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to the mud – a custom built monster mud truck called King Sling. The truck, a 1941 Willys truck with custom-cut tractor tires and modern chassis and suspension components, carries twice the horsepower at half the weight of his monster truck Grave Digger. The truck is a favorite exhibition vehicle at mud bogs as it is a combination of monster mud vehicle with the monster mud driver.
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Dennis, offended, talked back to the bosses son and told him "I'll take this junk and dig you a Grave!" The other workers, impressed, wrote "Grave Digger" on Dennis’s time card. When Dennis got home that day he spray painted Grave Digger on the door. And that weekend Dennis met with the bosses son along with his friends at the mud hole and won.
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Back in his early mud bogging days, he was known for running full throttle, flinging mud everywhere. He would either make a mess going through, or break the truck from heavy strain during most events. Coincidentally and fitting enough, his most recent work has brought
Anderson 'full circle' – back
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The truck was later rebuilt with larger wheels and using a 1951 Ford panel truck painted in silver and blue. At one local show, a scheduled monster truck failed to appear and
Anderson, who already had large tractor tires on the truck, offered to crush cars in the absence of the full-size monster
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with his original truck in 1982. His career started when he first worked on a farm at the time for a wealthy family. One day the bosses son came in talking smack calling Dennis’s 1952 Ford pickup truck painted in red primer, junk, and it would not make it through the mud like his truck would. So
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freestyle championship in 2000, and scored a racing championship win at the 2004 World Finals. He won another racing championship at the 2006 World Finals driving Grave Digger 20. Anderson has also won the 2010 World Finals Racing
Championship also driving Grave Digger. Anderson also became the
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on
January 14, 2017, as he was injured and forced to miss the rest of the season. During Monster Jam's 2018 Season Kickoff Show on September 18, 2017, Anderson announced his retirement from the sport. He stated he would remain "behind the scenes" at events, working in the pits with his team.
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Dennis has had many catchphrases over the years, like “I’ll take this ol junk and dig you a grave,” and his most iconic catchphrases are “Yea we turned er over, and I got a tore up truck”, and “I’d like to thank y’all with every nut and bolt on my truck and every shingle on my roof.”
250:'s Powertrax. This was helped by Bigfoot running a limited schedule in the 1989 championship as the team constructed Bigfoot 8. During the same year, construction of Grave Digger 3 had begun. While Dennis drove Grave Digger 2, his brother Leslie drove Grave Digger 1.
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In 2017, Anderson was hospitalized following an accident while attempting a backflip. On March 10, 2017, it was announced on that
Anderson would not compete in World Finals 18 due to the previously stated injury he would retire later that year.
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In 1986, Grave Digger was further modified and first received its distinctive black graveyard paint scheme. In 1987 and 1988 Anderson drove the truck primarily at TNT Motor sports races. In 1988 Anderson beat
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2003 sat him out for half of the year. A lesser-known injury happened during the summer of 2006 in a non-monster truck accident when
Anderson injured his wrist. He also suffered a shoulder injury at the
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Anderson has often crashed or damaged his truck early in racing rounds due to his driving style. For this reason, he had a nickname of "One Run
Anderson".
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in 1999 aggravated the injury and caused
Anderson to miss several shows over the next couple of years. He reinjured himself at a Special Events show in
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When TNT became a part of the USHRA in 1991, Anderson began running on the USHRA tour and debuted his first four-link suspension truck, Grave Digger 3.
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Anderson has had several injuries over his career. In late 1991 he broke his kneecap when he hit a wall at the
Rosemont Horizon in
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broke several ribs near his backbone and caused recurring problems throughout his career. A nose-dive, AKA the lawn dart, at the
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panel van body. TNT began promoting Grave Digger heavily, especially for races on the Tuff Trax syndicated television series and
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In late 1998, due to his financial difficulties, Anderson sold the Grave Digger team to SRO/Pace, then-owners of the
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second driver to attempt the LeDuc Leap in the 2014 World Finals also driving Grave Digger.
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truck. The success of the event led
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Anderson moved to a newly built Grave Digger 2 in 1989, made with a 1950
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was created from a revision of this article dated 21 June 2006
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His final event as a competitor took place in Tampa, Florida, at
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Inducted in the International Monster Truck Hall of Fame - 2012
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In 1992, after Dennis Anderson was injured during an event in
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driver. He is the creator, team owner, and former driver of "
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183:(born October 24, 1960) is an American former professional
459:"Grave Digger driver Dennis Anderson injured in crash"
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USHRA World Finals Racing Champion – 2004, 2006, 2010
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drove Grave Digger at shows in early 2007 until The
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387:Inducted in the Monster Jam Hall Of Fame - 2020
329:. A broken hand from a non-driving accident in
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378:USHRA World Finals Freestyle Champion – 2000
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19:For other people named Dennis Anderson, see
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16:American monster truck driver (born 1960)
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840:Sportspeople from Norfolk, Virginia
457:DeGroot, Nick (January 17, 2017).
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561:Dennis Anderson Motor Sports Park
437:We Drive Grave Digger #1 To Lunch
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411:. MonsterJam.com. Archived from
21:Dennis Anderson (disambiguation)
338:in late 2006, in which his son
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845:Racing drivers from Virginia
434:Ryan Anderson (2022-05-26).
278:Around the World in 80 Ways
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676:Great Clips Mohawk Warrior
344:Monster Jam World Finals 8
198:circuit. Anderson is from
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269:Monster Jam World Finals
214:Dennis started out as a
181:Dennis Montague Anderson
168:Racing: 2004, 2006, 2010
54:Dennis Montague Anderson
157:Achievements and titles
89:Carisa Meyers (m. 2005)
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488:Listen to this article
235:, on a show taped for
850:Monster truck drivers
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286:Raymond James Stadium
233:Saint Paul, Minnesota
539:More spoken articles
465:. Motorsport Network
446:– via YouTube.
311:Louisville, Kentucky
258:Louisville, Kentucky
46:Personal information
691:Maximum Destruction
315:Louisiana Superdome
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686:Lucas Oil Crusader
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467:. Retrieved
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441:. Retrieved
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417:. Retrieved
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804:Gary Porter
681:Iron Outlaw
597:Monster Jam
469:January 17,
419:10 February
319:New Orleans
196:Monster Jam
133:Monster Jam
824:Categories
789:Tom Meents
535:Audio help
526:2006-06-21
443:2024-08-06
392:References
323:Bloomsburg
216:mud bogger
65:1960-10-24
711:Raminator
651:Bulldozer
626:Bear Foot
354:Hallmarks
336:Metrodome
244:Chevrolet
191:" on the
706:Predator
537: ·
293:Injuries
94:Children
631:Bigfoot
616:Avenger
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495:minutes
303:Raleigh
299:Chicago
229:Bigfoot
149:Retired
119:Country
107:Krysten
746:People
621:Batman
607:Trucks
599:Series
370:Awards
210:Career
85:Spouse
78:, U.S.
736:USA-1
265:USHRA
193:USHRA
129:Sport
114:Sport
471:2017
421:2012
248:ESPN
237:ESPN
152:2017
139:Team
103:Ryan
99:Adam
59:Born
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