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Power Forward was a Ford monster truck, sponsored by NBA basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone. Running from 2001 to 2005. The truck's design reflected the teams that Karl Malone was on during each particular year, running the colors of the Utah Jazz from 2002 to 2003, and then running the colors of the LA Lakers from 2004 to 2005.

History[]

  • 2001 - The truck is conceived as The Mailman, but the name Power Forward is chosen. It debuts on Rolling Billboard with a blank white Chevrolet body. The truck is reportedly considered as a Toyota design first, but this idea is cancelled, being designed on a Ford F-150 body style.
  • 2002 - Power Forward debuts being driven by Chad Fortune. It runs a body bearing the colors of Malone's current team, the Utah Jazz, complete with a cartoon drawing of Malone on the side, as well as wheel coverings decorated to look like Basketballs. The truck makes its debut in Houston of that year, and is invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 3 in March of that year.
  • 2003- Chad Fortune returns as the driver for Power Forward during the 2003 season. The truck remains unchanged, running a complete season, and is invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 4.
  • 2004 - Karl Malone moves to the LA Lakers in 2004, and the truck is redesigned, with the colors changing to purple and orange. The truck as a whole changes too, switching to a new, updated Ford F-150 body style, wrapped to look like it was a basketball, and also featuring a new basketball character on the side. The truck runs a full season under Chad Fortune up until Pontiac, Michigan, where Carl Van Horn was moved into the truck as the new driver for Pontiac, as well as the Monster Jam World Finals 5. Fortune would move on to drive Ameriquest Freedom and Nokia N-GAGE during this time frame, leaving the Power Forward team all together. The truck would continue to be on this chassis, and body, until very late December.
  • 2005 - Frank Krmel takes over as the last full-time driver of the truck for the 2005 season. The truck is switched from its old chassis, and moved onto the former Demolition Man chassis, C26, for the 2004 season, which in turn was formerly Bobby Zee's Spider-Man. The new Power Forward truck re-uses the Ford Ranger body of Demolition Man, but for the most part is unchanged. It is invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 6 under Krmel. After this, Power Forward ran its final event in 2005 at the Monsters on the Beach event at Virginia Beach, where it was run by Chad Tingler, this time running a Chevrolet S-10 body style, exclusively for this event. After this, the C26 chassis was converted into Del Scorcho for the 2006 season, still under Frank Krmel.

World Finals Appearances[]

  • 2002 - Chad Fortune
  • 2003 - Chad Fortune
  • 2004 - Carl Van Horn
  • 2005 - Frank Krmel

Video Game Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • The 2005 Ford Ranger version of the truck was actually a reskinned Demolition Man.
  • According to Scott Douglass at one of Power Forward's early shows, the truck was originally intended to be a Toyota.
  • Karl Malone drove the truck at times, but only at exhibitions like pit parties, or at the practice course at the World Finals 3. He never competed in competition.
  • Power Forward's primary theme song, "Feel the Power!", was an original song composed by FirstCom, made specifically for the truck. A music video featuring this song was included in the World Finals 3 DVD.
    • Interestingly, an alternate version of the song was made for the Speed Channel show Lucas Oil: On The Edge!. This alternate cut of the song was the same as "Feel the Power", but featured alternate lyrics to fit the show's theme.
  • The roof number on the 2004-2005 version uses the same font as the #11 of Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series today.
    • The original concept design’s roof number uses the same font as the #20 of Joe Gibbs Racing, as well as the #24, and #48 (Most prominently found in Jimmie Johnson's Power Of Pride) of Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. This font is publicly known as Aachen Bold.
  • Power Forward is the only truck to have multiple World Finals appearances under multiple drivers and to have never won in racing.

Gallery[]

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