Courtesy of Monster Jam
Grave Digger
Why do I, a 34-year-old woman, have a soft spot for a monster truck named Grave Digger? Is it because my 3-year-old nephew is also obsessed with the truck? That’s how I found out about it, sure. But my affection might have more to do with the fact that Grave Digger’s human, Adam Anderson—he who pilots the larger-than-life monstrosity emblazoned with skulls and all manner of graveyard scenery—is one of the most charming and fun people I’ve spoken with. It’s this anecdote from Anderson that seals the deal for me:
Forty years ago, Anderson’s father, Dennis Anderson, was working on a farm, sewing grain bags, when the farmer’s wealthy son started needling him. This trash-talking Richie Rich, according to Anderson, had a brand-new truck, and he was teasing Dennis about the truck the farmhand had built from whatever scraps and pieces he could scrounge together.
“My dad told that guy, ‘I'm going to take this old junk and dig you a grave,’” Adam tells me. “All the other guys in the granary started whooping and hollering. They started calling [the truck] Grave Digger. My dad went home that night and spray-painted 'Grave Digger' on the side of that very first truck.”
Courtesy of Monster Jam
Grave Digger's driver Adam Anderson
I love a sick comeback.
Anyway, that was how the legendary monster truck—simply “Digger” if you’re a diehard fan—was born, and if you’d like an up-close look at it, as well as seven other monster trucks, you’ll want to snag some tickets to Monster Jam, the rip-roaring, louder-than-a-rock-concert, dustier-than-a-rodeo motorsports showcase where the 12,000-pound trucks will be driving in freestyle, skills, and racing (they can reach up to 70 miles per hour) competitions. They can do backflips and pop up on two wheels, and they'll go head-to-head in battles to determine the event champion.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a Monster Jam driver—and oh, have I—Anderson, who has been behind the big wheel for 18 years, describes the experience as similar to being on a roller-coaster, “but sometimes, our track just ends.” Visibility is limited because the driver is belted so intensely into the seat that they can’t even move their head. All a driver can do is steer and move their eyes from side to side. As a truck approaches a jump, the driver can no longer see the obstacle in front of them as far away as 15–20 feet. They drive by feeling.
“There are times when we jump high enough that the elevation is unbelievable,” Anderson says. “You do get that weightless feeling, and you have enough time to think, Wow, this is a bad decision. Or, This was a good decision. This is going to be cool.”
Sometimes, it’s those decisive moments that lead to the coolest tricks. The crowd-pleasing backflips that Grave Digger is known for started out as accidents that had to be re-created and improved along the way. It’s still not really a science—the traction the vehicles get is largely due to dirt composition. Because Monster Jam doesn’t haul dirt around on its tours, the drivers are dependent on what they are given in each city, and it affects the tricks they can pull off. Anderson also draws inspiration from his kids playing the Monster Jam video game. If they do something cool, he’ll ask them to try it again so he can piece together how to make it happen in real life.
Monster Jam’s St. Louis stop includes two Pit Parties—January 21 from 2:30–5:30 p.m. and January 22 from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.—where Jam fans can meet the monster truck drivers and look at the trucks up close. Are the kids ever scared? Sometimes, Anderson says, but mostly they’re pumped. “My dad always said we're the good-guy drivers with the bad-guy truck,” Anderson remembers. “All it takes is that one little guy or little girl who comes up to me, and they're so excited—it's almost like I'm Santa Claus, but I give no presents. They say they love me, and they hug me and it takes me down—I'm like, Oh gosh, I gotta do good tonight. Toward the end of his career, my dad said he quit driving for himself and started driving for the fans. That's 100 percent what it is.”
Monster Jam takes place January 21 at 7 p.m. and January 22 at 3 p.m. at the Dome at America’s Center. The full truck lineup is as follows:
Grave Digger driven by Adam Anderson
Max-D driven by Tom Meents
Soldier Fortune driven by Kayla Blood
Bakugan Dragonoid driven by Camden Murphy
Vendetta driven by Mike Christensen
Velociraptor driven by David Olfert
Jester driven by Matt Pagliarulo
Kraken driven by Nick Pagliarulo
