----------- UPDATE ----------- Due to the amount attention this video has received, I figured it would be best to follow up with some new and revised information that I either forgot to include, or should have expanded upon. - Milestone Motorsports actually began promoting monster truck events in 1999 and started signing trucks around the middle of the year, rather than the fourth quarter. - Although it was implied in the video, the initial World Finals 1 commercial began airing well after the start of the 2000 season and even up to a month before the event itself took place, so Monster Jam may have actually still wanted said trucks to participate in the event, otherwise there would be no point for them to be in the commercial if they weren't ever meant to compete. - Even though Samson was not featured on Monster Jam TV after the year 1999, Dan Patrick has stated that he was becoming more interested in running a less stressful and more relaxed schedule for Monster Jam, due to the commitment he had to building and helping fix the company's fleet trucks, as well as the many other orders he was receiving. - The 2000 and 2001 Monster Jam World Finals featured what was called a "Pick Six", where fans could vote on six guaranteed entrants into the event. While the legitimacy of the winners can be called into question, various Milestone-associated trucks that were no longer on TV were featured as options for at least the 2001 "Pick Six" ballot, but obviously none made it into the event. - Virginia Giant was included in the 2003 Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal videogame, which was sponsored by Monster Jam, despite still being associated with Milestone Motorsports. Bounty Hunter and Scarlet Bandit were cut from the game at the last minute. - While it isn't implied otherwise, Gun Slinger won two televised racing events in the year 1999, not just the one shown, and King Krunch would defeat Grave Digger another time during the 2000 televised season, not just at the World Finals. - Shocker also had a toy with Monster Jam's Hot Wheels line despite being signed to Milestone Motorsports.
As a die hard Grave Digger fan as a child I always loved watching Scott in Gunslinger perform as a local at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Scott and Dennis always drove their trucks into the ground there. RIP to a legend of the sport.
This video was very interesting and very well put together. I did not know about all this happening behind the scenes, and this video showed all that happened during an important era of monster trucks!
This video is absolute gold and something that needs to be brought to the nonster jam community Also something I can add to this is many shows were uanired during the 2000 season and have almost been completely lost to time and many of these independent trucks are probably apart of those Lineups Eventually Raminator and ramunition would start to compete again in laylter monster jam 2009 San antonio 2012 Jacksonville and 2010 Indianapolis (which also equalizer competed in as well that show) Miami 2007 and Minneapolis 2007 (show 1) are the last time Shafer motorsports would compete in a ushra event loved this video
As a kid who watched the PENDA and USA motorsports shows, I knew all the trucks that competed there. I disliked Inside Monster Jam back then due to the highlights-only style they had. I remember my dad saying that Monster Jam had taken the USA show over and I was disappointed thinking it was going to be the highlights style. I was happy to see the first 1999 live show for Monster Jam on TV was a full broadcast with the trucks from USA motorsports still on it. It was a good mix of the two. Even as a kid though, I noticed immediately that most of the trucks mentioned in this video were gone in 2000. I had simply thought they didn't compete anymore. It's really cool to come back and see that they did compete those seasons, just not for tv. This was a really good, well put together video!
I think one thing that didn’t help Milestone out was being on a premium cable channel. Not all cable providers had the Outdoor Channel in their lower to mid tier packages. Whereas MJ was accessible through TNN in most of the early 2000s. Had Milestone been more accessible I feel that with their lineup of trucks they truly could have competed with MJ and we could’ve been witness to a ratings war. They offered a different style of racing somewhat similar to how USA Motorsports would lay out their tracks. They aired both indoor and outdoor events. On paper they shouldn’t have failed. But unfortunately they just couldn’t keep up with how quickly SFX/Pace was changing.
This is such a fantastic video, I genuinely didn't know about a lot of this information. At first I wasn't interested but the way the video was made, definitely hooked me. Great video!
this video is literally amazing, some of the best monster truck content i've seen on youtube. i'm glad more channels are popping up and starting to cover monster truck history like this now. can't wait to see what else you got in store
When people ask me what's it like being involved with the monster truck industry. I always say the industry has a handshake for you in one hand, and a knife for your back in the other hand.
I was born in '91 so I'm right on that edge of getting to know trucks like monster patrol and snake bite, just to have them disappear. My main take away back then was that while watching dennis and tom beef was highly entertaining, that's all the shows really boiled down to. It was grave digger vs goldberg with no other real competition aside from a very rare upset. I still loved it, but the shows definitely would have been MUCH better if this never happened.
