The Avenger was created in 1997 by Columbus, Michigan native Jim Koehler. The original

monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock p ...

sported a forest green Chevrolet S10 body style and a teal

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

and rims. With the exception of the design featured at World Finals 14, the Avenger truck has always sported at least three flaming skulls (one on each side and one on the hood) and flowing flames running from the wheel wells. As time passed, the S10 body was replaced by a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air body with bright green headlights, which is the same body style that is run today by "Mr. Excitement." Avenger is out of the Team Scream stable, which also features the Brutus, Mega-Bite, Spike, Rage, Axe, and Wrecking Crew trucks. The original Avenger chassis is currently retired, while the second one is currently being run as Axe with young driver Joe Foley behind the wheel.

Body styles

Avenger and Jim Koehler is now the only truck and driver to compete in every Monster Jam World Finals.

Tom Meents Thomas William Meents (born July 10, 1967) is an American former professional monster truck driver. He drove Max-D in Monster Jam. He has won 14 Monster Jam World Finals championships during his career (six in racing, six in freestyle, two in ...

was the other to compete in all until missing World Finals 18 due to a back injury until he returned for the 2017 Monster Jam Path of Destruction Tour in Foxborough. There are various versions of the Avenger truck, which are: *Forest Green Chevrolet S10 *Forest Green 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air *Orange Bel-Air *Half Forest Green and Half Orange Bel-Air *Chrome Bel-Air *Toxic Green Bel-Air *Neon Green Bel-Air *"Scuba" Light Blue Bel-Air *Black "Rat Rod" Bel-Air *Candy Apple Red "Las Vegas" Bel-Air *Yellow "Two Time Champion" Bel-Air *"Garners" Candy Apple Red Bel-Air *Purple Bel-Air *Garners Towing Style White Bel-Air *Junkyard Style Bel-Air *Bright Green Chevy S-10 *Dark Green "Celebrating 20 years" Chevy S10 with chrome logo *Lime Green Custom Nomad *Red, Blue and White Stepp's Towing Bel-Air *White and Green “Global” Bel-Air *Silver “Glow in the Dark” 25th Anniversary Bel-Air *Silver “Nashville” Bel-Air

Monster Jam World Finals accomplishments

Avenger has taken several titles over the years, but none shine brighter than his two Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Championships. He won his first world championship title in 2003 with the original Forest Green Bel-Air and teal chassis, Jim shocked the Monster Jam World by being the first Freestyle Champion not named

Dennis Anderson Dennis Montague Anderson (born October 24, 1960) is an American former professional monster truck driver. He is the creator, team owner, and former driver of "Grave Digger (monster truck), Grave Digger" on the United States Hot Rod Association, ...

. The following year in 2004 Koehler was stopped on him. He bent a 4-link bar that caused the transmission to break after he went over the cars, causing him to be frustrated. In March 2011, with his red "Las Vegas" Avenger, Jim tied with Cam McQueen in the Nitro Circus Monster Truck in the Freestyle competition, edging out McQueen to claim his second Freestyle title, making Jim Koehler one of only three drivers to have more than one Freestyle title at the World Finals, the others being Tom Meents and

Adam Anderson (monster truck driver) Adam Anderson (born December 5, 1985) is an American professional monster truck driver. He currently drives Grave Digger on the Monster Jam circuit. Adam is the son of Grave Digger creator Dennis Anderson and the older brother of fellow drivers ...

. In 2009, Avenger debuted the Aussie Avenger, built specifically for the Extreme Monster Trucks

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

tour. This truck featured a bright orange chassis as well as canary yellow rims, with a classic 1957 Chevy Bel-Air body. Jim traveled "Down Under" for the South Pacific Finals where he continued the tradition of American drivers bringing home the Australian championships with his Freestyle victory. In 2010, Koehler returned to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

for the South Pacific Finals 3 to defend his Freestyle Championship. "Mr. Excitement" held true to his name by taking a second straight championship in freestyle. In 2016, he is driving in the

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...

Championship Series.

Awards

Monster Jam World Finals

* 1999 (Motor Madness World Finals 0, Forest Green S-10) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Bear Foot in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 22 * 2000 (Forest Green S-10) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to King Krunch in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 26 - Tied for seventh with

Sudden Impact ''Sudden Impact'' is a 1983 American action-thriller film, the fourth in the ''Dirty Harry'' series, directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only ''Dirty Harry'' film to be directed by Eastwood himself) and co-starri ...

and

Bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...

* 2001 (Forest Green S-10) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Beats Spider-Man in Round 1 due to a broken tire-rod #Freestyle: Scored 34 - Tied for fourth with Sting * 2002 (Forest Green Bel-Air) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Sudden Impact in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 8 - Tied for last with Bulldozer * 2003 (Forest Green Bel-Air) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Wolverine in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 37 - First * 2004 (Orange) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Bounty Hunter in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 9 - Tied for last with

Blue Thunder ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modified French Aérospatiale Gazelles. A spin-off television series, also called '' Blue Thun ...

and Team Suzuki * 2005 (Half Orange, Half Dark Green) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Escalade in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 25 - Tied for sixth with Scarlet Bandit and Escalade * 2006 (Chrome) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to

El Toro Loco El Toro Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Bull") is a monster truck currently racing in the Monster Jam series. The truck was created in 2001 as a variant of the 3-D molded body of the Bulldozer design, but as El Toro Loco has increased in popularity, ...

in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 16 - Tied for sixteenth with Pastrana 199 * 2007 (Toxic Green) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Brutus in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 20 - Tied for fifteenth with Pastrana 199 * 2008 (Neon Green) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Captain's Curse in Round 2 #Freestyle: Scored 17 - Fourteenth * 2009 (Light Blue) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Brutus in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 4 - Last * 2010 (Black and White) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Grave Digger in Round 2 #Freestyle: Scored 25 - Tied for tenth with Blue Thunder and Iron Man * 2011 (Candy Apple Red) #Driver: Jim Koehler # Racing: Lost to Batman in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 32 - Tied for first with Nitro Circus (Won its second world title via a tiebreaker.) * 2012 (Yellow) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Northern Nightmare in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 13 * 2013 (Garners' Candy Apple Red) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Spider-Man in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 23 - Tied for seventh with Zombie and Son-uva Digger * 2014 (Purple) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Max-D in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 26.5 - Tied for eighth with Wolverine and Overkill Evolution * 2015 (White) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Neil Elliott's Max-D in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 22 - Tied for thirteenth with Monster Mutt * 2016 (Rusty Blue) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Adam Anderson's Grave Digger in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 12 - Last * 2017 (Dark Green Retro S-10) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Son-uva Digger in the Semi-Finals #Freestyle: Scored 9.240 - Third * 2018 (Lime Green Custom Bel-Air Wagon) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Tyler Menninga's Grave Digger in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 2.990 - Last * 2019 (Red, Blue and White) #Driver: Jim Koehler #Racing: Lost to Great Clips Mohawk Warrior in Round 1 #Freestyle: Scored 6.399 - Nineteenth

References

{{Monster Jam Monster trucks Sports entertainment Vehicles introduced in 1997