Grave Digger (truck)
| Owner and driver information | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Feld Entertainment |
| Driver(s) | Dennis Anderson (Team Leader), Adam Anderson (Primary Driver), Morgan Kane, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown, Pablo Huffaker, Krysten Anderson, Carl Van Horn, and Tyler Menninga |
| Home city | Kill Devil Hills, NC |
| Truck information | |
| Year created | 1982 |
| Body style | 1950 Chevy Panel Van |
| Chassis | Patrick Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), Cohen-designed ("house built"), Carroll Racing Development (CRD), and Racesource |
| Engine | 540 cubic inch Merlin 1450hp |
| Transmission | Coan 2-speed transmission |
| Tires | BKT |
Grave Digger is a monster truck racing team in the Feld Entertainment Monster Jam series. There are nine Grave Diggers being driven by different drivers to allow them to make appearances at more events, but their flagship driver is creator Dennis Anderson. Grave Digger is considered to be one of the most influential and iconic monster trucks of all time.
Grave Digger was originally conceived in 1982 by Dennis Anderson as a mud bogger. This first truck was a red 1952 Ford pickup truck. Later on a silver and blue 1951 Ford Panel Truck was his new mud truck that would become the first Grave Digger monster truck. The truck received its name when Anderson, amicably trash talking with his fellow racers, said the now famous line, "I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it", a reference to the age of his old pickup in comparison to their relatively modern trucks. 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 1986 Grave Digger underwent a transformation to complete monster truck and 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 more well 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. It was during this time that the reputation for wild passes was developed, and the popularity of the truck increased. TNT recognised 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 paintjob.
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