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Hot Wheels was a Ford Super Duty monster truck owned by Live Nation and sponsored by the toy line of die-cast cars of the same name, owned by Mattel. The truck originally started as a part-time competition truck following its debut in 2002, but began full-time competition in 2004. It primarily served as the teammate to Maximum Destruction and was driven by multiple drivers throughout its career, until its retirement in 2007, having competed in five Monster Jam World Finals.

History[]

  • 2002 - Hot Wheels debuts at World Finals III on March 23, 2002 with Eldon DePew behind the wheel. The truck is ran on the High Roller chassis, which in turn was the previous Bulldozer chassis from the year prior, which had been driven by Neil Elliott throughout the season. During the event, the truck would be eliminated in the second round after crashing against Pablo Huffaker in Blacksmith and would finish thirteenth in freestyle.
  • 2003 - Hot Wheels is shelved for the 2003 season and the chassis returns to competing as High Roller. Despite this, Hot Wheels would be displayed on a PEI chassis as part of the “Monster Trucks: The Science of Incredible Machines” exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois until 2005.
  • 2004 - Hot Wheels returns as a full-time competition truck and is ran on its original chassis from 2002, as High Roller would receive a new PEI chassis that season. Phil Foster drives Hot Wheels as the teammate to Tom MeentsMaximum Destruction, receiving success throughout the season as Foster gets a racing win in Pontiac. Neil Elliott drives Hot Wheels at World Finals V, with the truck debuting a brand new blue and orange paint scheme on the day of the main show, after running its old body during qualifying. Following the World Finals, Dan Rodoni would drive the truck in Red Bluff and Chad Fortune would drive it during that year’s European Tour.
  • 2005 - Elliott takes a one year break from driving, resulting in Foster moving over to the second Maximum Destruction to cover for Elliott. As such, Guy Wood comes out of an intended retirement to drive Hot Wheels in Foster's place, the truck losing its trademark wheel covers, and a second Hot Wheels is also added to the team with Kevin Lewis driving. Wood uses his Hot Wheels chassis and body to run to the The Bob & Tom Show in Indianapolis and Foster would later return to drive the truck at World Finals VI. Frank Krmel campaigns Hot Wheels for that year's European Tour and Andy Slifko would drive the truck during the 2006 season opener in Montreal.
  • 2006 - Wood's Hot Wheels is converted into The Bob & Tom Show for the 2006 season and Hot Wheels is ran on the former Bulldozer chassis. The truck also receives a new black, yellow and blue paint job and serves as the touring partner alongside Neil Elliott’s Maximum Destruction. Wood drives Bob & Tom full-time and Rob Knell takes over as the driver for the first half before retiring midway through the season and Chuck Werner then takes over the driving duties until the end of the season. Bryan Winston would also temporarily run Hot Wheels on his Monster Mutt chassis for the Anaheim show, where he would win freestyle after performing a massive slap wheelie. Neil Elliott again drives Hot Wheels on its original chassis at World Finals VII. Unfortunately, the truck would crash during the semi-finals against Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger, breaking a CV joint and ultimately missing freestyle. Elliott pilots Hot Wheels once again during the Monsters on Mainstreet event. Meanwhile, John Seasock would drive the truck during that year’s European Tour, running a few shows before the truck is converted to Inferno.
  • 2007 - Werner takes over as the last full-time driver for Hot Wheels' final season on the original chassis. A second Hot Wheels would also be added to the team campaigned by Frank Krmel, who had previously driven the truck in the 2005 European Tour, on his own chassis, that had ran as Del Scorcho the previous season. Once again Neil Elliott would drive the truck at World Finals VIII, Elliott uses Krmel's truck for the practice rounds, before switching back to the original truck for the main show. Unfortunately, the truck again misses freestyle after suffering from a broken driveshaft loop. Hot Wheels appears at its final event in Louisville on October 27, where during the Saturday show, it is drafted in to replace a damaged Team Suzuki, the truck is officially retired afterwards. Krmel's chassis is then used for Jurassic Attack on the 2007 European Tour, before going on to become the Ford F-150 Team Suzuki, as well as Taz and Demolition Man at various points in the 2008 season. The original Meents chassis returns to run as Bulldozer for the 2008 season.
  • 2012 - Hot Wheels' successor Team Hot Wheels is created for the 2012 season & is discontinued after 2018.

Mechanical issues[]

Despite spanning across several chassis and drivers, Hot Wheels had a hard history with mechanical issues, breakages and bad luck, which often would lead to circumstances that ranged from the truck performing very short freestyle runs, or being absent from the freestyle competition altogether. These issues were especially notable on televised episodes, including Monster Jam World Finals III, St. Louis 2005, Monster Jam World Finals VI, Minneapolis 2005, Tampa 2006, Atlanta 2006, Houston 2006 (Show 3), Monster Jam World Finals VII, Monster Jam World Finals VIII and many more shows. One reason for these issues was because the truck was oftentimes harvested for parts to use on Maximum Destruction, during the case in which Maximum Destruction broke certain parts during competition. This was particularly notable in Indianapolis 2005 and Atlanta 2005.

Drivers[]

World Finals appearances[]

  • 2002 - Eldon DePew
  • 2004 - Neil Elliott
  • 2005 - Phil Foster
  • 2006 - Neil Elliott
  • 2007 - Neil Elliott

Trivia[]

  • Hot Wheels is one of three trucks to make its official debut at the World Finals, the other two being Captain's Curse (2007) and Nitro Circus (2009).
    • It also marked the very first truck to ever make its competition debut at the World Finals.
  • In Indianapolis 2004, the theme song for Hot Wheels is "Fuel" by Metallica: This song would later be used for Gas Monkey Garage.
    • Coincidentally, the song was featured in the 1999 video game "Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing".
  • The paint scheme base for Hot Wheels would also be used for The Bob & Tom Show.
  • The original 2002-2004 blue body style was nicknamed "Hot Wheels Cool Blue."
  • Along with Gunslinger being unable to compete in most of the World Finals freestyle competitions, Hot Wheels is the only truck to finish last place in freestyle at two consecutive World Finals, being 7 and 8, not even competing in the freestyle competition at both events.
  • During Atlanta 2005, Maximum Destruction lost a wheel during introductions and the only way for it to compete in freestyle was by getting replacement parts from Hot Wheels. This ultimately resulted in Hot Wheels missing the freestyle competition. To add to that, the same wheel would break off the truck during the freestyle competitions.

Gallery[]

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