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Dragon is a custom dragon monster truck owned by FELD Motorsports, and is currently driven by Coty Saucier. The truck is a successor to Dragon's Breath, and made its debut at East Rutherford 2014. Since its debut, the truck has become a fan favorite in Monster Jam, and has competed in every Monster Jam World Finals since winning the Showdown championship in 2016.

History[]

Dragon was originally meant to compete during the 2014 first quarter season, but was not finished in time, and was postponed for the time being. The truck was first unveiled to the public on June 14th, 2014, as part of that year’s Path of Destruction Tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The truck would perform a freestyle encore later that night with Charlie Pauken driving, only to crash after hitting its first obstacle. Despite this, the truck would also be featured in Monster Jam’s inaugural show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts the following weekend, where it would perform a full freestyle exhibition. Several months later, Dragon would compete on that year’s Australian tour, with Scott Liddycoat driving, leaving and retiring its predecessor Dragon's Breath.

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Liddycoat winning the World Finals XVII YGS.

Dragon entered its first full year of competition in 2015, with Liddycoat behind the wheel. Both truck and driver would be invited to compete in the Young Guns Shootout at World Finals XVI, losing in round 1. Liddycoat and Dragon would again compete in the Young Guns Shootout at World Finals XVII the following year. However, they would win the said competition, defeating Tyler Menninga in Blue Thunder and earning the thirty-second and final spot in the main field. They would qualify 8th, but lose in round 1 and they would place 24th in freestyle. In Osaka, Japan, the truck would be driven by Bari Musawwir.

A second Dragon was added to the team for the 2017 season, being driven by Jon Zimmer. Zimmer competed on Stadium Championship Series 4, with Dustin Brown filling in for him in the series' Minneapolis and San Diego events as Zimmer would be filling in for an injured Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger. Zimmer would finish 2nd on the series, four points behind Charlie Pauken. Zimmer and Dragon would be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals XVIII. Meanwhile, Liddycoat competed exclusively on that year’s international tour, and would later leave the team and FELD Entertainment, allowing Zimmer to assume full-time driving duties. Morgan Kane drives the truck in Beijing, China.

In 2018, Dragon would receive a new chassis, as Zimmer and the truck competed in Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 4. Zimmer and the truck would finish in 3rd place and would eventually get an invite to World Finals XIX. Later, at the first stop of that year's international tour in Frankfurt, Germany on May 12th, Dragon would receive an all-new body style, being a custom 3D dragon. Later that month, an ice variant of the truck would be showcased at Licensing Expo 2018 and later revealed at the 2019 season kickoff as well.

In 2019, Zimmer drove the new Dragon Ice on Stadium Championship Series 3 for Team Ice, rivaling Cory Rummell in Megalodon Fire for Team Fire and rivaling Todd LeDuc in the points series. Meanwhile, a second Dragon would be added to the team, competing on the Arena Championship Series by Darren Migues on the Nitro Menace chassis. Grant Acres would also drive the ATV Dragon on the series. Migues would finish in 4th on his series, and Zimmer would finish in 2nd to Todd LeDuc on his series and would later be invited to compete at World Finals XX in the main field. Coty Saucier would also drive the truck for the Fire & Ice encore for day 1 of the event. Zimmer and the truck would later compete at the inaugural All-Star Challenge that October in Las Vegas for Team Ice. The truck's highest performance at the event would be making it to the semi-finals of Vegas racing and would finish 9th in the overall standings. This would be the last show for the Ice Dragon.

In 2020, Zimmer would resume running the standard Dragon, retiring the ice variant, where he would compete on Stadium Championship Series Red. Meanwhile, Migues would compete on the Arena Championship Series on Nitro Menace again, with Get Er Done driver Mitch Tulachka filling in for him for the series’ Hartford shows. However, both of the series abruptly ended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dragon would be placed on hiatus for the time being due to budget cuts by FELD Entertainment as a result of the pandemic. Zimmer would eventually leave FELD and begin crewing for Over Bored Motorsports.

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In 2022, Coty Saucier took over driving the driving duties for Dragon, after the Monster Energy contract expired. He would compete on Arena Series East, finishing 3rd in the series points standings. Randy Brown would also drive the truck as a fill-in for Coty for the Macon events for unknown reasons. During the series, Coty would have a very notable rivalry with rookie driver Weston Anderson in Grave Digger 37, who would eventually win the series. Coty and the truck would be invited to compete at World Finals XXI. Although not winning anything, he would be the second fastest qualifier and get eliminated in round 2 by Cory Rummell's Megalodon on Rage, and would notably start off freestyle and would do a clean and successful run with a bicycle, stoppie, and backflip to a small moonwalk, getting a decent score. Coty would later drive Dragon at New Orleans with it being his hometown, where he would win almost every competition (with the exception of two-wheel skills), giving him the overall event championship. Tony Ochs later drove the truck in November's Dominican Republic visit.

