Gary Porter (Born July 31st, 1961) is a retired monster truck driver out of Wadesboro, North Carolina who is best known as the original driver and creator of Carolina Crusher and was one of the longest running drivers in the sport.
History[]
In 1985, Gary created the first Carolina Crusher and performed at his first event that summer. He would mainly do displays and small events with the truck until 1988, when he raced on the first nationwide TNT Tuff Trax tour, performing at a high level. Porter stayed on the TNT circuit before moving to the PENDA series in 1991, where he won his sole world championship that year.
While racing Lyle Hancock, in Grave Digger in Oakland of 1992, Gary nearly ripped the rear end completely off the truck. Porter would also compete with the USHRA through the entirety of the 1990's, including the Monster Wars series.
In 1999, Porter would sell Carolina Crusher to Paul Shafer, yet still drove the truck until the end of 2000. That same year, he drove Randy Brown's Pure Adrenalin at its first ProMT event as a fill-in, due to Brown not having his Class A license yet.
In 2001, he was hired by Monster Jam and joined fellow North Carolinian Dennis Anderson as a part of Team Grave Digger. He competed mainly in smaller arenas as the official driver of Grave Digger #12 from 2001-2010 and #25 from 2011-2014.
In 2001, he drove both Ragin' Steel and Spider-Man as a fill-in. He also drove Spider-Man at World Finals 2 which would be his only World Finals appearance as a competitor.
In 2008, Gary drove Monster Mutt in that year's 4-Wheel Jamboree. At the World Finals 9 encore, he drove Spitfire.
In 2009, Gary would make his final stadium appearance in Grave Digger at the Houston thrill show.
For 2010 and 2011, he competed in the Monster Jam Freestyle Mania arena tour. He drove Spider-Man again in Philadelphia in 2010.
In 2013, he was inducted into the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame.
In December 2014, for Carolina Crusher's 30th anniversary, Monster Jam began leasing the Carolina Crusher name from Paul Shafer with Porter behind the wheel.
In June of 2016, he made his return to stadium competition on the Path of Destruction Tour in Foxborough it was his first stadium appearance since 2010 in Philadelphia.
In 2017, he competed in one of the Monster Jam Arena Tours in Carolina Crusher, which he won. In April, he announced that he will retiring at the end of July after his last few speedway shows. On July 30th, 2017, after winning an event championship at Hagerstown Speedway, Gary retired from driving after 32 years.
In 2021, Gary was inducted to the Monster Jam Hall Of Fame along with the late Mike Wales.
In April of 2022, Gary Porter drove a throwback Carolina Crusher based on his 1990 truck in TNT Motorsports: Unfinished Business.
Currently, he operates heavy machinery and lives in Anson County, NC.
World Finals appearances[]
- 1999 - Carolina Crusher
- 2001 - Spider-Man
- 2008 - Spitfire (encore only)
Trivia[]
- Although he was already a member of team Grave Digger for four years, Porter drove Carolina Crusher for a weekend in Philadelphia, being Tim Tesmer's version that he had begun leasing the name out to in 1997, before the Shafer buyout.
- Gary was nicknamed "Mr. Consistency" for his clean and skillful driving style.
- In Minneapolis 1988 show aired in TV his name was accidentally mislabel "Jery".
Gallery[]
