It's Like The Ultimate Grave Digger® Fan Experience

By Scott Douglass
Jan 24, 2012

 Dennis Anderson made that statement last Saturday when he stepped into the amazing Grave Digger^® 30^th Anniversary Experience at the Party in the Pits across Tampa Bay Boulevard from Raymond James Stadium. For The Icon, even though he had seen the plans for the traveling tribute to his creation on paper, to actually walk into that area and see thousands of fans come through and experience three decades of the Grave Digger was truly special.

I knew that it would be so I made sure that I walked with Anderson from the stadium to the Party in the Pits layout so that I could see his reaction first hand as he entered the Grave Digger 30^th Anniversary Experience for the first time. He didn’t have to say a word, you could see on his face how special the massive display is to him, but still I asked him for his thoughts at that moment. “It’s like this. I come out here and I see this, I had heard about, they told me about it, but when I came out here and actually saw all of this, it’s unbelievable,” were Anderson’s first words as we walked into the Grave Digger 30^th Anniversary Experience.  “If I was a kid, at least in the world of monster trucks, this is like the ultimate Grave Digger^® fan experience. That’s what it’s like to me. It’s like a little theme park of what I’ve done over the last 30 years. To me there is a lot of important stuff out here that people will walk by and see that I really cherish. That time line wall of the 30 years at the back, the history wall is what it is, that’s really amazing. Then over there is the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam^® Grave Digger experience where you can get into the truck and that’s so great because kids always want to get in to the truck, they want to sit in Grave Digger, they want to take a picture in it. Well they can do that here. I think this is truly one of the greatest experiences ever created for Grave Digger fans.”

Entering around the cool display of monster truck tombstones at the entrance we then walked by one of the most amazing things you will ever see: a life size K’nex built Grave Digger. Then around to the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam Grave Digger Experience truck, and then over to the time line Dennis mentioned that caught his eye first. And of course he had to stop for a minute to check out the merchandise trailer stocked with all of the collectables that celebrates this special year for Grave Digger and all of the Grave Digger fans worldwide.

Anderson’s pride was obvious, and he reflected for a moment on how far both the truck he created and the sport he helped to build have come before beginning to sign autographs for the huge throng of his fans there in Tampa. “I’m standing here talking to you and I’m looking over at a life size K’nex Grave Digger truck!” Anderson gushed. “Who would have thought 30 years ago that we would be standing here looking at that? Then you just look around and again, who would have ever guessed 30 years ago that we would be standing in the middle of something this great? I mean for all of us older guys on the circuit it really blows my mind what is happening with all of this. The Grave Digger 30^th Anniversary, when you look at all of this, it really is becoming, I think, the biggest thing ever in terms of monster truck history.” I had to agree with him on that assessment.

With that said Dennis was then off to spend the next three hours signing all of those autographs and taking pictures with so many fans and it was really cool to see how many of them were big fans of Grave Digger when they were growing up and there they were bringing their own children in to see the legendary Grave Digger on this beautiful afternoon in sunny Tampa, I mean all three generations of the Grave Digger truck that were displayed there, and of course they had to get another picture with Dennis.

As that was happening I just stepped back and watched all of the fans coming through. The kids with the big smiles getting their pictures made sitting in the seat of the Grave Digger was the best, but it was also interesting to watch so many fans who have supported Grave Digger for decades taking in all of the history that is a part of it. Many of them looked everything over and they stayed around listening to the fascinating stories that announcer Tex McDorman was telling them about some little known moments in Grave Digger history and then he challenged the fans with some cool Grave Digger trivia. If you are a Grave Digger fan you have got to watch for the Grave Digger 30^th Anniversary Experience and when it comes to a city near you this is something you have just got to check out.

Now let’s get to the Power Rankings where once again this week the number one spot has a new occupant. Fresh from his Tampa Double Down Grave Digger the Legend^® driver Adam Anderson jumps up to number one. Maximum Destruction’s^® Tom Meents, who also won a Double Down trophy Saturday night in Toronto stays at number two and Son-uva Digger’s^® Ryan Anderson, after adding to his stadium freestyle winning streak in San Diego holds third with Grave Digger’s Dennis Anderson now fourth. Lucas Oil Crusader^SM driver Linsey Weenk, following his Championship Race win over Ryan in San Diego moves back up to number 5.

The biggest mover forward this week is Iron man pilot Lee O’Donnell. After dominating in Milwaukee last weekend O’Donnell leaps ahead seven positions, ranked number 7 this week, one slot behind Maximum Destruction’s Neil Elliott who moves up from number 8 last week to number 6 this time around. From last week’s rankings to this week’s there are three newcomers to the top 20, starting with George Balhan, who re-enters the ratings after winning one of the racing trophies in Toronto. The Mohawk Warrior driver is #13 this week. Pablo Huffaker was a busy, busy Grave Digger driver in Hidalgo. His impressive weekend that included four racing wins and five freestyle triumphs brings Huffaker back into the rankings at number 14. And hitting the top 20 list for the first time is David Smith after he grabbed a home state freestyle championship, powering his Fiesta sponsored King Krunch to the big victory at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Smith is tied for 20^th in this week’s poll with Captain America’s Chad Fortune.