Grave Digger

Grave Digger
Grave Digger
Current Drivers	Pablo Huffaker, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown, Adam Anderson, Morgan Kane, Krysten Anderson, Tyler Menninga, Brandon Vinson
Year Created	1982
Body Style	1950 Chevy Panel Truck (Formerly 1951 Ford Panel Truck)

Grave Digger is a monster truck owned by Feld Motorsports.  Active for more than 35 years, there are 9 competing Grave Digger vehicles with 8 current competing drivers on the Monster Jam circuit. Grave Digger is in every Monster Jam game from Maximum Destruction to Urban Assault to As Big as it Gets to Crush It.

It is special for being the only FELD owned truck to be hand painted on every single body.

History

In 1982, Dennis Anderson created his mud racer, Grave Digger. The name came from a smack-talking session he had with his rivals ("I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it.").

In 1986 Dennis Anderson started racing monster trucks full time. The truck became super popular, despite lack of sponsorship that trucks like Bigfoot (Which was sponsored by Ford) had. His first major victory was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, against the Bigfoot.

In 1989 he switched from a 1951 Ford Panel truck to a 1950 Chevrolet Panel truck. Two years later, he debuted Grave Digger (III), the first four-link Grave Digger. 

In 1998, Dennis sold team Grave Digger to PACE Motorsports (now Feld Motorsports).  Dispite no longer owning the truck, he is still arguably its most popular driver. 

In 2000, Debra Miceli, driver of Madusa, was taught by Dennis Anderson to drive monster trucks and drove one of his Grave Digger trucks.

Also in 2000, Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger were invited to Monster Jam World Finals 1 and won the freestyle championship there with a score of 40.

In 2002, Grave Digger celebrated its 20th Anniversary.

In 2003, Dennis Anderson suffered an injury, keeping him out of World Finals 4. Grave Digger was driven by Pablo Huffaker

In 2004, Grave Digger won the racing championship at Monster Jam World Finals 5, taking out Pablo Huffaker driving Blacksmith.

In 2006, Dennis suffered an injury Until the World Finals and his son, Adam, would drive Grave Digger for part of the season in 2007.

In 2007, Grave Digger celebrated its 25th Anniversary.

In 2012, Grave Digger celebrated its 30th Anniversary. 

In 2015, three Grave Diggers competed in World Finals 16, with Dennis driving a black and green Grave Digger, Colton Eichelberger driving a purple Grave Digger, and Charlie Pauken driving a green Grave Digger.

Old tool

in 2015 Path of Destruction Tour, "Steve Brynes" a Former Nascar Annoucer Which passed away in April 21, 2015 was written On the Grave Digger Tombstone  Instead of the Usual "Dennis Anderson".

In 2016, a new chrome paint scheme will debut along with Dennis's son Adam driving Grave Digger for the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series while lifelong friend of the Anderson boys Morgan Kane will switch from Max D to Grave Digger and Adam's long time crew chief Cole Venard will also join the team with the two competing in the More Monster Jam series. Charlie Pauken, Pablo Huffaker, Randy Brown, Carl Van Horn & Jon Zimmer will all return. In World Finals 17 Morgan Kane in Grave Digger took home racing. Adam Anderson in Grave Digger won freestyle.

New tool

In 2016, a new Grave Digger mold was released, the first time in 16 years that the original mold, created in 2000 as one of the original 4 toys, was altered. This new design which went unnoticed at first until fans found the differences, being a more round body, new front clip, and overall, a more realistic design. The problem was that the design never showed the "New tool" deco on the packaging, and it shared the exact same packaging as the old style. Another version of Grave Digger was released, but this time, the roof artwork is different.

In 2017, Grave Digger celebrates its 35th Anniversary. Tyler Menninga joins the team and runs the More Monster Jam tour along with Cole Venard. Morgan Kane and Adam Anderson competed in the Fox Sports 1 Series. Dennis Anderson and Charlie Pauken ran the two Stadium Tours while Randy Brown and Pablo Huffaker competed in two of the other Arena Tours. The truck also receives its first official female driver, Krysten Anderson, who competed on the Central More Monster Jam Tour. Dennis Anderson was injured at the Raymond James Stadium show in Tampa, Flordia on January 14, 2017, making this his final event where he competed. Carl Van Horn and Jon Zimmer filled in for the rest of his tour.

