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The competitors posing for a photo

Monster Jam World Finals IV (also written as Monster Jam World Finals 4) was the fourth annual Monster Jam World Finals, held on March 22, 2003 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event utilized a sixteen-truck lineup, and was the only event of the 2003 Monster Jam season to be televised, as Monster Jam was only able to secure a TV deal after the event had taken place and not early enough to broadcast any other events from the season. Brian Barthel in Wolverine won the world racing championship, defeating Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter. Meanwhile, Jim Koehler in Avenger would win the world freestyle championship with a score of 37, making him the first driver to not be employed by Clear Channel Entertainment-Motorsports to win a World Championship.

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Lineup[]

(Note: * indicates a truck/driver's first World Finals appearance).

(Note: ** indicates a truck/driver's only World Finals appearance).

(Note: *** indicates a truck/driver's last World Finals appearance).

  1. SoBe** - Kathy Winston*
  2. Sudden Impact*** - John Seasock
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  3. Black Stallion - Michael Vaters
  4. El Toro Loco* - Lupe Soza*
  5. Power Forward - Chad Fortune
  6. Spider-Man - Bobby Zee*
  7. Gunslinger - Scott Hartsock
  8. Monster Mutt* - Todd Frolik**
  9. Blacksmith - Carl Van Horn
  10. Madusa - Debra 'Madusa' Miceli
  11. Wolverine*** - Brian Barthel
  12. Bounty Hunter - Jimmy Creten
  13. Avenger - Jim Koehler
  14. Blue Thunder - Lyle Hancock***
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  15. Grave Digger - Pablo Huffaker
  16. Maximum Destruction* - Tom Meents

Track layout[]

The racing track was the same as the one from the previous year, with the freestyle track including two buses facing longways in the center, a rail car and a 30 foot tall trailer on the right side, a delivery truck and an RV added to the right lane, a rock pile and a garbage truck on the left side, and a bus and an RV on a flatbed trailer in the left lane.

Results[]

Qualifying times[]

  1. Bounty Hunter - 16.96
  2. Wolverine - 17.18
  3. Grave Digger - 17.21
  4. Blacksmith - 17.34
  5. Gunslinger - 17.47
  6. Spider-Man - 17.92
  7. Monster Mutt - 18.02
  8. Madusa - 18.10
  9. Blue Thunder - 18.24
  10. Sudden Impact - 19.59
  11. SoBe - 19.69
  12. Black Stallion - 19.78
  13. El Toro Loco - 37.81
  14. Maximum Destruction - DNF
  15. Avenger - DNF
  16. Power Forward - DNQ

Racing[]

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Screenshot 2018-10-29-21-53-10

Round one[]

Bounty Hunter vs. Power Forward

Madusa vs. Blue Thunder

Spider Man vs. SoBe

Black Smith vs. El Toro Loco

Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction

Gunslinger vs. Black Stallion (crashes)

Sudden Impact vs. Monster Mutt

Wolverine vs. Avenger

Screenshot 2018-10-29-21-53-14

Gunslinger, breaking Tom Meents' 13 race streak

Round two[]

Bounty Hunter vs. Madusa

Spider Man vs. Black Smith

Maximum Destruction vs. Gunslinger

Sudden Impact vs. Wolverine

Semi-finals[]

Gunslinger (blown engine) vs. Wolverine

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Bounty Hunter vs. Black Smith

Championship race[]

Bounty Hunter vs. Wolverine

Freestyle order[]

  1. Blacksmith
  2. Sudden Impact
  3. Wolverine
  4. SoBe
  5. Power Forward
  6. El Toro Loco
  7. Monster Mutt
  8. Spider-Man
  9. Avenger
  10. Madusa
  11. Black Stallion
  12. Bounty Hunter
  13. Blue Thunder
  14. Grave Digger
  15. Maximum Destruction

Freestyle scores[]

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  1. Avenger - 37
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    Screenshot 2018-10-29-21-53-41
  2. El Toro Loco - 36
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    Monster Mutt's first World Finals freestyle.

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  3. Blue Thunder - 34
  4. Madusa - 32
  5. Black Stallion - 30
  6. Power Forward - 29
  7. Sudden Impact - 27
  8. Black Smith - 24
  9. SoBe - 22
  10. Spider Man - 22
  11. Grave Digger - 20
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  12. Wolverine - 16
  13. Bounty Hunter - 14
  14. Maximum Destruction - 13
  15. Monster Mutt - 9
  16. Gunslinger - DNF

Encore[]

Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction 2, and two Blue Thunders performed a bonus freestyle. The encore started with Lyle Hancock returning to the track with his Blue Thunder, still damaged from freestyle. After driving back and forth across the track, going over the car stacks with great speed, then Hancock brought the truck over to the corner of the stadium where he lined up to go over the trailer. As he did this, Tony Farrell brought out the second Blue Thunder truck in unison with Hancock's jump. As the two went over more obstacles, Pablo Huffaker and Tom Meents brought out Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction, with Huffaker entering the traditional way, and Meents leaping the trailer, which had ended his freestyle. It was at this point that Farrell's Blue Thunder rolled over after going over the container obstacle. Grave Digger hit the car stack one time, and Maximum Destruction flew over the center bus obstacle, before the trucks were shut off.

