Dan Rodoni (born Sept. 26, 1968) is a retired driver out of Santa Cruz, California, who is best known for owning & driving The Patriot.
Career[]
Before driving monster trucks, he established his own company called Central Coast Four Wheel Drive in 1995.
He would get his start by helping out Tom Meents' crew at west coast events from 2001 to 2003. He would start building his own truck that same year.
In 2004, Rodoni began competing on the West Coast. In Red Bluff 2004, he drove the Hot Wheels truck.
In 2006, Rodoni debuted his teammate truck Tropical Thunder, driven by Phil Foster on Guy Wood's former Bulldozer chassis, which it had competed on previously.
He picked up a freestyle victory in San Francisco in 2007, and gained attention after a second place finish in Anaheim 2009, where he had a crazy bicycle in freestyle, before flipping.
In 2010, The Patriot was run as Donkey Kong at the third Anaheim show of the season, after the truck had been retired.
In 2014, Rodoni began driving El Toro Loco on The Patriot's chassis, and was given his first appearance in the Monster Jam World Finals driving The Patriot. He owned a truck called Beast Up, which ran only one show & was temporary name for Tropical Thunder.
In 2015, he took over the reigns of El Toro Loco full-time, while his teammate Andrew Peckham drove The Patriot. After 2015, Dan would no longer compete in Monster Jam, only making occasional appearances at independent shows on the west coast no more than once a year.
From 2016-2018, Dan owned Hellraiser. As of 2021, Dan has sold both of his monster trucks to Mike Harper, with The Patriot now running as Outlaw, and Tropical Thunder/Hellraiser running as The Sheriff. Today, he works at his farm business in Santa Cruz.
World Finals appearances[]
- 2010 - The Patriot (freestyle encore only)
- 2014 - The Patriot