On September 18, 2017, Dennis announced his full retirement from Monster Jam, stating he would still be behind the scenes at events and in the pits.

For 2018 the team will be running eight trucks, Brandon Vinson joins the team to take the place of the retired Cole Venard and Adam Anderson takes over as the main driver due to Dennis Anderson's retirement. Adam Anderson, Charlie Pauken, Randy Brown, and Morgan Kane will each run a stadium series. Three drivers will once again be running the Triple Threat Series, Krysten Anderson will run the west series, Tyler Menninga wil run the central tour, and Vinson will run the east series. Pablo Hufaker will be running the forth arena tour.

Trivia

• Grave Digger is one of 4 trucks owned by FELD that was sold to them, rather than created by them (The other 3 being Bulldozer, Carolina Crusher, and Son-Uva Digger).
• The tombstones on the side of Grave Digger represent different trucks that Grave Digger has beaten out in racing finals throughout the years.

Versions

There have been 34 versions of Grave Digger to date. There is no Grave Digger XIII due to superstition about the number 13. The number of the truck is often displayed on the front of the hood.   

Version	Information
Grave Digger 1	Built in 1982. It was on display at the Monster Jam World Finals 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada for his twenty-fifth anniversary. It is now on display outside Digger's Dungeon in Poplar Branch, North Carolina. It is in poor condition
Grave Digger 2	Built in 1989. Leaf-sprung Grave Digger. It is now on display outside Digger's Dungeon.
Grave Digger 3	Built in 1991. The first four-link suspension Grave Digger. It was sold and became Inferno. The chassis is retired now.
Grave Digger 4	Leaf-sprung Grave Digger. Had the shortest lifespan of all the Grave Digger trucks.
Grave Digger 5	Also had a short lifespan and was sold to another team. The body is in the Digger's Dungeon shop and kids may climb on it.
Grave Digger 6	Rebuilt as the Son Uva Digger mudbogger for Ryan Anderson.
Grave Digger 7	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Dennis Anderson won his first championship in this monster truck. It now sits outside Digger's Dungeon.
Grave Digger 8	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Retired chassis. Was part of a museum exhibition in Chicago, Illinois. It appeared in Monster Trucks: The Science of Extreme Machines.
Grave Digger 9	Ride truck. Sold, and is now the Extinguisher ride truck.
Grave Digger 10	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Used to be driven by Pablo Huffaker, but is now scrapped.
Grave Digger 11	Ride truck. Sold to Randy Moore, who turned it into War Wizard ride, who sold it to Randy Brown, who soon turned it into Pure Adrenaline ride, and later Grave Digger Ride.  The truck has since been reaquired by FELD.
Grave Digger 12	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Used to be driven by Gary Porter, but is now scrapped.
Grave Digger 13	Grave Digger 13 was never built due to superstition regarding the number 13, just as Bigfoot 13 was (although Grave Digger 7 was nicknamed Grave Digger 13 after it was rebuilt in 2000).
Grave Digger 14	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2001 to 2003 and was driven by Randy Brown from 2004 to 2006. Was driven by Chad Tingler until 2010, when it was retired due to extensive damage.
Grave Digger 15	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Was driven by Charlie Pauken from 2001 to 2008.
Grave Digger 16	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Retired after 2013.
Grave Digger 17	Pro Modified Drag Racer driven by Alan Pittman. Retired.
Grave Digger 18	Retired Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Formerly Driven by Rod Schmidt.
Grave Digger 19	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2004 to 2005 and was driven by Randy Brown from 2007 to 2014.
Grave Digger 20	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Was driven by Dennis Anderson from 2005 to 2013. Dennis won nine straight stadium racing events with this truck.
Grave Digger 21	Four-link suspension Grave Digger Experience truck. People can climb into the cab of the Grave Digger and watch a video presentation.
Grave Digger 22	Originally Batman from 2006 to 2008. Was driven By Charlie Pauken from 2009 to 2013.
Grave Digger 23	Built in 2010 and was driven by Carl Van Horn from 2011 to 2016. Revamped for 2017 and now driven Tyler Menninga.
Grave Digger 24	Retired four-link suspension Grave Digger. Driven by Chad Tingler from 2011-2015.
Grave Digger 25	Four-link suspension Grave Digger. Morgan Kane won the 2016 World Finals 17 Racing competition in this chassis.
Grave Digger 26	Was built in 2012 and driven by Jon Zimmer from 2013 to 2016
Grave Digger 27	Was built in 2013 and has been driven by Charlie Pauken since 2014.
Grave Digger 28	Driven by Pablo Huffaker since 2014.
Grave Digger 29	Built in 2014 and debuted just before 2015 and is currently driven by Randy Brown.
Grave Digger 30	Debuted in 2014. Driven by Dennis Anderson from 2014- 2017.
Grave Digger 31	Cohen-designed chassis race truck. Driven by Cole Venard from 2016 to March 2017.
Grave Digger 32	Cohen-designed chassis race truck. Driven by Adam Anderson from 2016 to 2017. Was orignally the 2014 Grave Digger the Legend chassis.
Grave Digger 33	Cohen- designed chassis, driven by Morgan Kane since 2017.
Grave Digger 34	Cohen- desigend chassis, driven by Krysten Anderson since 2017.

