave Digger in This design would inspire Grave Digger the Legend , which debuted 26 years later in There have been 41 versions of Grave Digger to date actually 40, as Grave Digger 13 was never built. The number of the truck is often displayed on the front of the hood.

It houses other various FELD vehicles from time to time.