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Team Meents was a futuristic SUV monster truck that ran exclusively during the 2002 Monster Jam season. Tom had originally planned to debut his successor truck, Maximum Destruction, for the 2002 season, immediately after the Goldberg deal expired, but the truck's debut was delayed until 2003, due to a combination of Meents not wanting to go directly from Goldberg to Maximum Destruction and out of respect, due to the September 11th attacks in 2001. Team Meents was the result of these two events. The truck is identical to Goldberg except for sporting flame decals as opposed to Bill Goldberg's tribal tattoo logos, the name changed on the side, the front reading "ON A MISSION!" rather than "WHO'S NEXT?" and the back of the truck features Tom's face instead of Bill Goldberg's. Team Meents swept the 2002 World Finals and won many events in its single season long run. Tom's most famous run in Team Meents is when he double downed at the last Monster Jam event at the Houston Astrodome (then the Reliant Astrodome). There were 2 Team Meents trucks driven throughout the 2002 season, with the primary truck being driven by Tom Meents, and a secondary truck being driven by Eldon DePew for smaller and non-televised events. Neil Elliott would also take control of the truck for events held in the off-season.

History[]

  • 2001 - Team Meents debuts at the 2002 season opener in Minneapolis on December 1st. It was the successor to Goldberg. The truck is hidden during the pit party and Tom Meents merely stands on his own during the autograph and photo sessions. Team Meents takes the racing victory in Minneapolis.
  • 2002 - Tom and Team Meents go on to win many of the racing and freestyle competitions held in the televised season, though Tom is absent from the St. Louis and Orlando events. In Pontiac, the truck took a sharp turn in freestyle & some shocks broke & destroyed the rear end. Meanwhile, a second Team Meents truck under the command of Eldon DePew competes at most of the arena events during the season to much success. At World Finals III, Tom and Team Meents sweep the entire show, earning number one qualifier, winning racing for the third year in a row, over Jimmy Creten and Bounty Hunter and winning freestyle for the second year in a row with a score of 37. The truck continues to compete at events held in the off-season with Neil Elliott piloting Team Meents at the Virginia Beach show. Team Meents carries on competing for the first two shows of the 2003 season, still held in the 2002 calendar year. Tom sweeps racing and freestyle at the final Houston Astrodome show before competing at Minneapolis. There, Tom announces that Minneapolis will be Team Meents' final show and that for the next event, he's 'coming out with something new'. After Minneapolis, Team Meents is retired and at the next stadium event at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Tom debuts Team Meents' successor Maximum Destruction.

World Finals appearances[]

  • 2002 - Tom Meents (Won racing and freestyle)

Trivia[]

  • Unlike other monster trucks that have competed in Monster Jam, this truck (along with Power Forward and eventually Gunslinger in 2003) was unique in that its theme song was not an original artist recording, but rather an original song composed by Clear Channel Entertainment titled "Corruption N' Destruction". This song would continue to be used as Maximum Destruction's theme up until after 2005, when it would be replaced by its current theme, "Doperide" by Saliva. This song was included as a bonus feature in the original DVD pressings of Monster Jam World Finals 3 on disc 2, and the first half was played during the end credits of The True Life of Tom Meents DVD. The first half of the theme from the Tom Meents DVD would be uploaded to YouTube on October 4, 2017 by user Joshua Chamberlayne. On May 8, 2018, the full theme would be uploaded to Youtube, again by user Joshua Chamberlayne.
  • Team Meents is the only truck to compete for only a single year at the Monster Jam World Finals and sweep that event.
  • Team Meents' hood originally had "2000-2001 World Champion" decals before, during and after Monster Jam World Finals III. However, the truck's hood would eventually be updated to reflect his championship(s) at the event and would now read "2000-2002 World Champion" in the final two events in 2003 before its retirement.
  • Team Meents would be one of 6 flashback 2017 Hot Wheels Monster Jam toys, along with the 2002 version of Hot Wheels, 1997 Avenger, the original Michigan Ice Monster, 1997 King Krunch, and the mud bogger Grave Digger.
  • In 2020, Spin Master produced the truck on the correct tooling for the first time in 18 years exclusively in the Retro Edition Max-D 5-Pack. It featured Tom Meents' face on a 1:64 scale die-cast release for the first time, the USHRA logo and website as well as "ON A MISSION!" on its front clip.
    • It would be produced again by Spin Master in the "Dirty to Clean" color changing series.
  • During an episode of Inside Monster Jam, Meents revealed that the main reason for the truck's existence was his desire to slowly transition from Goldberg to Maximum Destruction.
  • A second Team Meents would participate in the Monster Jam World Finals III encore on Spider-Man's chassis.
    • This is the only time the truck would run on a rear engine chassis.
    • The encore is considered lost media due to the extremely limited footage and photos ever released post-World Finals.

Gallery[]

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