El Toro Loco
 |
.jpg) El Toro Loco at Allstate Arena in 2012 | |
| Owner and driver information | |
|---|---|
| Owner | FELD Motorsports |
| Driver(s) | Marc McDonald, Chuck Werner, Becky McDonough, Armando Castro, and Mark List |
| Home city | Ellenton, Florida |
| Truck information | |
| Year created | 2001 |
| No. built | 7 |
| Body style | 2004 Custom Bull |
| Chassis | Carroll Racing Development, Patrick Enterprises Incorporated, Willman-style Chassis Design |
| Engine | 540 cubic inch Merlin big block |
| Transmission | Coan 2-speed |
| Tires | S.I.R. racing slicks, Goodyear Terra, BKT tires |
El Toro Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Bull") is a monster truck currently racing in the Monster Jam series. It is currently driven by Mark List, Elvis Lainez, Armando Castro, Marc Mcdonald, and Scott Buetow. Other drivers of have included Dan Rodoni, Aaron Basl, Ryan Huffaker, Joey Parnell, Chris Baker, and Nathan Weenk. It features one of the first 3-D body shells, with horns sticking out of the roof. This body was originally designed for Bulldozer, and was found a second use for El Toro Loco. As El Toro Loco has increased in popularity, it has become the primary truck for the body style. The truck is commonly known for "snorting" smoke out of its nose, which is toggled by a button inside the truck.
Truck History
The truck was created by SFX and PACE Motorsports in 2001, and the truck was driven by Lupe Soza, who had previously owned and driven Warrior from the 1980s. The truck was a huge success among kids primarily. The idea stuck around.
In 2003, the truck made its first Monster Jam World Finals appearance with Lupe Soza still behind-the-wheel. With a poor performance in racing, "The Crazy Bull" made up for it in freestyle. Lupe Soza had the performance of a lifetime, featuring a crazy corkscrew flip off of an RV, and then getting the truck stuck on top of a sea container, earning him a second-place performance with a sensational score of 36 out of a possible 40.
In 2004, El Toro Loco was a Monster Jam World Finals freestyle co-champion with Madusa driven by Debrah Miceli, and Maximum Destruction driven by Tom Meents, all tied with a score of 31.
In 2013, El Toro Loco was given a makeover, creating a new black bodied truck piloted by Marc McDonald and a yellow bodied truck under the rein of Becky McDonough. The classic red bodies are still ran by Chuck Werner, Dan Rodoni, and veteran Lupe Soza.
With the truck being in the Top 10 of top merchandise sales with Monster Jam, the team was expanded to now 4 trucks as of 2012. The trucks are similar in terms of body design, but each chassis is unique and different. Marc McDonald is considered the "leader" of the pact of trucks, and he drives the newest El Toro Loco of anybody, with a Carroll Racing Development (CRD) chassis, featuring a lower center-of-gravity design and a softer landing suspension. Becky McDonough drives a Patrick Enterprises Incorporated (PEI) chassis, that is a couple of years old, and has been used before in competition. Chuck Werner was a part of Meents Racing a few years before, so his chassis is a Willman-style chassis, with the engine in the front and the axles designed a little different from many others. Aaron Basl and Ryan Huffaker use to share driving duties with a Racesource designed chassis by monster truck racing legend Pablo Huffaker until 2014 where they pilot the Wolverine monster truck.
In 2015, Becky McDonough drove the yellow El Toro Loco on the inaugural #MoreMonsterJam tour. Chuck Werner drove the red El Toro Loco on the new Fox Sports 1 Championship Series, and made history by scoring the first ever point on the series for being the fastest qualifier at Houston. He won freestyle in St. Louis a few weeks later.
For 2016, a red El Toro Loco is run on the AMSOIL Series with rookie driver Mark List behind the wheel. Mark won the first overall event in 2016 at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Becky McDonough currently has two points on the FS1 Championship Series in the yellow El Toro Loco. Dan Rodoni put his two trucks up for sale and has not driven in 2016.
In 2019, an El Toro Loco is run on Stadium Championship Series 2 in team ice for the Monster Jam Fire and Ice element. It is driven by former Team Hot Wheels Firestorm driver, Scott Buetow.
