Thrasher was a 2009 Toyota Tundra monster truck owned and driven by Shawn Oblen of NJ Motorsports out of Hackettstown, New Jersey. It was originally owned and driven by Pat Summa out of Danbury, Connecticut from its creation in 1993, up until its acquisition by Oblen in 2015. Since its debut, Thrasher was a staple during the early years of Monster Jam and has even competed in various leagues throughout its career.
History[]
Thrasher was originally created in 1995 and began competition later in the year with Pat Summa driving. At the time of its creation, the truck served as the successor to Summa’s previous truck, Above N Beyond. The truck also originally featured a Toyota Tundra body style, which was run until 2000, when it received a new Toyota Tacoma body style along with an updated paint scheme. John Seasock drove the truck at Baltimore 1997, and Mike Nitzke drove it for a single competition in Durham 2001.
In 2002, Thrasher received a new design, featuring a Ford F-150 body style. In Pontiac 2005 at show 1, Rick Raab would fill in for Pat. The truck would receive another new paint scheme four years later, and would also partake in Monster Jam’s final event at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac that same year. The truck would receive a new Toyota Tundra body style for the 2008 season, and would then receive a new paint scheme the following year. Larry Birch lll drove the truck at San Antonio 2008 and East Rutherford 2008.
Thrasher would receive a new green paint scheme for the 2013 season, which was created to pay tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Shawn Oblenfirst drives the truck at Stafford Springs in 2014. Meanwhile, the truck continued to operate under Summa’s ownership until 2015, when the entire operation was acquired by NJ Motorsports. Following the acquisition, the truck also received a new black-and-orange paint scheme. Summa would continue to share driving duties with rookie driver and team owner Shawn Oblen until his retirement sometime later. As for Oblen, he would continue to drive Thrasher until 2017, when the truck was succeeded by Zombie Sniper.
Video game appearances[]
- Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction
- Monster 4X4: Masters of Metal (Planned, but canceled)
Trivia[]
- Thrasher was originally planned to be featured in Monster 4X4: Masters of Metal, but was dropped from the game for unknown reasons.
- Thrasher was originally intended to receive a new red paint scheme for the 2013 season. Said scheme was eventually scrapped in favor of the Sandy Hook tribute paint scheme.
- According to an Instagram post comment from 2020, Oblen has stated that he does have plans to return Thrasher to competition sometime in the future.
- The display Thrasher was featured in the "Man Vs Food" episode "Adam V. The Stuffed Pizza Challenge."
Gallery[]
.JPG "New Bitmap Image (21).JPG (47 KB)")
.jpg "Hartford 020616 Mole (43).jpg (271 KB)")