While you diplomatically sum it up by saying that no one is at fault, it is still unfortunate that promotional agendas & politics were ultimately the determining factors in which trucks had the opportunity to be pushed, get television exposure, and build a fan base with younger fans. In the spirit of true competition for a final purse, the only fully legitimate series has ever been the 1989-1990 TNT series. PENDA tried to continue that concept but with designated bonus opportunities for trucks who committed to the tour. ProMT & MLMT came as close as anyone in the last two decades with similar benefits as PENDA. But to my knowledge, the only true 100% open invitation competition (with a big enough purse to draw anyone) was the 1997 U.S. Truckfest in Charlotte, NC. Yes, they invited ten trucks to participate as a champions class with a guaranteed purse. But, the other bracket was a 32 truck open field qualifier with a purse based on finishing position. Basically, show up, pass a safety inspection, and you have a chance to win the top prize. How has this never happened again?!? Your reasons explain why it doesn't, and those all benefit specific promoters, sponsors, and/or agendas. But one would think that the monster truck business as a whole has grown enough for this to be a possibility. As a legitimate competition concept for over thirty years, fans deserve a way to determine who is the best & crown an overall champion each year from an objective standpoint. I've been hoping for years, but I don't see anything happening in the near future. Maybe if we talk about it & people become more educated then we can start pushing for and progressing towards something like that. Until then, I guess the best we'll get is to keep living in the past here on youtube.
I’ll tell you what man I would’ve loved to see their trucks at the first world finals. They were dominant all season and at non-televised and Arena events they would dominate the events and take out some of the most notable trucks from Monster Jams Fleet
I think that Paul would have most likely left the Monster Jam circuit to run his own shows anyways, just a couple years later instead, but would have had a few trucks still running prominently for Monster Jam as high-level representatives of the team, in the same way that Kirk Dabney's Monster Patrol and Mike Harper's Carolina Crusher would tour on their own most of the time. Paul did say that he was dissatisfied with his appearance money when running for Monster Jam at the time, so maybe merchandise money and TV exposure could have made up for it, but Paul did want to run his trucks like a business rather than a hobby, and the best way to do that is running your own shows.
Minor note. Spider-Man and Sting ain’t the same chassis. While yes Sting DID run on Spider-Man at some select events with the previously unused Bret-Hitman-Hart body, their chassis designs are very differently designed.
I may not have been super clear in the video about how "what would become Spiderman" was its own chassis, but that's what I meant to imply and not that it was the same as Sting.
I wish the first Minneapolis event in 2000 which I believe was January 22nd 2000 was televisized but it wasn't. The trucks I remember seeing were trucks like carolina crusher, monster patrol, hyway star, Chicago outlaw, grave digger, bulldozer, black stallion and MANY others That was my very first ever monster Jam I've ever attended. And I've been hooked ever since Also I really miss the orange and purple Monster Patrol. It was a different but awesome look
@@ausproductionsofficial Carolina crusher and monster patrol was not the issue but the millestone motorsports thing I can see being the issue No wonder I can't find it It was my very first monster truck event I ever attended and so far, MY ALL TIME FAVORITE
@@happyfamily7642 Carolina Crusher Grave Digger Monster Patrol Bulldozer Rap Attack Devastator Mistress Iron Warrior Black Stallion 2000 Sudden Impact Chicago Outlaw Hyway Star Towasaurus Wrex Priority 1 Eradicator That's all I can really remember But it was January 22nd 2000 if I recall for the date of the show
Why were trucks like Avenger and Gunslinger allowed to remain independent and still be huge monster jam stars when Bigfoot stayed out because they wouldn’t have been able to stay independent?
I explain this during the "Company Trucks and Common Theories..." section of the video, in that Monster Jam didn't have enough company trucks to market themselves with, so they needed to rely on popular independent trucks as well, but they weren't interested in buying all of them up either. Just the two that were guaranteed to be brand ambassadors so to speak, ie. Bigfoot and Grave Digger. I believe Bulldozer came with the acquisition of USA Motorsports. It's not 100% confirmed that Bigfoot's choice was either to sell themselves to Monster Jam or leave, but MJ making an offer led to a very ugly back and forth between the two which ended with Bigfoot leaving.
@@californiamonstertrucks4655 Okay that makes sense. these videos are amazing by the way I had to rewatch this one after the Bigfoot video you just put out!
The World Finals moniker has been used at USHRA shows dating back as far as 1987. For many years, the points finals in Pontiac and Chicago were called the World Finals.
