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Chad A. Fortune (born August 13th, 1967) is a former monster truck driver out of Valparaiso, Indiana. He was best known for driving Superman and Soldier Fortune.

Career[]

Before monster trucks, Fortune played for Louisville & then professional football for the Dolphins & Bears and was even a professional wrestler for a period, wrestling as a member of Tekno Team 2000 for World Wrestling Entertainment. This would bring him to his first appearance with Monster Jam, with Fortune serving as the "spokesman" for the NWO truck, although he never drove it (Rob Knell drove the truck). Chad was originally meant to drive the cancelled WCW Bret Hart monster truck, but was too tall to fit inside the shrunken roll cage and thus, the idea was nixed. He instead began his career driving WCW Nitro Machine in November of 2000, until its retirement, appearing on TV once in Minneapolis.

In late 2001, while Power Forward was in development, Chad drove Ragin Steel at select shows to pass time. Also in 2001, he drove Inferno for its debut show in France.

From 2002-2004, Fortune piloted the Karl Malone-backed Power Forward, even getting two World Finals appearances at World Finals 3 & 4. Midway through the 2004 season, Fortune drove the Ameriquest Freedom truck for a short period of time after Carl Van Horn was chosen to replace him as the driver of Power Forward. Chad drove Hot Wheels on the European tour in 2004 along with Nokia N-Gage in Belgium that year.

By 2005, he was piloting Superman, which was his longest running identity, him from 2005-2012.

In 2008, Chad drove BiFi in Brussels for its only event.

In 2012, Fortune switch from DC to Marvel, as he piloted Captain America until 2015, when he would debut Soldier Fortune.

In New Orleans 2015, Chad won racing and ripped the rear axle off in freestyle.

In 2016, Chad drove in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series.

In 2017, Chad drove Blue Thunder for at least one international event. He would later be said to have retired from driving temporarily in 2019, but returned in 2020 and would be scheduled for the International Tour, but all events would eventually be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, he appeared on Inside Monster Jam.

Trivia[]

  • At events that took place on the European Tours, during the introductions, Chad would come out onto the arena floor dressed as Clark Kent, before "sensing danger", taking off the suit and a pair of glasses to reveal his Superman firesuit, and running behind the wall protection before a Clear Channel driver drove the Superman truck into the arena. Then, Chad would climb up, and then stand on the top of the protection whilst facing the truck. On other occasions, a pre-recorded video was instead used of Chad doing the routine in a different way; he'd start out in a "office" (probably a closet at a Clear Channel office) before "sensing danger" and taking off his Clark Kent costume to reveal the Superman firesuit, and then running out the hallway.
  • In 2019, he returned to Superman as part of a display for the truck during a visit by Shaquille O'Neil to FELD studios. He was present as the driver.
  • When he began driving Superman, Chad altered his appearance by dying his hair black and occasionally wearing a pair of glasses (usually in interviews and his driver profile image) to match the character of Superman and after his Freestyle runs, Chad would often pose like Superman. Similarly when driving Captain America, Chad would carry a shield and pose with it like Captain America after a freestyle run.
  • Chad provided commentary with Scott Douglass for two 2013 Monster Jam television episodes in Phoenix and Jacksonville. For Phoenix, he filled-in for Mark Schroeder, since he was competing at said show, however, the reason for him replacing Mark in Jacksonville is unknown.

World Finals appearances[]

  • 2002 - Power Forward
  • 2003 - Power Forward
  • 2005 - Superman
  • 2006 - Superman
  • 2007 - Superman
  • 2008 - Superman
  • 2009 - Superman
  • 2010 - Superman
  • 2011 - Superman
  • 2012 - Captain America
  • 2013 - Captain America
  • 2014 - Captain America
  • 2015 - Soldier Fortune
  • 2016 - Soldier Fortune
  • 2017 - Soldier Fortune

Gallery[]

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