The orange monster, Bad News Travels Fast, truly has a paint job befitting its interesting name. It features a very cartoon-style graphic of a crazed paperboy on a bike, about to toss some “bad news” on someone’s doorstep. The name was inspired by a drag race car. The paper boy theme goes back to Bruce Haney’s days as a newspaper delivery boy. Haney originally broke into motor sports as a motocross rider, but as soon as he discovered monster trucks he knew he had to make a change. After spending most of his free time pursuing a monster truck career, he decided with his wife, Jami, that it was time to leave his successful job at a Ford dealership and commit to Monster Jam full time. They bought the Excalibur monster truck from Charlie Pauken in 1998 and converted it into Bad News Travels Fast. Then, they put the Bad News name on a new Patrick-built truck in 2003. And now, they spend most of the year racing and freestyling against the best drivers in the world. 

Q&A with Bruce Haney  

MonsterJam.com: How did you get started competing on the Monster Jam circuit?  

Bruce Haney:  I started out in motocross. I have been racing since the age of 17. Then I did some super bike racing and a lot of drag racing. I did a little bit of circle track racing, too. Actually, I raced Daytona International Speedway on a super bike. I fell down, and I didn’t like it. I can’t ever remember not racing. After all this, I moved on to purchasing Charlie Pauken’s Excalibur. In my opinion, it was one of the greatest leaf spring trucks ever created; it was so far ahead of its time. We were able to keep it competitive even in Thunder Nationals, until we had Dan Patrick build the current truck.   

MonsterJam.com: What do you enjoy doing while on the road with Monster Jam  

Bruce Haney:  The best moment I can remember in my Monster Jam career was when I met with children with visual disabilities. One kid’s name was Omar, out of Okeechobee, Florida. I had never realized what it would be like for a person with a visual disability. It was really special to me to be able to take them around the truck  for them to see it with their hands by touching the interior. Because the children can’t see, the difference that it made for them was truly incredible. We’ve had that opportunity twice: once was in Okeechobee, Florida, and the other was in Dayton, Ohio. It was special being there as the kids reacted to actually being able to get in the driver’s seat. Because they can’t see inside the cockpit, you have to let them get inside the cockpit so they can touch things and get a sense of how everything is situated. This is how they realized how big the truck is. They’ve heard the blowers before, but to be able to actually touch the blower and to feel how big that is was a whole new experience for them. That’s what I enjoy as far as our team goes.  

MonsterJam.com: What do you do with your free time?  

Bruce Haney:  I love playing with RC cars. Unfortunately, I can tear them up worse than a monster truck. A passion in life that I do not get to do anymore is golf. When you travel as many weeks as we do around the country you find out that they frown on driving the semi into a country club. It’s one of those things that I swore off. My brother’s into golf, but I swore it off. But the minute I pick up a club, it’s just a passion. I don’t get to play as much as I’d like to. Other than that, tending what little bit of a farm we’ve got is really a lot of fun. We raise a few cattle and Jami’s got a vegetable garden going right now. 

MonsterJam.com: What is your greatest memory as a monster truck driver?  

Bruce Haney:  This may not fit as a greatest memory, but I’ll never forget my biggest crash. It was 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa. We opened the season with a brand-new body. We had never gone with a brand-new body before. Most people don’t realize it, but the old red body was an old Wrenchhead body that we purchased from Feld Motor Sports. It was the first time we ever brought out a brand-new body, a 2008 Chevrolet. We drive all the way up to Des Moines to start the season. It started off great. We won racing on Friday night. We’re going places! Then I went out for the wheelie contest, and to this day, I have not figured out what went wrong. There was an old ‘60s model Buick as the first car in the line. The truck went straight up in the air and sat down on the car. I got mad. I knew I had enough horsepower and it looked like there was enough of a window to get between the cars and the motocross ramp. So I backed it up and did a power wheelie; I felt it turn and it was all over. It went over hard. About $18,000 later we put it back together and made it to our next show in Minneapolis. It wasn’t one of the categories that I was hoping for, but it was nominated for “Crash of the Year”. 

MonsterJam.com: Do you have any other athletes that you admire? 

Bruce Haney:  I don’t watch a whole lot of football, anymore. But I’d have to say as far as past athletes go, Tony Dungy is one that I really look up to for everything he does in the community. I think that he is an outstanding leader. For his leadership style, whether it’s in a football game or whether it’s his mentoring of other athletes off field who’ve had problems, Dungy is one of the people that I look up to. As far as racers go, but not particularly in our sport, John Force has always been an icon of mine because of the way he treats the people at the drag strip. You can go to Force’s camp and every time that I have been to a major drag race, Force is right there in the middle of everything. I mean, he’s talking to the people, he’s doing his thing, and that carries a lot over into our sport. This is what I like to mentor myself as when we’re at an autograph session or a pit party. You look at Dennis Anderson and Tom Meents—it’s one of the things that Monster Jam has that very few forms of entertainment or professional sports have. You can’t do it in many other fields, but our fans get to meet and hang out with so many athletes. 

MonsterJam.com: What’s your favorite television show?  

Bruce Haney:  My wife makes me watch Grey’s Anatomy with her and I love CSI, and of course, Monster Jam twice a day! 

MonsterJam.com: What’s your favorite food?  

Bruce Haney:  Anything that I can get on a plate. If it’s meat, potatoes and vegetables, I’m good to go.  

MonsterJam.com: What’s your favorite movie?  

Bruce Haney:  The Legend of Bagger Vance 

TRUCK INFO  

Truck Name: BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST  

Body style:  2008 Chevrolet  

Chassis:  Patrick Chassis 

Engine: 540 CI from new engine builder is Bad Attitude Racing Engines 

Transmission:  Coan Power Glide 

Sponsors:  Amsoil, Magna Flow, Hose & Hydraulics (Clearwater), Tri City Nut and Bolt (Pinellas Park), F & K Rod Bearings , Joe’s Cleaning Products, Race Wraps (North Carolina)