Drivers
Current Drivers
- Becky McDonough (since 2012)
- Marc McDonald (since 2007)
- Chuck Werner (since 2010)
- Mark List (since 2015)
- Armando Castro (since 2017)
- Mikey Cahill (since 2018)
- "Diesel Dave" Kiley (since 2018)
- Elvis Lainez (since 2019)
Former Drivers
- Lupe Soza (2001-09, 2014-15)
- Nathan Weenk (2008)
- Paul Cohen (2008)
- Chris Baker (2009-11)
- Ryan Huffaker (2012)
- Aaron Basl (2012-13)
- Bari Musawwir (2011)
- Joey Parnell (2011)
- Dan Radoni (2013)
- Dan Evans (on one occasion)
- Tristan England (on one occasion)
- Morgan Kane (on one occasion)
- Macey Nitcher (on one occasion)
- Collete Davis (2017)
- Kayla Blood (2016-19)
Monster Jam World Finals Championships and Accomplishments
- Monster Jam World Finals 4 (March 22, 2003):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to Blacksmith driven by Carl Van Horn Freestyle: 36 - 2nd Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 5 (March 20, 2004):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to King Krunch driven by David Smith (after crashing in the turn) Freestyle: tied for co-freestyle championship with 31 - 1st Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 6 (March 19, 2005):
Racing: lost in Quarter-Finals to Madusa driven by Madusa Freestyle: 8 - 19th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 7 (March 25, 2006):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Pastrana 199 driven by Chad Tingler Freestyle: 11 - 23rd Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 8 (March 24, 2007):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to Monster Mutt Dalmatian driven by Chad Tingler Freestyle: 11 - 16th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 9 (March 29, 2008):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to Black Stallion driven by Michael Vaters Freestyle: 28 - 7th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 10 (March 28, 2009):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Blue Thunder driven by Linsey Weenk Freestyle: 20 - 14th Place
- Advance Auto Parts MONSTER JAM World Finals 11 (March 27, 2010):
Racing: lost in semi-finals to Grave Digger #20 driven by Dennis Anderson Freestyle: DNF - Broken front axle housing and 4-links
- Advance Auto Parts MONSTER JAM World Finals 12 (March 24, 2011):
Racing: lost in Round 3 to Lucas Oil CRUSADER driven by Linsey Weenk Freestyle: 27 - 7th Place
- Advance Auto Parts MONSTER JAM World Finals 13 (March 23, 2012):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Maximum Destruction driven by Tom Meents Freestyle: 27 - 7th Place
- Advance Auto Parts MONSTER JAM World Finals 14 (March 22, 2013):
Racing: lost in Championship Race to Grave Digger the Legend driven by Adam Anderson Freestyle: 20 - 18th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 15 (March 20, 2014):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Monster Energy driven by Damon Bradshaw Freestyle: 32.5 - 4th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 16 (March 18, 2015):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Monster Energy driven by Coty Saucier Freestyle: 29 - 7th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 17 (March 24, 2016):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Son-uva Digger driven by Ryan Anderson Freestyle: 28.5 - 9th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 18 (March 23, 2017, Marc McDonald):
Racing: lost in Round 2 to Monster Energy driven by Coty Saucier Freestyle: 7.163 - 16th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 18 (March 23, 2017, Becky McDonough):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to Max-D driven by Colton Eichelberger Freestyle: 7.073 - 20th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 19 (March 23, 2018):
Racing: lost in Round 1 to Grave Digger driven by Morgan Kane Freestyle: 6.856 - 15th Place
- Monster Jam World Finals 20 (May 10th-11th, 2019, Mark List, Armando Castro Scott Buetow, and Becky Mcdonough):
Showdown: (List) lost in Round 1 to Scooby-Doo! driven by Linsey Read Two-Wheel-Skills: (Castro) 8.533 - 5th place Racing: (Mcdonough): lost in Round 1 to Lucas Oil Crusader driven by Lisney Weenk High Jump: (Buetow) jumped 45.124 ft - 4th place Freestyle: (Mcdonough) 7.637 - 13th place