The very first world finals ever and this is for monster trucks and NOT "Monster Jam", was in 1987 in Pontiac Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome, and it would go to specific cities throughout the next several years until 1999ish Monster Jam became a thing in 1992 which is a good 5 years or so after the first world finals. The most well known for an un-numbered world finals for "Monster Jam" was in 1999 in Saint Louis Missouri. Anything from 2000 to 2018 is numbered and take place in Las Vegas Nevada up until 2019 when it went from Vegas to Orlando Florida
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
----------- UPDATE -----------
Due to the amount attention this video has received, I figured it would be best to follow up with some new and revised information that I either forgot to include, or should have expanded upon.
- Milestone Motorsports actually began promoting monster truck events in 1999 and started signing trucks around the middle of the year, rather than the fourth quarter.
- Although it was implied in the video, the initial World Finals 1 commercial began airing well after the start of the 2000 season and even up to a month before the event itself took place, so Monster Jam may have actually still wanted said trucks to participate in the event, otherwise there would be no point for them to be in the commercial if they weren't ever meant to compete.
- Even though Samson was not featured on Monster Jam TV after the year 1999, Dan Patrick has stated that he was becoming more interested in running a less stressful and more relaxed schedule for Monster Jam, due to the commitment he had to building and helping fix the company's fleet trucks, as well as the many other orders he was receiving.
- The 2000 and 2001 Monster Jam World Finals featured what was called a "Pick Six", where fans could vote on six guaranteed entrants into the event. While the legitimacy of the winners can be called into question, various Milestone-associated trucks that were no longer on TV were featured as options for at least the 2001 "Pick Six" ballot, but obviously none made it into the event.
- Virginia Giant was included in the 2003 Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal videogame, which was sponsored by Monster Jam, despite still being associated with Milestone Motorsports. Bounty Hunter and Scarlet Bandit were cut from the game at the last minute.
- While it isn't implied otherwise, Gun Slinger won two televised racing events in the year 1999, not just the one shown, and King Krunch would defeat Grave Digger another time during the 2000 televised season, not just at the World Finals.
- Shocker also had a toy with Monster Jam's Hot Wheels line despite being signed to Milestone Motorsports.
R.I.P Scott Hartsock. I oughta say this was his golden era
As a die hard Grave Digger fan as a child I always loved watching Scott in Gunslinger perform as a local at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Scott and Dennis always drove their trucks into the ground there. RIP to a legend of the sport.
This video was very interesting and very well put together. I did not know about all this happening behind the scenes, and this video showed all that happened during an important era of monster trucks!
This video is absolute gold and something that needs to be brought to the nonster jam community
Also something I can add to this is many shows were uanired during the 2000 season and have almost been completely lost to time and many of these independent trucks are probably apart of those Lineups
Eventually Raminator and ramunition would start to compete again in laylter monster jam 2009 San antonio 2012 Jacksonville and 2010 Indianapolis (which also equalizer competed in as well that show)
Miami 2007 and Minneapolis 2007 (show 1) are the last time Shafer motorsports would compete in a ushra event loved this video
As a kid who watched the PENDA and USA motorsports shows, I knew all the trucks that competed there. I disliked Inside Monster Jam back then due to the highlights-only style they had. I remember my dad saying that Monster Jam had taken the USA show over and I was disappointed thinking it was going to be the highlights style. I was happy to see the first 1999 live show for Monster Jam on TV was a full broadcast with the trucks from USA motorsports still on it. It was a good mix of the two. Even as a kid though, I noticed immediately that most of the trucks mentioned in this video were gone in 2000. I had simply thought they didn't compete anymore. It's really cool to come back and see that they did compete those seasons, just not for tv. This was a really good, well put together video!
I think one thing that didn’t help Milestone out was being on a premium cable channel. Not all cable providers had the Outdoor Channel in their lower to mid tier packages. Whereas MJ was accessible through TNN in most of the early 2000s. Had Milestone been more accessible I feel that with their lineup of trucks they truly could have competed with MJ and we could’ve been witness to a ratings war. They offered a different style of racing somewhat similar to how USA Motorsports would lay out their tracks. They aired both indoor and outdoor events. On paper they shouldn’t have failed. But unfortunately they just couldn’t keep up with how quickly SFX/Pace was changing.
This is such a fantastic video, I genuinely didn't know about a lot of this information. At first I wasn't interested but the way the video was made, definitely hooked me. Great video!
this video is literally amazing, some of the best monster truck content i've seen on youtube. i'm glad more channels are popping up and starting to cover monster truck history like this now. can't wait to see what else you got in store
When people ask me what's it like being involved with the monster truck industry. I always say the industry has a handshake for you in one hand, and a knife for your back in the other hand.
Same as most things that involve big money and came
Wrestling springs immediately to mind
It’s worth pointing out that Deihl’s Virginia Giant also had an appearance in Monster 4x4, Masters Of Metal.
