Tom Meents
Encyclopedia
Monster truck
A monster truck is a pickup truck, typically styled after pickup trucks' bodies, modified or purposely built with extremely large wheels and suspension...
driver. He currently drives Maximum Destruction on the USHRA
United States Hot Rod Association
The United States Hot Rod Association is an organization owned by Feld Entertainment that markets various motorsports. These include monster trucks as well as motocross, quad racing and others...
Monster Jam
Monster Jam
Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour and television show operated by Feld Entertainment. The series is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association and takes place primarily in the United States and around the world...
circuit. He has won several Monster Jam World Finals trophies during his career. He is known for being incredibly fan friendly, always giving out a souvenir (helmet, trophy, etc.) to fans with signs that attract his attention.
Career
Tom Meents started out as a mud racer, driving his own vehicle, Shake Me. He had his first wreck when he rolled the Shake Me over at a USHRA Mud Race in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He won the NMRO Open Class championship in 1992. He later teamed up with Paul Shafer to drive Shafer's Mud Patrol vehicle. Tom won the NMRO Class 5 championship in 1993 and 1994 and won the Class 6 championship in 1993. This also led to an opportunity to drive one of Shafer's Monster Patrol monster trucks, which Tom drove to a rapid rise in popularity. Unfortunately in one of Toms first events in the Monster Patrol, he lost control and struck a fence, trapping and fatally wounding a young gentleman. Among his accomplishments in this truck was a victory at the USHRA U.S. Truck Fest in 1997.Meents bought the truck and in 1999 was commissioned by PACE Motor Sports (now Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
) to run a Bulldozer
Bulldozer (truck)
Bulldozer is a monster truck that races in the USHRA Monster Jam series. It is currently driven by Alex Blackwell. It features one of the first 3-D body shells, with horns sticking out the front. In this respect it resembles El Toro Loco...
body to help increase the truck's exposure. In his first event with Bulldozer, Meents defeated Dennis Anderson
Dennis Anderson
Dennis Anderson is a professional monster truck driver. He is the creator and driver of "Grave Digger" on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, he now resides in Poplar Branch, North Carolina. In Poplar Branch, he has his own shop where he signs autographs and shoots...
and Grave Digger
Grave Digger (truck)
Grave Digger is the name of a team of monster trucks currently racing in the USHRA Monster Jam series. There are several Grave Diggers being driven by different drivers to allow them to make appearances at more events, but their flagship driver is creator Dennis Anderson...
on national television, becoming an instant star in the process. Meents would continue driving Bulldozer until the end of 1999.
In 2000, Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
commissioned Meents to drive a new truck, Goldberg
Goldberg
- People :* Goldberg , people with the surname Goldberg* Whoopi Goldberg, Actress, Comedienne* Bill Goldberg, Former Professional Wrestler- Entertainment :...
, named after the WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
wrestler. Meents was extremely successful in the truck and rose to an even greater level of popularity, despite controversy over the truck's wrestling basis and unconventional looks. With Goldberg, Meents won the inaugural Monster Jam World Finals
Monster Jam World Finals
The Monster Jam World Finals is an annual monster truck event held in late March at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. It is the championship event of the USHRA Monster Jam series. It consists of racing and freestyle segments, and the winner of each is considered the series champion in that...
racing championship in 2000, and completed a full sweep of the event in 2001. This event was notable for the controversial "grand finale", in which Anderson and Meents attempted to drive over each other's trucks at the end of the freestyle competition.
When WCW folded two days after the 2001 World Finals, Meents debuted Team Meents, which was a repaint of Goldberg with a similar design and lettering style. Meents again swept the World Finals in 2002 with this truck.
In 2003, the truck got a brand new image with the debut of Maximum Destruction. Meents' popularity has remained high with this truck, with several major stadium event victories, but he has not had the success in the World Finals he had with previous trucks. Despite berths in the first three World Finals since switching to "Max D.", he had only been able to score a co-championship in freestyle with Madusa and El Toro Loco
El Toro Loco (truck)
El Toro Loco is a monster truck currently racing in the USHRA Monster Jam series. It is currently driven by Marc McDonald, Aaron Basl,Chuck Werner and Becky McDonough and was at a time driven by Lupe Soza, and Nathan Weenk, and is owned by Live Nation. It features one of the first 3-D body...
in 2004. Finally, in 2006, Meents broke through and regained the Monster Jam freestyle championship. Meents finally won another racing championship in 2009 at the Monster Jam World Finals 10, using the same chassis that won the first championship. He regained this title once more at the World Finals 12 in 2011, where he won in the Championship Race against Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter.
Hallmarks
Tom Meents has several signature moves in freestyle, including topspeed "cyclone" donuts, "side surf" two-wheel driving, and roof and wing walks where he stands on the roof or wing (as on Monster Patrol) of the truck while it is still in motion. Another is Tom sticking his left hand out the window while flying through the air. Tom also has a reputation for hitting obstacles at unconventional angles and at higher speeds than other drivers. He is known for going into the crowd after a freestyle run and giving his helmet to a fan holding a Max D related sign.
Meents is also the first driver to attempt a backflip with a monster truck in competition, but did not succeed.
Awards
- USHRA U.S. Truck Fest Champion - 1997
- USHRA World Finals Racing Champion - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2011
- USHRA World Finals Freestyle Champion - 2001, 2002, One of three 2004, 2006