Carolina Crusher is a

monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pic ...

in the

Feld Entertainment Feld Entertainment Inc. is an American live show production company which owns a number of traveling shows. The company began with the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus then expanded into additional live events, including Di ...

Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additional ...

series. The first version of Carolina Crusher was built in 1985 by Gary Porter. Gary Porter and Carolina Crusher was one of the most popular monster trucks of the 1980s and 1990s. In the Fall of 2014, it was announced that Gary Porter would be returning to the Carolina Crusher in the Monster Jam series to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the truck in 2015.

History

Gary Porter's brother owned a four-wheel drive shop in

Wadesboro, North Carolina Wadesboro is a town in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,049 at the 2020 census. The town was originally found in 1783 as New Town but changed by the North Carolina General Assembly to Wadesboro in 1787 to honor Co ...

and Porter was always interested in four-wheel drives. Porter saw his first monster truck show in 1982 in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. In 1985, Porter built the first Carolina Crusher monster truck for $11,000. Carolina Crusher was initially used to help advertise for his brother's four-wheel drive shop with the hope to compete in monster truck shows. Porter and Carolina Crusher's first professional appearance occurred at the Spare Time 4x4 Center in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

. In 1988, Carolina Crusher debuted on the TNT Monster Truck Challenge, the first official monster truck points series. Carolina Crusher finished fourth in the 1988 standings. In 1989, Carolina Crusher finished second in the standings, behind Equalizer. The PENDA Points Series was established in 1991 and became the premiere monster truck racing circuit. In the inaugural season of the PENDA Points Series, Carolina Crusher won the points championship. Carolina Crusher competed in the PENDA Points Series until its dissolution after the 1997 season. In 1993, Carolina Crusher was a regular on the television series “Monster Wars”. Gary Porter finished 3rd in the points standings and won 2 televised races. It’s representing mascot character was an overweight construction worker with a jackhammer. In 1999, Gary Porter sold Carolina Crusher to Paul Shafer, creator of the Monster Patrol monster truck. Porter moved on to sign with Pace Motorsports (now

Motorsports) to drive

Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...

on the Monster Jam series. Carolina Crusher, driven by Michael Harper, won the 2004 and 2005 Checkered Flag Productions – Monster Truck Winter Nationals. In 2005, Carolina Crusher, driven by James Tigue II, won the Paul Shafer Motorsports World Finals in Freestyle. In the 2010s, Carolina Crusher was converted to a ride truck. Carolina Crusher has been featured in several video games, including, Monster Truck Wars on Gameboy,

Monster Truck Madness ''Monster Truck Madness'' is a racing video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Microsoft. It was released in North America on August 31, 1996. The game has twelve monster trucks and tasks the player with beating computer opponen ...

Monster Truck Madness 2 ''Monster Truck Madness 2'' is a monster truck racing video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Microsoft for the PC (Windows 95/ NT) in 1998. It is the sequel to ''Monster Truck Madness'' for the same platform, and was one of the ...

, Monster Truck Madness 64, and Monster Truck Destruction. Many Carolina Crusher toys have been produced since the late 1980s, including

Micro Machines Micro Machines are a line of toys originally made by Galoob (now part of Hasbro) in the mid-1980s and throughout the 1990s. Micro Machines are tiny scale component style "playsets" and vehicles that are slightly larger than N scale. The toys Ma ...

, Muscle Machines, and

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

Present

Feld Entertainment leased the rights for Carolina Crusher from Paul Shafer in 2014. After the end of a promotional agreement between Monster Jam and

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

, the Captain America monster truck was rebranded as Carolina Crusher. Gary Porter, a driver for Monster Jam since 2001, would be returning to Carolina Crusher's driver seat in 2015. At the 2016 Monster Jam World Finals XVII, Carolina Crusher and Porter won the 2016 Arena Wheelie of the Year award. Gary Porter was the 12th inductee in the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame In 2013. Gary Porter and Mike Wales were inducted into the Monster Jam Hall of Fame during a show at

NRG Stadium NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a retrac ...

on October 23, 2021.

References

{{Monster Jam Monster trucks Off-road vehicles Sports entertainment Vehicles introduced in 1985