Monster Trucks Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Little Tiger was a Ford F-150 monster truck owned and driven by Brian Barthel out of Big Lake, Minnesota. During its decade-long competition lifespan, the truck was known for being a staple at USHRA/Monster Jam events throughout the late 90's and early 2000's, and has even competed in one Monster Jam World Finals event and the Motor Madness World Finals.

History[]

Little Tiger was originally created in 1995 after Brian Barthel purchased Magnum Force from Don Van Loo. At the time of its debut, the truck featured a Chevrolet Silverado body style, which was originally used by the predecessor, and an early Dan Patrick chassis which Van Loo had debuted three years prior. Before adopting the name Little Tiger, the truck was first known as Midnight Maniac and Midnight Magic, as part of a partership between Don Williams and Barthel, but the names were changed after said partnership fell through.

At the end of 1998, Little Tiger received a new paint scheme, featuring a tiger face on the truck’s grill and a full striped pattern. In the summer of 1999, the truck would be converted into Monster Patrol until the following year, when a new design debuted for Little Tiger, featuring a 2000 Ford F-150 body style.

By the start of 2001, Barthel began driving Wolverine, leaving Little Tiger without a driver. Chad Christian would be the first one to drive the truck for Barthel, but due to Chad's inexperience, Barthel would drive the truck for him in freestyle for the second half of the 2001 winter season and would not rehire him afterwards. As Barthel searched for someone else to drive the truck in his place, Little Tiger would go through various drivers, including Brian & Kasey Christensen, Jeff Patterson, Sky Hartley, and Mark Johnson. Regardless, Barthel struggled to find a driver he was satisfied with.

Following the retirement of Wolverine by the end of the 2003 season, Barthel would return to driving Little Tiger the season following. He would also campaign the truck on what was previously the Wolverine chassis, and would also feature an updated body style, being a 2004 Ford F-150, with Tiger eyes as headlights. The original truck would be converted into Ragin' Steel. Barthel and the truck would later be invited to compete in Monster Jam World Finals V. Barthel would continue to use the newer chassis until the summer, when he returned to using the original chassis until its retirement by the end of the year after nine years of competition under Barthel.

Barthel would construct an all-new chassis for Little Tiger for the start of the 2005 season, based on the truck's original frame. He would also construct an identical chassis for the truck’s new teammate, Total Chaos. The recently-built chassis’ time in competition would be very brief, however, as both Barthel and Little Tiger would retire from competition before the end of the 2005 winter season, with their last show being in Oklahoma City on February 27. While Barthel still owns the original chassis, the new chassis would eventually be acquired by Monster Trucks Unlimited, and converted into Pure Adrenaline two years later.

World Finals Appearances[]

  • 1999 - Brian Barthel
  • 2004 - Brian Barthel

Trivia[]

  • Little Tiger's new design for 2000 originally featured pearlescent stripes. They would later be repainted to black in the fall.
  • At World Finals 3, the trucks wheels were used on the back of Wolverine in freestyle.
  • During Monster Jam World Finals V, one of Little Tiger's original tires blew during racing. As a result, Barthel would reuse the tires from Ragin' Steel for the freestyle competition.
  • Following the retirement of the original chassis by the end of the 2004 season, there were plans to convert the chassis into a Little Tiger Ride Truck. However, these plans never came to fruition.
  • The PEI chassis used by Little Tiger throughout a majority of the 2004 season would be converted into Safe Auto Minimizer the following year.

Gallery[]

Advertisement