For monster truck driver, fans make it all worthwhile

Dennis Anderson says he's living his dream. The driver for the iconic monster truck Grave Digger was in Tampa over the weekend for the Monster Jam. We caught up with him Friday to chat about his career.

How long have you been a monster truck driver?

I've been in monster truck racing for 27 years. When I started off a long time ago, (I had) a small shop and a little box of nuts and bolts and very little financing. I just stuck with this thing from the bottom of the dirt and here I am at the top of the hill.

What did you do to get there?

I am an all-American guy living a dream right now. And it couldn't be any better for me.

My son (Adam) is a reigning world champion (in 2008), the youngest world champion in the Monster Jam series. … He drives the Tasmanian Devil truck, and we race in competition. We don't always race every weekend together, but we hit about six or seven pro races together through the season. … He's my son, but I truly love beating him out on the track. But even if he wins and beats me, I'm still happy.

I didn't come from a wealthy family. It came right from the ground up. My fans are the ones that made this truck and made me who I am today. They supported me for 27 years for every nut and bolt on this truck and for every shingle on my roof. … I'm going to drive the truck until the day I retire. I'm not even going to call that date, but it's no time soon. I have two kids that are in the motor-sport division with me now, and I want to get them to the top, and Dad's going to hand off the torch.

What is the biggest challenge you've faced in your career?

It would be financial challenges. Three times in my career, I had financially gone broke with the truck. I came back because of the fans. The fans sent letters, I would borrow money from the promoters, I would sell T-shirts, hats and posters, and that's how I got up and down the road.

Mechanical and figuring out everything (has also been a challenge). I'm a pioneer of rear-engine monster trucks, and I've pioneered a bunch of safety devices and pieces on trucks throughout the years, and there were big hurdles. We went through a time where we couldn't get more than one run from the trucks. I had more power than truck.

On a personal level, walking away from the family, and being dedicated and "chained" to that truck was tough. That was one of the biggest sacrifices I'd ever done in my career. I would leave home with this thing, and wouldn't return for three months. I sent a little bit of money home, and I just marched on. … I missed some good stuff with my kids, but I'm making up for it now. I wasn't a typical dad who went to my son's soccer game, I didn't go to school plays. I was out here Monster Jamming. That was probably the biggest scar, the biggest wound I've had. But now we've gotten over that, and it's good for the whole family.

What is the most rewarding thing about this career?

I think the biggest part is thrilling the fans and winning the competition in front of all these people. And winning the competition doesn't mean I'm going to walk away with the trophy. If I've satisfied the fans, I'm a winner.

What do you like least?

I used to like traveling. But I've traveled to every spot in the United States for 27 years, and just getting to locations, getting to and from home. I don't like leaving home.

How does one get into this business?

It's a pretty tough business. For one thing, it's very expensive. The best thing to do is probably to hook up with some monster truck guys on the road, go crew for them and ride it around for two or three months, and see if that's what you really want to do.

But for someone to really step into the business, you really need to have some good corporate sponsors. You can build a monster truck anywhere from $150,000 to $300,000, but to be in the Monster Jam series, you'd better be packing $200,000 to $250,000 when you step out here on the track with us. These trucks have all the hard-core after-market parts that they build for monster trucks out there now.

When I came along, you couldn't do that. I had to go to the junkyard, drag the stuff out and start creating stuff. It was kind of like digging stuff out of the grave and putting it together.