I was born in '91 so I'm right on that edge of getting to know trucks like monster patrol and snake bite, just to have them disappear. My main take away back then was that while watching dennis and tom beef was highly entertaining, that's all the shows really boiled down to. It was grave digger vs goldberg with no other real competition aside from a very rare upset. I still loved it, but the shows definitely would have been MUCH better if this never happened.
They did tell Bob Chandler that they were going to make their own stars 🌟 would explain why they were pushing their own trucks and sponsored trucks.
Virginia giant actually ran several untelevised stadium events in early 2000 I believe the January Minneapolis and also the January St. Louis
This video is amazing! More videos like this would be amazing! Amazingly put together. You can tell a lot of hard work went into this!🔥
20:17 where do I find that music at?
Video turned out great. Glad I was able to help you find some of the sources.
I'd never even heard of Monster Patrol when I was a kid. I had multiple games and several hotwheels collectibles.
Great video and lots of info and behind the scenes stuff a lot of people don't know about. Thank you for the video.
While you diplomatically sum it up by saying that no one is at fault, it is still unfortunate that promotional agendas & politics were ultimately the determining factors in which trucks had the opportunity to be pushed, get television exposure, and build a fan base with younger fans. In the spirit of true competition for a final purse, the only fully legitimate series has ever been the 1989-1990 TNT series. PENDA tried to continue that concept but with designated bonus opportunities for trucks who committed to the tour. ProMT & MLMT came as close as anyone in the last two decades with similar benefits as PENDA. But to my knowledge, the only true 100% open invitation competition (with a big enough purse to draw anyone) was the 1997 U.S. Truckfest in Charlotte, NC. Yes, they invited ten trucks to participate as a champions class with a guaranteed purse. But, the other bracket was a 32 truck open field qualifier with a purse based on finishing position. Basically, show up, pass a safety inspection, and you have a chance to win the top prize. How has this never happened again?!? Your reasons explain why it doesn't, and those all benefit specific promoters, sponsors, and/or agendas. But one would think that the monster truck business as a whole has grown enough for this to be a possibility. As a legitimate competition concept for over thirty years, fans deserve a way to determine who is the best & crown an overall champion each year from an objective standpoint. I've been hoping for years, but I don't see anything happening in the near future. Maybe if we talk about it & people become more educated then we can start pushing for and progressing towards something like that. Until then, I guess the best we'll get is to keep living in the past here on youtube.
Milestone might have had a little say in Shafer or any of their trucks going on MJ TV
Hey man if we can have some more documentaries like videos it would be sick. This was great
I love the monster patrol rc hope they will make a new monster patrol rc truck 2022
I’ll tell you what man I would’ve loved to see their trucks at the first world finals. They were dominant all season and at non-televised and Arena events they would dominate the events and take out some of the most notable trucks from Monster Jams Fleet
Amazing video and research! What I want to know is where did you find the music from the TNT days?
Does anyone know the reason or beef between Monster Jam and Bigfoot. That's something I would love to see explained.
Had a lot to do with licensing.
Video rights. They wanted to start using bigfoot in videos.
Great video. hope to maybe see another document in this style.
Super entertaining breakdown, throughly enjoyed this thanks for posting
Wow... My best friend, Nice video... Beautiful place Enjoy watching this video... Have a nice day.
Great video and all but what about Black stallion iron warrior and higher education and Overkill evolution. Where do they fit in the story?
Around this time Glenn bowlin owned warrior. Overkill evolution in higher education didn’t exist until a decade after this
@@ausproductionsofficial oh I thought higher education was a older truck
..or bus
@@ACfairgrounds nope! 2011 would’ve been cool to see it back then though
Bravo good sir excellent well executed video!
Your still around?!??
@@ausproductionsofficial lol I lurk hard-core
@@jetmonkeyj that’s cool then 😂
22:22 where u got that video?
www.supermotors.net/getfile/104063/monster-trucks.wmv
Make more documentary’s like this!
I needed this keep posting content bro
God that was a good video. I would love to see more deep dives like this!!!
11:37 do you have a link to the video or who made it? Or what it's called? Wanna see it
www.supermotors.net/getfile/104063/monster-trucks.wmv
14:09 i have that book lol
Another great video!👍👍
How different do you think things would be if Paul Shafer HAD NOT taken the Milestone Motorsports merchandising deal?
I think that Paul would have most likely left the Monster Jam circuit to run his own shows anyways, just a couple years later instead, but would have had a few trucks still running prominently for Monster Jam as high-level representatives of the team, in the same way that Kirk Dabney's Monster Patrol and Mike Harper's Carolina Crusher would tour on their own most of the time. Paul did say that he was dissatisfied with his appearance money when running for Monster Jam at the time, so maybe merchandise money and TV exposure could have made up for it, but Paul did want to run his trucks like a business rather than a hobby, and the best way to do that is running your own shows.
