The Monster Jam World Finals is an annual monster truck event held in late March at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the championship event of the Monster Jam series, consisting of racing and freestyle competitions, with the winner of each considered the World champion in that competition for the past year. It is the highest profile monster truck event and draws tremendous media attention.
Originally 16 trucks were invited to compete in the event, but 20 trucks were selected in 2005, 24 selected from 2006-2012, 28 in 2013, and 32 trucks from 2014-present. For the first 14 years at the Monster Jam World Finals, the Racing Championship and Freestyle Championship were held on the same night. From 2014-2017 the event expanded to a 3 day format with Double Down on Thursday, the Racing Championship on Friday, and the Freestyle Championship on Saturday. In 2018 the World Finals went back to a 2 day format, Double Down Showdown and Racing on Friday, and Freestyle on Saturday, with qualifying going back to a private event only for drivers and staff. Trucks and drivers are selected based on their performances over the winter season on the FS1 Championship Series, Triple Threat Series or regular events from January into early March. When multiple drivers of the same team or truck are selected, they were typically placed in other trucks, e.g. Pablo Huffaker won the 2007 Freestyle Championship driving Captain's Curse and Charlie Pauken won the 2010 Freestyle Championship in Monster Mutt, but since 2015 the drivers were put into their trucks but with a different paint scheme. Many more trucks are invited for display at the "Pit Party" festivities during the event.
The stature of the event leads to extreme performances in both competitions. The racing track, being about 884 feet in length, starts in the parking lot behind the locker rooms of the stadium and features a long straight-away offering speeds over 70 mph before a hair-pin turn. The freestyle track layout is typically the most extreme all season, with several large and unique obstacles, often producing spectacular crashes. The event featured 7 judges (6 regulation, who scored from 1-10 for 90 seconds, and 1 bonus judge, who scored from 1-5 for the next 30 seconds) with the lowest and highest scores discarded in regulation, for a maximum possible score of 45 (excluding tiebreakers), plus the judges could give half points as opposed to only giving whole points during the first quarter. The scoring was updated in 2017 where there was only 1 judge, every person in Sam Boyd Stadium. After the truck's run people had 20 seconds to lock in a score from 1-10 using 0.25 increments. The score would be averaged out to give a score for example: 6.328.
No truck has ever got the maximum score of 45 (40 in regulation and 5 in bonus). The high score is 40 and was set by Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger in 2000. In the History of the Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Championship Only Once as the Driver Successful Defending his title. Tom Meents Driving Goldberg in 2001 and Team Meents in 2002.
In 2004, if a driver flipped over within the first 30 seconds of their run, they would be allowed to roll back over and continue depending on if the truck was still able to go. This rule was only active that year.
Some fans consider the Monster Jam World Finals unfair, because its invitation-only participants are not officially selected based on performance scores earned during the prior season. Another controversy is that the event's parent company, FELD Motorsports, owns a majority of the trucks that are invited to participate. Additionally, most of the participant drivers are based in the United States. However, this selection bias is often countered by the fact that Monster Jam organizes a world tour.
Until 2011, the teams qualified for racing with no body on the chassis so they would not be damaged if an accident was to occur, although some drivers kept the front hood on in order to give them a point of view as if they were racing with the body on. However, from 2012, all teams had to qualify with full bodies on. Each driver got 2 practice runs, one in the left lane and one in the right lane in order to give them a feel of racing in both lanes. Also starting in 2012, FELD Motorsports added a new competition to the World Finals as part of the Double Down experience where 8 competitors with no prior World Finals experience compete in racing for the title of Young Guns Shootout Champion. In 2013, the Young Guns Shootout field was expanded to 12 trucks (and the winner competed in the World Finals since), and 14 trucks were invited from 2014-present. Whoever is crowned The Young Guns Shootout Champion receives the final spot in the field of 32 trucks to compete for the World Racing Championship and World Freestyle Championship. In 2017 the Young Guns Shootout was renamed Double Down Showdown and the winner would be called the Double Down Showdown Champion, still receiving the 32nd and final spot into the World Finals. The double down showdown is no longer an event just for rookies, it now allows indies and trucks of that matter
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Champions
Sam Boyd Stadium Monster Jam Video
World Finals I -- March 25, 2000
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals II -- March 24, 2001
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals III -- March 23, 2002
Racing
Freestyle
(He's out of the truck. - Scott Hartsock) (In The Corner?!- Jim Koehlerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O66Il5s9HCQ&t=8131s
World Finals IV -- March 22, 2003
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals V-- March 20, 2004
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals VI-- March 19, 2005
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals VII -- March 25, 2006
Racing
Freestyle
World Finals VIII -- March 24, 2007
Racing
Freestyle
Encore
5 25th Anniversary Grave Diggers commemorate Grave Digger's 25th anniversary.
