Monster Jam trucks are some of the biggest, loudest, and most powerful vehicles on the planet. These enormous trucks, weighing over 10,000 pounds, are custom built for the sole purpose of crushing cars, jumping off huge dirt ramps, and competing in intense races. As you can imagine, these incredible feats of engineering don’t come cheap.
The Raw Materials
Monster Jam trucks start with a custom tube chassis which acts as the foundation or skeleton of the vehicle. Unlike production trucks which are built on assembly lines using common parts, each Monster Jam chassis is hand fabricated from chromoly steel or carbon fiber tubing to exact specifications. High strength metals like chromoly steel are much more expensive per pound than ordinary mild steel but provide superior strength for the intense stresses of monster truck racing.
The body of a Monster Jam truck is made from fiberglass composite materials. Fiberglass provides a lightweight but very tough and durable exterior that can withstand the rigors of racing while also providing design freedom to create exciting looking trucks. Kevlar and carbon fiber may also be used in certain high stress areas for additional protection and strength. The body materials alone for a Monster Jam build can cost $15,000 or more.
The Components
Every part that goes into a Monster Jam truck has to be custom fabricated and specially designed for extreme use. This includes:
- The giant 66 inch tall tires which cost over $2,000 each.
- Massive tube shocks and coilovers costing $5,000+ per corner to withstand harsh landings.
- A supercharged V8 racing engine producing over 1,500 horsepower for $50,000.
- The driveshafts, gearboxes, steering mechanisms, and suspension components which are all custom machined from billet aluminum or chromoly steel.
Additionally, there are tons of supporting systems and components that have to engineered from scratch:
- Hydraulic steering systems capable of handling over 1.7 million inch-pounds of torque.
- Robust fuel systems that won’t starve the engine during 8+G turns.
- Fire suppression systems in case of engine fires.
- Racing harnesses, seats, brake systems adapted from top fuel dragsters.
Very little off the shelf hardware can handle the demands of a Monster Jam truck. The costs quickly add up for these specialized parts and the skilled labor required to fabricate them.
Safety Requirements
Monster Jam trucks have to be incredibly safe for their drivers. This requires heavy duty roll cages, firewalls, and chassis reinforcements to create a virtual tank around the driver. Advanced safety harnesses, seats, and head & neck restraints are mandatory. Many pro Monster Jam drivers also wear custom fitted firesuits, helmets, and HANS (Head and Neck Support) devices for extra protection in case of accidents.
The safety features alone for a new Monster Jam build easily tally over $30,000. But when you consider these trucks as professional racing vehicles and that drivers are launching 60 feet into the air right in front of crowds of fans, every safety precaution is absolutely necessary.
Custom Paint and Graphics
Part of the appeal of Monster Jam is the incredible, colorful truck designs. The iconic Grave Digger, Max-D, El Toro Loco, and hundreds of other Monster Jam trucks feature stunning, complex custom paint jobs and graphics. It’s not uncommon for $20,000 or more to be spent just on painting the exterior of these trucks. Then specialized decals and wrap graphics must be added for logos and other designs which also run several thousand dollars in costs.
Fabrication and Assembly
The time and labor that go into actually building a Monster Jam truck is immense. Skilled fabricators and mechanics spend weeks just piecing together the intricate tube chassis. Fiberglass bodies take many hours of hand shaping and finishing. Hundreds of man hours go into machining and assembling the drivetrain components. Then the whole truck must be wired, plumbed and thoroughly tested before it’s track ready.
Major teams employ multiple full time fabricators working year round. At shop rates exceeding $100 per hour, fabrication and assembly alone can represent $100,000+ of the build cost. And keep in mind these shops continuously maintain and upgrade their trucks over the racing season, continuously adding to costs.
Transportation
Monster Jam stadium events tour all over North America with trucks contracted for the entire circuit. The costs to transport a 10,000 lb, 14 foot tall Monster Jam truck thousands of miles are steep. Tractor trailers must be rented, fuel costs are high for these monsters, and specialized ramp equipment is needed to load/unload. Not to mention the drivers, mechanics, and support team also travelling from event to event.
A full season of transportation costs including trucking, fuel, lodging etc. can easily exceed $250,000 per truck. These costs have to be factored into the operating budgets of all major Monster Jam teams.
Operating Costs
The costs don’t stop once a truck is built. Monster Jam trucks consume massive tires and huge amounts of fuel at each event. It’s common for teams to burn over 200 gallons of fuel per weekend. With specialized VP Racing Fuel costing over $10/gallon, that’s $2,000 in fuel per event. Then throw in another $2,000+ for multiple replacement tires damaged while racing. Other parts like traction bars, shocks, and drive shafts get destroyed and must be replaced at a rapid rate.
Add in the normal costs any race team faces – entry fees, tools, shop upkeep, insurance, shipping – and the yearly operating budget for a Monster Jam team can easily exceed half a million dollars.
Driver Compensation
The top Monster Jam drivers are highly paid professionals contracted by the major teams. Compensation packages typically include a base salary in the low 6 figures plus bonuses tied to performances. Stars like Tom Meents, Adam Anderson, Neil Elliott are certainly earning pay packages in the $300,000 to $500,000 range based on available estimates.
Up and coming drivers still make a good living on the tour, estimated from $100,000 to $200,000 annually. This allows them to focus 100% on racing while developing their skills and popularity.
Team Profit Margins
So where does the money come from to fund these $500,000+ Monster Jam trucks? Team owners recoup costs through their share of event ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorships, and contracted appearances. But profit margins are actually fairly slim in monster truck racing.
Top teams like Grave Digger and Monster Energy can generate 7 figure revenues. However industry insiders estimate average profit margins in the 15-20% range after the tremendous operating costs. So even popular trucks are working on relatively thin margins considering their massive expenses.
Limited Production Volumes
Supply and demand also plays a role in Monster Jam’s high costs. These trucks are all essentially hand built to custom order in low volumes. Major teams like Grave Digger may produce 8-10 new trucks per year. Smaller teams may build only 1 or 2. Compare this to major automakers cranking out thousands of vehicles daily on assembly lines optimized for efficiency and economy of scale.
The low production volumes limit the ability to spread costs over more units. And the teams must maintain their own in-house fabrication and assembly capabilities versus outsourcing to mass production facilities in lower cost markets.
The Used Truck Market
With so few new Monster Jam trucks produced each year, the second hand market for used trucks has exploded. Older trucks from major teams can sell for $150,000 to $250,000 in private sales between collectors, smaller teams, and international buyers. There is tremendous value retaining these recognizable designs and history.
This dynamic shows that at least in the collector market, there is demand supporting these high truck valuations. People are willing to pay six figures for a famous truck even after it’s outlived its racing career.
Conclusion
Building and racing Monster Jam trucks is an extremely expensive business. Major costs stem from their high performance custom fabricated components; the safety features required; transportation over a national tour; operating budgets burning through consumables; and the overall low production volumes.
The trucks often sell for less than their actual build cost as teams aim to recoup their investment through other revenues over time. Still, the high valuations seem supported by the thriving second hand market once trucks retire from the tour. Monster Jam fans and collectors are clearly willing to invest serious money to own a piece of monster truck history.