{"id":33547,"date":"2025-01-16T16:53:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T16:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterjam.com\/?p=33547"},"modified":"2025-01-16T16:54:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T16:54:38","slug":"2024-monster-jam-co-rookies-of-the-year-are-leveling-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterjam.com\/en-us\/news\/2024-monster-jam-co-rookies-of-the-year-are-leveling-up\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Monster Jam Co-Rookies of the Year Are Leveling Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section \n  id=\"main-custom-content-block\"\n  style=\"padding-top:px;padding-bottom:px;background-color:;color:;\"\n>\n  <div class=\"container container-c\">\n    <div class=\"split\" style=\"gap:px;\">\n                        <div class=\"side \">\n\n                                          <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterjam.com\/en-us\/driver\/fernando-martinez\/\"><strong>Fernando Martinez<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterjam.com\/en-us\/driver\/michael-pagliarulo\/\"><strong>Mike Pagliarulo<\/strong><\/a> etched their names into Monster Jam history when they shared Rookie of the Year honors at the awards ceremony in downtown Los Angeles last summer. The two second-year drivers also shared a huge weekend on the track as the 2025 season continues to roll on, so let\u2019s dive in and catch up with our reigning ROY\u2019s and up-and-coming MJ superstars.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Team Tomfoolery\u2019s youngest son showed flashes of brilliance last year when he started the season in Kraken, filling in for his brother Nick as he adjusted to fatherhood. But when Mike Pagliarulo took over Black Pearl for Cole Venard last year, curiosity turned into cowabunga (credit Colt Stephens) as the Osteen native turned in lightning-fast times on the racetrack and became an instant star on his first stadium series.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Flash forward one year later to the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, where fans witnessed history as Mike Pagliarulo pulled the sword from the stone and drove Excaliber to his first career Overall Event Championship win. Mike is the perfect driver to bring Excaliber back to glory in Monster Jam, and this writer is excited to watch the spectacular sophomore season continue now that all three Pagliarulo boys have tasted championship gold in their careers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Who can forget about Fernando Martinez? No one! I am sorry, let me rephrase that. Who can forget about the Arena Championship Series Central points leader?\u00a0 The answer is still no one! Fernando had a phenomenal rookie season and if not for the juggernaut named Weston Anderson, he may have very well been a series champion. Fernando has all the tools to be one of the best drivers in the sport and it is absolutely showing out early in the 2025 Monster Jam season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The night before Excaliber was knighted in silver, Fernando strolled into the Fiserv Forum and won his first Overall Event Championship of the new year. \u00a0Fernando has his sights set on a series win and automatic bid to Monster Jam World Finals in Salt Lake City and as he tries to hold off Jon Zimmer Jr. El Toro Loco is certainly the truck to beat right now as the Central rolls on this season and Fernando is quickly becoming a bona-fide star.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In sports, the dreaded \u201csophomore slump\u201d is a real thing but for our two \u201cRookies of the Year,\u201d it has been nothing but \u201csophomore success\u201d and you can watch it continue on YouTube as Excaliber heads to The Dome in St. Louis this weekend, and El Toro Loco takes over the Prudential Center in Newark next weekend. I will be watching. Will you?<\/p>\n                          \n          <\/div>\n                  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2024 Monster Jam Co-Rookies of the Year Are Leveling Up | News | Monster Jam\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scott Jordan takes a look at how Fernando Martinez and Mike Pagliarulo are doing in their sophomore years of Monster Jam competition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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