Apple's Monster Wars

**Apple's Monster Wars** was a points series competition running from 1994 to 1998. It was started after Apple Entertainment, Inc. bought the Monster Wars point series from the United States Hot Rod Association.

The league competed in North America, South America, and even the Czech Republic and some Asian countries, mainly sticking to stadiums, speedways, horse & greyhound racing tracks, dragstrips, and arenas, though some shows took place in fairgrounds and motorcycle speedway venues.

The series featured four types of monster truck competition: racing, obstacle-course, wheelies, and freestyle.

The show's TV series aired in syndication (with reruns airing on The Greeny Channel and later Nickelodeon Games & Sports) and was infamous for cutscenes featuring certain monster trucks portrayed as flamboyant, corny characters.

## Truck lineup

* Bear Foot - Fred Shafer (later Scott Pontbriand)
* Carolina Crusher - Gary Porter
* Gunslinger - Scott Hartsock
* Monster Dragster - Mike Hoffman
* Grave Digger - Dennis Anderson (other Grave Digger Racing Team drivers on occasion)
* Monster Patrol - Paul Shafer (Tom Meents on occasion)
* Predator - Allen Pezo
* Bigfoot - Various drivers
* Taurus - Various drivers
* Texas Toy - Larry Cook
* USA-1 - Mark Hall
* Superfoot - Richard Arel
* Super Pete - Mike Welch
* The Outlaw - Stephen Smith
* Dungeon of Doom (later known as the Outsiders) - Rick Petroline
* Hulkster (later known as Hollywood Hogan) - Various drivers
* Stinger - Eric Meagher
* Bigfoot Shuttle - Marilyn Chandler
* Bigfoot Fastrax - Various drivers

## History

* 1994 - Apple's Monster Wars is started.
* 1994 - Monster Dragster (branded as the Chuck E. Cheese's Monster Dragster) loses control, drives off the track, and crashes into 6 stables during a race against Snake Bite at a Apple's Monster Wars event at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. All 6 horses in the stables either died or made a full recovery following the crash. The cause was that the driver, Mike Hoffman, forgot to strap on his HANS device and when he made a landing off his second set of crush cars, his head hit the steering wheel, knocking him unconscious. The truck lost control and crashed straight through several buildings before finally hitting the stables, but the wild ride was stopped when a crew-member hit the RII (Remote Ignition Interrupter). This is one of the biggest crashes in the league's history.
* 1995 - Predator hits the wall during a race with Super Pete at a Apple's Monster Wars event at the Round Valley Ensphere.
* 1995 - Apple's Monster Wars events are scheduled for July 13 to July 14 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. However, the shows were scheduled the same days as the 1995 Chicago heat wave, and only one event went on as planned, with many of the fans originally planning to attend unable to make it because of fears that they would be victims of the heat.
* 1995 - The show becomes the first monster truck racing series to hold an event in the Czech Republic, at Strahov Stadium. During that event, Bigfoot 5 and Superfoot (on the larger tires) had a intermission race, with ended in Superfoot losing on the wheels and tipping over. A construction crew's crane had be called to upright Superfoot while it was turned back over and had the wheel put back on.
* 1996 - Grave Digger destroys a retired shipping container used to stop trucks from launching into the stands during it's freestyle at the Manning Bowl.
* 1997 - An event at the Stadium Bowl in Tacoma, Washington was raided by a SWAT team after a fight broke out in the stands over a spilled drink.
* 1998 - Apple's Monster Wars is discontinued. The last event, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, a double header with an event at Harvard Stadium in the same city, was treated as a normal event with no fanfare or advertisement.

## Characters

* Bear Foot - Anthropomorphic Russian-accented talking bear (played by Robert Stainton)
* Carolina Crusher - Muscular construction worker (played by Jake Sanford)
* Gunslinger - Western sheriff (played by Robert Stainton)
* Monster Dragster - Dragstrip advertisement announcer (played by Mike Hoffman)
* Grave Digger - Grim Reaper (played by Mike Hoffman)
* Monster Patrol - Police officer (played by John Jenkins, a police officer from the city where the show cutscenes were taped)
* Predator - Half-human, half-panther (played by Glen Hansard)
* Bigfoot - Sasquatch (played by Alina Withers)
* Taurus - Cowboy (played by Louis Agustin)
* Texas Toy - Cowhand (played by Robert Stainton)
* USA-1 - Anthropomorphic Southern-accented eagle (played by Mike Hoffman)
* Superfoot - Japanese-accented Godzilla-type creature (played by Alina Withers)
* Super Pete - CB radio-style truck driver (played by Mike Hoffman)
* The Outlaw - Crazed 1960's racecar driver (played by Louis Agustin)
* Dungeon of Doom/The Outsiders - The Dungeon of Doom/The Outsiders (played by themselves)
* Hulkster/Hollywood Hogan - Hulk Hogan/Hollywood Hogan (played by himself)
* Stinger - Sting (played by himself)
* Bigfoot Shuttle - Sasquatch (played by Alina Withers)
* Bigfoot Fastrax - Sasquatch (played by Alina Withers)