Predator Racing, Inc. 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 p ...

team consisting of the trucks Predator, Prowler, Pouncer and Lone Eagle all of which currently compete primarily on the

USHRA The United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) was an organization that sanctioned various motorsports. These included the Monster Jam monster truck series as well as motocross, All-terrain vehicle, quad racing and others. Having passed through mult ...

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 addition ...

circuit. The team is owned by Allen Pezo, and includes Pezo, Larry Jaruzel, Lenny Kuilder and Dale Mitchell as drivers. The trucks are famous for their "

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

" designs, with the trucks modeled after a panther,

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

, and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, respectively. The team also occasionally runs a conventional Dodge Ram by the name of Lone Eagle.

History

Allen Pezo built his first monster truck, the original Lone Eagle, out of a brand-new 1985

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long-running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from the to ...

at the age of 15. After campaigning this truck, and another truck known as White Knight, for several years, he rebodied Lone Eagle and named it Predator. The truck originally started out as a 1988 Chevrolet Silverado that was on the former Lone Eagle chassis. The second Predator was an all new truck, also a Chevy Silverado. The chassis was painted yellow, but cosmetically the truck was a duplicate of the original truck. This truck was later converted to a race truck, with 12" shocks, was sold and became Radioactive. Near the end of the 1980s, Allen bought an M42 tank and converted it into the competition vehicle, Predator Trax. The third Predator was Pezo's first "stage three" monster truck, and featured a four-link suspension, mid-mounted engine, and a new pink chassis and neon colored body. This chassis also ran as Hyperactive, whenever Pezo had Predator 4 and 3 at the same event. This truck was sold and is now running independent events as "Terminator". In 1993, Pezo second stage three monster truck was the first panther design Predator. This chassis was one of the first Patrick Enterprises Incorporated chassis that Dan Patrick didn't build for Bigfoot 4x4. Alan modified the chassis by adding a front-facing four-link suspension, which allowed the front tires to push the chassis, like the rear tires. The new body design and image was created for the Monster Wars television show. Although Predator had made several television appearances before this point, it was Monster Wars which put Pezo in the national spotlight for the first time. After being sold, the chassis was reacquired by the team in 2003 and now runs as both Predator and Lone Eagle. Pezo's fifth Predator is a production Patrick chassis. The truck debuted in 1995 with a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

rear suspension, but was quickly changed to a more conventional straight-shock setup the next year. In 1999, a second Patrick chassis, identical to the first, debuted, with the new Prowler body. This truck was created to be a travelling partner to Predator, however it can "wear" the Predator body if necessary. Both Predator and Prowler have been Monster Jam World Finalists, with Predator most recently competing in the 2006 finals. Also in 2006, the team debuted a third identity called Pouncer, which was designed by

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model model car, cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox (brand), Matchbox until Mattel bought ...

and typically runs as an alternate body for the Prowler chassis. For the 2007 season, Allen built a brand-new Predator. The truck is similar to the others, utilizing Clark planetaries, an Aries engine, SCS transfer case and F-106 housings. Unlike the other three trucks Alan currently owns, the truck has one 4" Knight stalker shock on each corner, and is loosely based on Grave Digger 19 and 20. The truck also sports a paint scheme that resembles the Hotwheels die cast of Predator.

Hallmarks

Pezo is known as one of the best

freestylers The Freestylers are a British electronic music group, consisting of producers Matt Cantor and Aston Harvey. They have released five studio albums and a number of mix compilations for, among others, Fabric and BBC Radio. The group took their ...

in the sport. He excels at keeping up momentum and performing huge jumps. Typically, he is also able to finish the run with his truck intact, although he does perform stunts which have a high degree of danger. One of his most famous moments is when Pezo was racing in the New Orleans Superdome. Pezo got massive air and the truck landed on its rear end. It was such a hard impact that it damaged the floor. His cartwheel crashes in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in 2004 and

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

in 2005 were among the most spectacular moments of their respective years. Prowler/Pouncer drivers Larry Jaruzel, Dale Mitchell, and Lenny Kuilder are less spectacular and more consistent, but still post high scores often. The Predator team also has the reputation of being formidable racing opponents. In 2013, Allen Pezo was the 13th person to be inducted into the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame.

Awards

Predator

*Monster Jam World Finals Qualifier - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006

Prowler

*Monster Jam World Finals Qualifier - 2000

References

External links

Predator Racing Inc. websiteUSHRA.com Predator bioUSHRA.com Prowler bioUSHRA.com Pouncer bioUSHRA.com Allen Pezo bioUSHRA.com Dave Pezo bioUSHRA.com Larry Jaruzel bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Predator (truck) Monster trucks Sports entertainment Vehicles introduced in 1988