Grave Digger 35- unveiled at SEMA 2017, will be driven by Adam Anderson starting in December of 2017 

exempt trucks

Version	Information
Grave Digger's Boneyard Shuttle	An unofficial truck from the Grave Digger Fleet: a bus themed ride truck.
K'nex Grave Digger	Built in 2012; a display truck built entirely out of K'nex pieces.

Championships

• 1999 Dennis Anderson (Points)
• 2000 Dennis Anderson (Freestyle)
• 2002 Dennis Anderson (Points)
• 2003 Gary Porter (Points)
• 2004 Randy Brown (Points)
• 2004 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
• 2006 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
• 2010 Dennis Anderson (Racing)
• 2016 Morgan Kane (Racing and AMSOIL West), Adam Anderson (Freestyle and FS1 Series), Cole Venard (AMSOIL East) 
• 2017 Cole Venard (Triple Threat- West), Tyler Menninga (Triple Threat- East), Randy Brown (Arena Tour #4), Pablo Huffaker (Arena Tour #5), Charlie Pauken (Stadium Tour #4)

Digger's Dungeon

Digger's Dungeon in North Carolina serves as the official home of Grave Digger. It houses various Feld vehicles from time to time. It features a gift shop and museum of various Grave Digger parts, trophies, and merchandise.

Gallery

Original Grave Digger 1982-1983

Grave Digger 1984-1985

Grave Digger 1986-1990

Grave Digger 1991-1998

Current paint scheme

20th Anniversary Grave Digger

Chrome 25th Anniversary Grave Digger

30th Anniversary Designs

Chrome purple 30th Anniversary Grave Digger

Chrome green 30th Anniversary Grave Digger

Grave Digger loses a right-back tire, leaving only the rim.

A Grave Digger stacked onto two more Grave Diggers at the Monster Jam World Finals 14 pit party.

Purple Grave Digger for World Finals 16

Green Grave Digger for World Finals 16

Grave Digger 30

Team Grave Digger #MoreMonsterJam card from MonsterJam.com

Grave Digger ATV in #MoreMonsterJam events.

Grave Digger speedster in #MoreMonsterJam events.

Cancelled Grave Digger C3 Construction Monster Jam building set toy.

Cancelled Deluxe Grave Digger C3 Construction Monster Jam building set toy.

Silver K'nex Grave Digger that came with the DS version ofMonster Jam: Path of Destruction.

Grave Digger's Digital Truck Render in Monster Jam: Path of Destruction.

2015 Grave Digger Black Out Edition

Grave Digger in the Burger King ad

Grave Digger on the Grave Digger the Legend chassis. Notice that the chassis is not green.

Rare chrome Grave Digger released in 2003

Anglia Panel Truck from the 2010 Hot Wheels Monster Duo 2-Pack

Grave Digger Rocket

Giant inflatable

Grave Digger Matchbox Monster Wars toy

Grave Digger comic book

Grave Digger motocycle

2016 Hot Wheels Grave Digger toy

2016 Hot Wheels Grave Digger new roof artwork

2016 Color Treads Grave Digger toy

Grave Digger hot rod

Monster Truckin Pals Cartoon Grave Digger

Grave Digger's character on Monster Wars

Old Grave Digger Credit Card

Tyco R/C prototype

Truckin' Pals Wooden toy

Truckin' Pals Plush toy

2018 Walmart Exclusive American Flag Design