Entertainment

Grave Digger's daughter on the birth of monster truck stunts: 'It was insane.'

By Joshua Tehee

Krysten Anderson can say she's been around monster trucks her whole life without exaggeration.

Her father, Dennis Anderson, created the original Grave Digger from junkyard parts in 1982 and drove the truck (or one of its 35 versions, anyway) in competition until his retirement last year. He built the truck into one of Monster Jam's longest running, if not most iconic, brands.

Anderson herself will be driving Grave Digger in the Monster Jam Triple Threat series for three shows Friday and Saturday at the Save Mart Center.

She has seen evolution of monster trucks; remembers traveling around with her dad in the early days when the spectacle was the trucks themselves (those huge tires!) and not necessarily what they could do.

Kysten Anderson drives the monster truck Grave Digger.
Kysten Anderson drives the monster truck Grave Digger. MONSTER JAM

Maybe fans would see a few cars get crushed, but really it was enough if a truck could do a decent jump without parts falling off upon landing, Anderson says.

You certainly weren't going to see a monster truck do a back flip.

That didn't happen until the early 2000s and no one could believe what they'd seen, Anderson says.

"It was insane."

Now, even that is passé with fans.

"It’s not even cool anymore," Anderson says, with some incredulity. "Are you kidding me? That’s 12,000 pounds doing a back flip," she says.

Still, now trucks are doing front flips. Lee O'Donnell did one last year.

The Moonwalk is the current trick du jour, Anderson says. It's like a monster truck handstand, with the thing moving forward on its front two wheels.

And the trucks are built for these big tricks, Anderson says. They have special suspension systems and forward-to-rear weight distribution. They are built to take damage.

The truck bodies are made from fiberglass, so the drivers aren't out there crushing their trucks like soda cans every night, Anderson says. Every truck body has a mold, and replacements are constantly being made for when they can't be patched back together.

“I’ve gone through a lot of bodies this year. I'm not going to lie,” Anderson says. She's been running with the same body for the past 18 shows or so. She is holding out on a shiny new one for the World Finals in Las Vegas later this month.

She may be lucky. She won't necessarily be doing the crazy big tricks during the triple threat series. Those are saved for the stadium shows, she says. Here, the drivers compete in three different vehicles: speedsters, ATVs and of course, the truck.

Built to be branded

The evolution of monster trucks has coincided with the rise of Monster Jam itself and the creation – and popularity – of concept trucks. These are vehicles with design features that extend beyond simple paint jobs.

So, while Grave Digger is essentially an old Chevy panel van, painted green and purple and black and emblazoned with a graveyard scene, a truck like Zombie comes complete with a rotting face and arms built in.

Its concept and design were created by Monster Jam fans in an online vote and fans mimic zombie arms when the truck comes onto the track.

Megalodon is a new truck, based on the pre-historic shark. It has a row of white teeth and back and tail fins. Monster Mutt (and its cousin, Monster Mutt Dalmatian) are painted up to look like dogs. They also have tails and floppy ears. There's even a Wonder Woman truck inspired by the DC Comic's goddess. It has the lasso of truth in the truck bed, obviously.

In each case, the trucks visually encapsulate the brand.

And that has allowed Monster Jam to travel the world, to places like Saudi Arabia and China; places they didn't even know they had fans, Anderson says.

"They don’t speak English," she says. "

"But they know Grave Digger. They know Zombie," she says.

Joshua Tehee: 559-441-6479, @joshuatehee

Meanwhile …

Six other noteworthy events happening this week:

This story was originally published March 7, 2018 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Grave Digger's daughter on the birth of monster truck stunts: 'It was insane.'."

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