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Michael Vaters Sr. (or simply Mike Vaters) (born November 10, 1964) is a monster truck owner and driver out of Hagerstown, Maryland. He is the owner of Vaters Motorsports and is best known for creating and driving Black Stallion. He has also owned the Battle Kat tank. He won the Thunder Nationals 4 times.

Career[]

In 1982, Michael Vaters bought a Ford F-150, which would become the first Black Stallion.

In 1986, the truck was converted to be a monster truck and given an updated body. Vaters would campaign the truck at select events as the Beech Nut Crusher.

In 1990, Black Stallion was given updated bodies, as well as a tubular lower frame and upgraded suspension.

In 1992, Vaters drove Grave Digger in Atlanta.

In 1993, Mike's then-wife Pam Vaters began driving her own truck called Boogey Van.

In 1996, Black Stallion 2000 was created and he would continue to campaign this look into the new millennium.

In 1999, Vaters won his first of four Thunder Nationals championships.

Sometime between 1999-2000, Mike and Pam would divorce. Pam only made one TV appearance post-divorce, that being Monster Trux 2000, driving Boogey Van, which she had sold to Paul Shafer by this point.

In 2001, Vaters appeared in his first World Finals in 2001 and would appear in four more (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008).

In Durham, New Hampshire in April of 2001, Mike did a race backwards against Thrasher because he had no forward gear. This sparked his reverse move. Vaters became known for his reverse move and began becoming a favorite in both arenas and stadiums. During this time, he would acquire two jet quads, and start self-promoting shows in his area with team truck, Iron Warrior, whom he had bought from Glenn Bowlin in 2004 when he retired.

In 2005, Vaters purchased the Taurus III chassis from Turpen, and converted it into Weapon 1 to compete exclusively in that year’s Monster Spectacular in Montreal. Vaters would sell the chassis to the late Tim Mente in 2006, who converted the truck into the first Storm Damage.

From 2005-2007, Vaters won the Thunder Nationals championships in each of those years.

In 2011, Michael's son Mikey Vaters began driving full time, and in 2014, would debut his own truck, Overkill Evolution. Also in 2011, he would begin a partnership with Safety-Kleen, which would run on Black Stallion.

In 2012, he drove Bounty Hunter in Harrisburg.

In 2014, Vaters was inducted into the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame. His son won that year's Young Gun Shootout.

In 2015, Vaters drove Monster Mutt Rottweiler for the winter Monster Jam season, but returned to Black Stallion when the season concluded. His son Mikey won that year's freestyle championship.

In 2018, Vaters bought back Taurus III, which had been in storage since 2011, fearing it would be converted into a mega truck as a couple of mega truck guys were eyeing the chassis. He would later have it restored and would begin running his own Taurus.

In the fall of 2019, Vaters would drive Iron Warrior on two seperate occasions.

In 2020, Mike doesn’t drive during first quarter. Daron Basl would drive the truck, finishing 14th after the tour was cut short due to the pandemic. This would be the last year Vaters Motorsports competed in Monster Jam.

In 2022, Michael Vaters celebrates 40 years of competing.

In late 2023, Vaters debuted the newest truck for the team, that being Suberfoot, which was driven by Steven Thompson in Montreal.

World Finals appearances[]

  • 2001 - Black Stallion
  • 2002 - Black Stallion
  • 2003 - Black Stallion
  • 2005 - Black Stallion
  • 2008 - Black Stallion

Trivia[]

Gallery[]

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