McGruff was a 2010 Ford F-250 Super Duty monster truck owned and driven by Rod Wood out of Tucson, Arizona. It is based around the animated character, McGruff the Crime Dog. Since its debut in 1993, McGruff was a staple of multiple monster truck events across the west coast, and would even traditionally compete in almost every Monster Jam event hosted in Arizona. The truck also ran two alter-egos throughout its career, being El Perro Loco and American Made.
History[]
McGruff was created in 1993 as the successor to Rod Wood’s previous truck, American Made. At the time of its debut, the truck originally featured a Chevrolet Silverado body, which ran until 1999, when an updated body style debuted, featuring a new mold of McGruff’s head, along with outstretched arms. Two years later, McGruff received a temporary design, featuring a Ford Super Duty body style, as well as a throwback paint scheme to the original American Made.
Beginning in 2003, after Wood partnered with Obsession Racing, McGruff would be shelved for the time being as the truck would begin running as Obsession. The truck would again run as Obsession for the first quarter of the 2004 season, featuring red and white graphics that were reminiscent of the original McGruff paint scheme. Meanwhile, McGruff would return to competition later in the year.
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of McGruff the Crime Dog in 2005, McGruff received an updated paint scheme. The truck would continue to feature the scheme until 2007 when the truck received a new Ford F-250 Super Duty body style, featuring a blue paint scheme with simply the name on the side panels. Another new paint scheme would debut the following year, featuring a lighter shade of blue and the McGruff character on the side panels. Yet another new paint scheme would debut four years later.
Beginning in 2010, the original McGruff body would be refurbished and converted into the truck’s new alter-ego, El Perro Loco. Brian Christensen would drive the truck for one of the Anaheim shows that year. It gets a new PEI generation 3 chassis in 2013. In 2014, the truck would debut another new body style. In 2017, McGruff competed exclusively in West Coast events that were featured as part of Monster Jam Stadium Championship Series 4. Another alter-ego, American Made, would debut on the truck the following year. Meanwhile, Wood would continue to drive McGruff until 2021, when the chassis was sold to the Plato family, and converted into Scattered.
Gallery[]