Very different.
Minor note. Spider-Man and Sting ain’t the same chassis. While yes Sting DID run on Spider-Man at some select events with the previously unused Bret-Hitman-Hart body, their chassis designs are very differently designed.
I may not have been super clear in the video about how "what would become Spiderman" was its own chassis, but that's what I meant to imply and not that it was the same as Sting.
I still have some of those Milestone Motorsports toys that I found tucked way in my closet.
Awesome video dude, I wish I had the willpower and skill to make videos like this
Is milestone motorsports website still around or any other sites mentioned in the video?
Yeah on web archive I’ll shoot you the link
22:22 bro how did you find that?!?
www.supermotors.net/getfile/104063/monster-trucks.wmv
Great video, very well done!
Great work! I’m sure this video took a lot of time to make
Big fan of your Wheely King videos from back in the day. Served as a great inspiration for me at the time.
@@californiamonstertrucks4655 thank you. That means a lot
I wish the first Minneapolis event in 2000 which I believe was January 22nd 2000 was televisized but it wasn't. The trucks I remember seeing were trucks like carolina crusher, monster patrol, hyway star, Chicago outlaw, grave digger, bulldozer, black stallion and MANY others
That was my very first ever monster Jam I've ever attended. And I've been hooked ever since
Also I really miss the orange and purple Monster Patrol. It was a different but awesome look
Because of monster patrol in Carolina Crusher
Milestone motorsports thing got in the way which is why the February and January didn’t get televised
@@ausproductionsofficial
Carolina crusher and monster patrol was not the issue but the millestone motorsports thing I can see being the issue
No wonder I can't find it
It was my very first monster truck event I ever attended and so far, MY ALL TIME FAVORITE
@@MrMonsterJamFan what was the full field of you can remember?
@@happyfamily7642
Carolina Crusher
Grave Digger
Monster Patrol
Bulldozer
Rap Attack
Devastator
Mistress
Iron Warrior
Black Stallion 2000
Sudden Impact
Chicago Outlaw
Hyway Star
Towasaurus Wrex
Priority 1
Eradicator
That's all I can really remember
But it was January 22nd 2000 if I recall for the date of the show
Airborne ranger driver is a really great inspiration
What’s the name of the song in the Intro / 1999 World Finals Section of the video?
I’ve heard it on Monster Jam and the Grave Digger dvd
That song is called Guilty Gravy, a piece of stock music.
Why were trucks like Avenger and Gunslinger allowed to remain independent and still be huge monster jam stars when Bigfoot stayed out because they wouldn’t have been able to stay independent?
I explain this during the "Company Trucks and Common Theories..." section of the video, in that Monster Jam didn't have enough company trucks to market themselves with, so they needed to rely on popular independent trucks as well, but they weren't interested in buying all of them up either. Just the two that were guaranteed to be brand ambassadors so to speak, ie. Bigfoot and Grave Digger. I believe Bulldozer came with the acquisition of USA Motorsports. It's not 100% confirmed that Bigfoot's choice was either to sell themselves to Monster Jam or leave, but MJ making an offer led to a very ugly back and forth between the two which ended with Bigfoot leaving.
@@californiamonstertrucks4655 Okay that makes sense. these videos are amazing by the way I had to rewatch this one after the Bigfoot video you just put out!
CORRECTION: Dennis had 12 (eventuallly 9) Grave Digger trucks that were out on tour in the country, dude. Not 4
In 2000, there were four Grave Diggers competing during the Monster Jam winter season, being 7, 8, 10, and 12.
Can anyone tell me what the black truck that looks like wild thang at 14:28 is ?
Ozz Monster.
Last season of true Monster Truck racing. After that it was just WWE.
Such a shame how embarrassing monster jam became.
the first was in las vegas
it wasn’t called the world finals the first world finals was in was
The World Finals moniker has been used at USHRA shows dating back as far as 1987. For many years, the points finals in Pontiac and Chicago were called the World Finals.
The very first world finals ever and this is for monster trucks and NOT "Monster Jam", was in 1987 in Pontiac Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome, and it would go to specific cities throughout the next several years until 1999ish
Monster Jam became a thing in 1992 which is a good 5 years or so after the first world finals.
The most well known for an un-numbered world finals for "Monster Jam" was in 1999 in Saint Louis Missouri. Anything from 2000 to 2018 is numbered and take place in Las Vegas Nevada up until 2019 when it went from Vegas to Orlando Florida