In 2023, Coty drives Dragon on Arena Series Central. Notably during the series, rookie Brandon Arthur would fill-in for Coty in Provindence after Coty would fall ill to COVID-19. Despite finishing the series in 5th, he would later be invited to compete at Monster Jam World Finals XXII. There, Saucier qualified second fastest with a 20.001 time, but fell in round 2 of racing to Brandon Vinson and Grave Digger. In San Juan, he did an encore at one of the shows since 3 of the trucks were unable to freestyle.

In 2024, Coty drives the truck on the east arena tour. Chelsea VanCleave would drive for Coty in Cleveland for unknown reasons, making her the truck's first female driver. Joe Dennis fills in for Coty while he drives Max-D for the last 5 stadiums shows on the east stadium tour. Tony Ochs drives the truck, this time in Huntsville & Salinas.

Past/temporary drivers[]

World Finals appearances[]

List of World Finals appearances
World Finals Year Driver(s) Appearance Performance
Monster Jam World Finals XVI 2015 Scott Liddycoat Young Guns Shootout
Monster Jam World Finals XVII 2016 Scott Liddycoat Young Guns Shootout & main field
  • YGS: championship race win (defeated Blue Thunder)
  • Qualifying: 16.179 (8th of 32)
  • Racing: round 1 loss (to the Lucas Oil Crusader)
  • Freestyle: 18.5 (24th of 32)
Monster Jam World Finals XVIII 2017 Jon Zimmer Main field
  • Qualifying: 16.487 (11th of 32)
  • Racing: round 1 loss (to Overkill Evolution; red-light)
  • Freestyle: 6.289 (26th of 32)
Monster Jam World Finals XIX 2018 Jon Zimmer Main field
  • Qualifying: 16.884 (24th of 32)
  • Racing: round 3 loss (to Mutant Super Soda)
  • Freestyle: 8.452 (6th of 32)
Monster Jam World Finals XX 2019 Jon Zimmer Main field
  • Qualifying: 13.856 (20th of 24)
  • Racing: round 3 loss (to the Bakugan Dragonoid; crash)
  • Freestyle: 5.237 (23rd of 24)
Monster Jam World Finals XXI 2022 Coty Saucier Main field
  • Qualifying: 30.753 (2nd of 24; first round bye)
  • Racing: round 2 loss (to Megalodon)
  • Freestyle: 7.373 (11th of 24)
Monster Jam World Finals XXII 2023 Coty Saucier Main field
  • Qualifying: 20.001 (2nd of 24; first round bye)
  • Racing: round 2 loss (to Grave Digger)
  • Freestyle: 7.795 (8th of 24)

All-Star Challenge appearances[]

  • 2019 - Jon Zimmer (Team Ice)

Video game appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Dragon features a flamethrower that is installed on the front of the chassis, which is used to make the truck appear to "breathe" fire.
  • Although not stated publicly, fans have pointed out that the 3D dragon mold is very similarly molded to the 3D Monster Mutt bodies.
  • Dragon's Breath was originally retired at the end of the 2011 season, but due to Dragon not being finished for the 2014 season, the truck would be revived for the time being until the truck was finished.
    • Dragon's Breath was originally called "Spitfire" and debuted in 2008 at the World Finals IX encore. However, the truck had to be renamed due to copyright issues from an unknown party. This also caused the original debut encore to be omitted from the DVD and TV broadcast.
  • At pit parties, Dragon features eyes on the windows, although they are removed from the truck in actual competition to increase visibility.
  • During international shows throughout 2017 and 2018, Dragon would run green wheels and beadlocks and occasional golden horns.
  • The first chassis for Zimmer's Dragon was originally used for Monster Mutt Junkyard Dog, while his second chassis was originally Grave Digger XXVI.
  • Although Coty Saucier would make his full-time debut driving Dragon in 2022, he did drive Dragon Ice for the World Finals XX racing encore in 2019.
  • Dragon was the first truck to be judged using both professional and fan judges at World Finals XXI.

Gallery[]

Main gallery[]

Dragon Ice[]

Merchandise Gallery[]

Miscellaneous[]

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