Other awards[]

  • Rookie of the Year: Rick Raab, American Guardian & George Balhan, Spider-Man
  • Extreme Air: Scott Hartsock, Gunslinger
  • Crash Madness: Dennis Anderson, Grave Digger
  • Save of the Year: Dennis Anderson, Grave Digger
  • Improved Team: David Rappach, Rap Attack & David Smith, King Krunch
  • Team of the Year: Racesource Race Team, Pablo, Tina & Ryan Huffaker, Carl Van Horn, Grave Digger & Blacksmith
  • Special Recognition for Innovations in the Sport: Patrick Enterprises (Samson), Racesource Race Team (Grave Digger & Blacksmith), 2Xtreme Racing (Bounty Hunter & Scarlet Bandit) & Deist Safety
  • Special Recognition Award: Special T Tracks, Pro Tracks, & Dirt Wurx
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  • Sponsor of the Year: Ford
  • Freestyle of the Year: Tom Meents, Maximum Destruction
  • Sportsman of the Year: Rick Disharoon, Backdraft

Trivia[]

  • This Monster Jam World Finals had the fewest crashes of any Monster Jam World Finals event with four crashes in total (one in racing and three in freestyle).
  • This event marked the first of the following occurrences:
    • The first and (currently) only time where a truck would record the lowest score at the previous World Finals, and would then go on to win the competition the next year, in this case, being Avenger.
    • The first World Finals where a non-corporate-owned truck won a championship, being Jim Koehler in Avenger.
    • The first World Finals in which Tom Meents would not win a World Racing Championship.
    • The first World Finals in which Dennis Anderson would not compete.
    • The first World Finals in which the winning truck would finish the full amount of allotted time and not roll over or crash.
    • The first World Finals to have multiple crush cars left intact at the end of the entire show, as the backside of the semi trailer stack was never jumped, even before El Toro Loco got stuck.
    • The first World Finals to feature the slot machine containing balloons inside. Carl Van Horn in Blacksmith would be the first truck to hit said obstacle.
  • This World Finals marked the only occurrences of the following:
    • The only World Finals to feature Todd Frolik as a competitor.
    • The only World Finals to be announced by Joe Lowe.
  • This World Finals marked the last of the following occurrences:
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    • The last televised appearance of Lyle Hancock and Todd Frolik. as both retired after this event was broadcasted.
    • The last World Finals event to have Spider-Man and Wolverine before 2010 when Spider Man returned and 2012 with Wolverine.
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        Additionally, this was the only World Finals event to have

the original versions of both Marvel trucks compete for both racing and freestyle.

  • It is debatable as to if this the only World Finals won entirely by independent teams. Brian Barthel (racing) owned the Wolverine chassis, but was working with a corporate sponsorship. Jim Koehler (freestyle) being fully independent. The fastest qualifying pass was also by an independent team, being Bounty Hunter.
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    Pablo Huffaker was planned to drive Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger, XIV. Huffaker could not reach the controls well, and ended up crashing through Thunder Alley during practice runs. As a result, he drove Grave Digger XVI instead for the rest of the show. He would drive XIV during the encore though.
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      Additionally, both Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction would lose control and break break through the fences at Thunder Alley during practice and qualifying. Avenger would spin out during qualifying, but not hit the fence.
  • Dennis Anderson would be unable to compete in the World Finals due to a broken hand. He was, however, in the broadcast booth for both the racing and freestyle shows on SPEED.
  • Screenshot 20190126-230730
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was intended to debut at this event. However, the body was not finished in time for the show, resulting in the debut being postponed.
  • This was the first World Finals where the two eventual champions (Wolverine and Avenger) raced against each other.
  • Some of the shots shown in freestyle were shown in high resolution possibly meant to be used for the cancelled Monster Jam: The Movie. These runs include Sudden Impact, Black Stallion, Grave Digger, Avenger, and Maximum Destruction respectively.

Non competing trucks[]

Monster Jam World Finals by Year
I (2000)II (2001)III (2002)IV (2003)V (2004)VI (2005)VII (2006)VIII (2007)IX (2008)X (2009)XI (2010)XII (2011)XIII (2012)XIV (2013)XV (2014)XVI (2015)XVII (2016)XVIII (2017)XIX (2018)XX (2019)XXI (2020/2022)XXII (2023)XXIII (2024)
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