History
The history of the Excaliber Monster Jam truck extends nearly 40 years, staring with a home-built chassis by Dave Marquart and Mike Nickell of Northwest Ohio. Marquart had dabbled in Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and put his talents to work in creating this truck. Initially, Marquart and Nickell shared driving duties, but Marquart ended up with more time in the seat. Soon after the truck was making a name for itself in its home region, another driver was added when Charlie Pauken was brought onto the team. At one time, both Marquart and Pauken were driving because there were two Excalibers, but soon only one would be utilized in competition.
The name came from the sword of King Arthur with a twist on the spelling. The sword is spelled “Excalibur” and the team owners wanted something different. As the team began to travel Pauken become the lone driver and carried the name into the Thunder Nationals. When Pauken elected to drive Grave Digger, owner Tim Bush sold the truck to Bruce Haney (which eventually became Bad News Travels Fast) and Bush hung onto the name. Excaliber came back into action through Bush’s agreement with Sudden Impact Racing. R.B. Moler and Mountaineer Motorsports would offer a version of Excaliber.
In 2021, the Excaliber name was purchased by Tomfoolery Motorsports and has been driven in competition by Michael Pagliarulo. The truck has always carried the Chevrolet body style, beginning with a 1978 K20 and now holds the shape of an 83 Chevy. Originally custom-built, Excaliber is now a Patrick chassis.