World Finals IX -- March 28-29, 2008
Racing
Freestyle
Encore
Between Rounds: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Randy Brown) freestyle
After Event: Backwards Bob (Mike Wine) and Spitfire (Gary Porter) debut in a dual-freestyle
Second Maximum Destruction (Tom Meents) in an almost identical crash to the one earlier in the night
World Finals X -- March 27-28, 2009
Racing
Freestyle
Encore
Maximum Destruction attempts a successful backflip, which results in a 1½ backflip by Tom Meents.
World Finals XI -- March 26-27, 2010
Racing
Freestyle
Encores
10 trucks freestyle to celebrate 10 years of Monster Jam World Finals: Scarlet Bandit - Dawn Creten, The Patriot - Dan Rodoni, CULT Energy Activator - Sean Duhon, Wrecking Crew - Chris Bergeron, Blue Thunder - Frank Krmel, Madusa (Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Awareness tribute style truck) - Madusa, Mohawk Warrior (debut) - George Balhan, Dennis Anderson (modern Grave Digger), Ryan Anderson (red pickup style Grave Digger) and Adam Anderson (Grave Digger The Legend) triple freestyle. At the end of the encore, Dennis' Grave Digger and Ryan Anderson in the red pickup Grave Digger collide in the air after jumping off a steep ramp.
World Finals XII -- March 25-26, 2011
Racing
Freestyle
Encore
All 3 Advance Auto Parts Grinder drivers in their trucks (Lupe Soza, John Seasock, and Frank Krmel). All 3 Maximum Destruction drivers in their trucks (Tom Meents, Neil Elliott, Kreg Christensen). Ryan Anderson debuts Son-Uva Digger and completes a successful backflip in the truck.
World Finals XIII -- March 23-24, 2012
Racing
Young Guns Shootout
The Young Guns Shootout is when drivers with less than 2 years of experience will compete in Las Vegas. It is Friday Night at the Double Down. The qualifiers are...
Freestyle
Encore
Seven Grave Digger trucks competed to celebrate 30 Years of Grave Digger. Four black 30th Anniversary Grave Diggers were driven by Pablo Huffaker, Chad Tingler, Gary Porter and Ryan Anderson; Grave Digger The Legend - Adam Anderson; "Grandma" Digger - Charlie Pauken; and the Purple 30th Anniversary Grave Digger - Dennis Anderson. Note: Ryan Anderson broke his neck when four of the seven Diggers performed backflips and was sidelined until December 2012.
World Finals XIV- March 22-23, 2013
Racing
Freestyle
Encore
Neil Elliott, Kreg Christensen, Chuck Werner and Tom Meents in 4 Max-D trucks. Neil, Kreg and Chuck perform back-flips together; Tom Meents comes out in his Max-D truck being lifted off a Max-D dump truck, and performs the first successful double backflip. This celebrated 10 Years of Maximum Destruction.
World Finals XV--March 20-22, 2014
Racing
Freestyle
Note: Last Year This was What Happen Pretty Much to Cam McQueen Tried To Defend his Title.
Encore
Six Doom's Day Trucks come out and all perform backflips.
World Finals XVI -- March 26-28, 2015
Racing
Young Guns Shootout
Freestyle
Encore
Young Guns Shootout: All of the Young Guns came out for a donut performance, while New Earth Authority and El Diablo perform backflips.
Racing: many of the Young Guns do a donut performance, Dragon, El Toro Loco and NEA (BLUE) do a train jump over the center stack.
Freestyle - Different Zombie monster trucks go out and crash into each other while hauling dead bodies. Each Zombie truck has a different look: two original Zombies, one Red Zombie, one Yellow Zombie (based on a girl), one Green Zombie (based off a biker), and one White Zombie (based off a skull) (not to be confused with the band White Zombie).
World Finals XVII -- March 17-19, 2016
Racing Bracket
Freestyle
Young Guns Shootout
Racing Bracket
World Finals XVIII -- March 23-25, 2017
Racing
Freestyle
^ Randy Brown replaced Cole Venard for unknown reasons.
^ Alex Blackwell replaced Justin Sipes for undisclosed reasons.
Double Down Showdown
Double Down Racing Bracket
Encore
Double Down Showdown: All of the Showdown competitors came out for a donut performance.
Racing: Neil Elliot came out in the Monster Jam 25th Anniversary truck and did a forward momentum backflip over Son-uva Digger. All competing and non-competing trucks came out on the track to salute the fans for being a part of Monster Jam for 25 years.
Freestyle: Adam Anderson, Ryan Anderson, Krysten Anderson and the rest of the Grave Digger team came out and freestyle for Grave Digger's 35th Anniversary. Dennis Anderson announced he will no longer compete in the World Finals.
World Finals XIX -- March 23-24, 2018
The 2018 Monster Jam World Finals will take place at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 23-24, 2018. Note: World Finals 19 will go back to the traditional 2 day format.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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