I'm like, okay, give me a hundred grand and I'll show you a wicked truck. That's how I built those trucks. I never went to the bank. I'm going to build this big, bad monster truck and I need some money.
I made it by dealing with the promoters and borrowing upfront money. I didn't want to work on anybody else's stuff. We outgrew that and needed to come up here to Currituck. I wanted to try to change that.
I always caught flack from everybody in the county when it was on TV. But I did keep the house down there and a P.
Box for the fan club, so I could be legit. I was just being funny. It was a joke. But then after I thought about it, I was like, that would be a pretty cool name.
People would come in and buy t-shirts from the parts room. And I said, well, we can hang some shirts up in here. Summertime comes and more people start coming around. I had one guy working there who was crotchety as hell, telling people they had to keep out.
We WANT them to come see it. I lived over there in that brick house and raised Adam and Ryan. I built this for the tourists and so my fans could come by and see me. I would work on my personal truck in one bay and in other bays, hired drivers worked on theirs. People would pull up out front. I would drive around, tell them a little story and come back.
I'd sign it, take a picture with them. At one time, I had 47 monster truck people working here on this property and throughout these other buildings. We still service a fleet of 56 monster trucks in the engine department located out back.
Today, I have 16 employees that work in the operation here. Can you talk a little bit about why it's important for you to be here. At one point in the game, I was going to Florida. But there's a part of me that just can't do it. This is where Grave Digger was created. Maybe after I'm gone, the boys will move out or do something, but it hasn't gone anywhere because its roots are right here in Currituck.
I was going to tear that brick house down, revamp everything and just put everything under this one big, giant building. It was just a huge, huge idea, but I never could really get the finances to do it.
I was going to create a motorsports theater with a live theater show about how monster trucks were made. I was going to introduce the show and we were going to have the first Grave Digger and tell the whole story of monster trucks.
I wanted to do it through the summer. But some people said you can't get those tourists out of the water and out of their beach chairs and all that.
And I had a big plan for that. It's going to ruin your business. It's going to make my business better once people learn how to run the Outer Banks and do the inner and outer loop. That bridge would be very helpful for what I want to do over here.
But you know, a lot of people around here don't want it. They don't like growth. People do come here because it's not so commercialized, but you know, that always goes away and where do you draw the line?
You're a very popular attraction in the summer and it's kind of remarkable for you to be so accessible to people who come here. Sometimes I do want a break.
I like to sit in my diner without being bothered, but you know, if I don't want to be bothered, then I shouldn't carry my butt in there. For one thing, we have a Monster Jam University , so the drivers are trained and trained and trained. Back in the day when I did it, I didn't go out in that field and practice.
I would do a quick shakedown, make sure the motor was good and everything was holding together. Because if I'm going to do some big test jump, I'm going to do it in front of 50, people.
And I'm going to get paid. Yeah, I do. This is a big boy ride. We're jumping over the buses, cars and all that. I want to give them their money's worth. It's going to be a good experience. Trust me, your adrenaline is going to be going, you're going to be shaking.
Tourism Entrepreneurs Currituck County. Written by Think Currituck. More on that idea later. But first we need to go back to the beginning The Birth of Grave Digger Ordinary vehicles go through a process.
To put it mildly, Dennis Anderson enjoyed mud bogging. Another mild statement? So what do you get when you mix a love of four-wheeling with a burning desire to be the best? On the Off Road Again As his crew were busy working inside the main bays of Digger's Dungeon, putting the finishing touches on Dennis Anderson's latest project, the Godfather of Monster Trucks took some time to talk about his journey, his family, his fans and the spooky green and black beast that started it all You wanted a name tag and key ring.
He had the really important keys. He was talking trash about your mud truck. I hated to fail. That was my main drive. What was the key? This monster truck quickly became one of the most decorated Monster Jam trucks in the world. Grave Digger would become so popular that Anderson would hire additional drivers to race more Grave Digger monster trucks across the country.
Anderson later reached an agreement to sell his brand to the company that is now known as Feld Motor Sports, which uses Grave Digger as the flagship truck in its Monster Jam series.
Grave Digger has become well-known for its all-or-nothing driving style, which typically results in amazing tricks and also spectacular crashes. The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news.
The truck was old with faded red paint but still had a lot of power. He would take the truck to a local mud bog and the other competitors simply laughed, calling it a piece of old junk.
Not one to back down, Anderson came back, telling them, "I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave. Soon, that old truck gave way to a new vehicle, an old Ford Panel Wagon that was painted silver and powder blue. To be unique, Anderson decided to put his big block Chevrolet engine in the back for weight.
But there was just something that didn't sit right with the truck. A truck that had been named "Grave Digger" didn't fit with the silver and blue panels. So, while Anderson was in Virginia, the original home of his shop, he went to a local auto body shop and asked the crew to paint the truck to fit the name.
What he got was simply unbelievable. Flames shot up the truck, graveyards and ghosts haunting the sides. In that moment, the Grave Digger was born. Soon after, Anderson put a set of red headlights on the front, which he took off the bus he used to haul the truck to events. The truck was immediately a hit as was Anderson for his punishing driving style. Each show he would go all out, sometimes sacrificing the truck to get the win.
Following the racing season, Anderson decided that his truck would not get the job done and built a new one. It was lower to the ground, wider and more powerful. Plus, he decided to go with the Chevy Panel Van instead of the Ford. When the truck came out, it was a struggle to get it to a point where Anderson was happy with it.
Parts kept breaking, as he would push the truck beyond its limits, and often go out early in competition. It earned him the nickname "One Run Anderson.
In the early 90s, the advancement to the tube-frame monster truck was in full swing, and not wanting to fall behind, Anderson built his third Grave Digger truck. The tube frame chassis was painted a bright green, and an ominous skull and crossbones flag was added to the back. The new truck would work out great, and as the 90s progressed, Anderson would build three more trucks to keep up with the advances.
Unfortunately, so did the demand to see Grave Digger. Knowing he couldn't be everywhere at once, Anderson decided to officially make the Grave Digger team a multi-truck operation. Knowing they were driving a truck bearing the Grave Digger name, they too had to go all out.
Huffaker himself built his own Grave Digger truck along with a new one for Anderson in During this time, Anderson had brought in another concept into monster trucks. Because of all the breakage, the Grave Digger would be out of competition.
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