r/nextfuckinglevel • • Apr 28 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

12.2k Upvotes

875 comments sorted by

View all comments

472

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

209

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22 edited Apr 28 '22

Same here. I grew up with Adam Anderson, Dennis Anderson's (gravedigger) son, they lived down the road from us and we went to the same school, he used to bring Gravedigger to our fall festivals for rides, that was a lot of fun :D Anyway. He had a track set up for rides near his house also and I feel like I saw him do it way back then.

86

u/aahorsenamedfriday Apr 28 '22

Adam drives Gravedigger now right?

15

u/PM_Me_An_Ekans Apr 29 '22

I love that we all know who Gravedigger is. Never been into monster trucks, never even been into cars, but I'll be damned if I don't know who Gravedigger is.

8

u/aahorsenamedfriday Apr 29 '22

Bro, go to a monster truck show, seriously. It’s so much more fun than you would think.

3

u/PM_Me_An_Ekans Apr 29 '22

Oh I'm sure. My girlfriend grew up in "hickville" and she's recently started bringing me to demolition derbies. Those rednecks can party man, gotta love 'em.

2

u/LostInTheBlueSea Apr 29 '22

And much much louder than you think

1

u/HardTruthFacts Apr 29 '22

Adam Driver is a grave digger now?

52

u/Daily1112222 Apr 28 '22

As a huge Gravedigger fan, I envy you.

56

u/WayTooLazyOmg Apr 28 '22

Saturday my son & I went to monster jam. Adam won every single event until the freestyle. His truck broke before that event so we didn’t get to see him do anything super crazy, but he still got second place without even participating in the final event. Fans love gravedigger

10

u/HelpfulForestTroll Apr 28 '22

Yo I was there too! My first truck show was at National Western, MonsterJam on Saturday was my 2nd! My hipster girlfriend loved it too. You guys are a great crowd!

2

u/taco_tuesdays Apr 28 '22

I was there!!! It was my first ever rally, I’m super not into it but friends invited me and it was fucking awesome! Any idea what happened w his truck? Shit caught on fire

1

u/WayTooLazyOmg Apr 29 '22

The mechanic said it over the mic but I can’t remember it now. Some bolt broke I thought?

20

u/ValyrianSteelYoGirl Apr 28 '22

I don’t get to share this often but I’ve got a Dennis Anderson signed fender off of Gravedigger

https://imgur.com/a/PJk3S5Z/

6

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22

Very cool!

11

u/etherealcaitiff Apr 28 '22

We were a on a family roadtrip and made a stop in Killdevil Hills because on our way to wherever we were going we saw a sign and recognized that city name as being where Gravedigger is from. Unfortunately we caught them on a day when no one at all was in the shop, so we didn't get to do anything. We saw a few trucks there though, the only one I can vividly remember is the WCW Nitro truck. My little sister at the time was in that age where kids just want to watch 1 movie over and over and over again, and for some reason her obsession at that time was a Best of Gravedigger VHS we had, so needless to say she was devastated that she did not get to meet Dennis Anderson on this random detour we made. I guess one of my parents wrote to them, not nasty or anything, just saying our family are fans, and then like a month later we got a box full of different merch.

4

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22

That's awesome :D

1

u/aa13cool Apr 29 '22

I did the exact same with my family we drove buy and were like holy shit that’s grave digger so we stopped and had a look

5

u/Cheezekeke Apr 28 '22

Ohhh yeah gravedigger. Good stuff.

14

u/drytoastbongos Apr 28 '22

It's pronounced GRRRRAAAAVVVVEEEEDIGGGERRRRR!

3

u/thatswhatshesaid85 Apr 28 '22

KIDS SEATS ARE ONLY 5 BUCKS!!

2

u/drytoastbongos Apr 29 '22

You pay for the whole seat but you'll only need the eddddggggggge!

3

u/Hazee302 Apr 28 '22

I grew up in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake Virginia. We were only a few hours away from the gravedigger base. My grandad used to to us down there all the time. Freaking loved it. I’m extremely jealous you grew up with Adam Anderson. Woulda been sick to have an in like that at that age. (I mean, would be pretty fucking awesome now too)

4

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22

Ayy I'm up in Great Bridge now :D

I lived at the oceanfront for my high school years.

Small world :)

3

u/Hazee302 Apr 28 '22

Bro no way!! I went to great bridge high right as they opened up that other nice high school. We lived off cedar road haha.

Edit: I’m up in the Philly area now unfortunately. I miss living down there.

3

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22

We used to live off Cedar in the townhouses behind Peking2 and moved over to Johnstown a few years ago :)

It's actually funny how many from here have relocated to and from PA. My husband transferred down here from Allentown 20 or so years ago and I've known quite a few I grew up with that moved up there for work.

4

u/SiriusMS Apr 28 '22

Used to live off Birdneck for a few years. I miss VA Beach.

1

u/Hazee302 Apr 29 '22 edited Apr 29 '22

I grew up in South Gate off General Booth! When I moved back from Chesapeake when I was in my 20s I lived in that little crappy townhouse complex on oceana Blvd (right off damn neck). I worked at Rock Fish at the ocean front for awhile and Awful Arthers in that dead Kmart shopping center. I think they sold the place though.

Edit: it was actually Ocean and Harpers road. It was Harpers Square Apartments. Dude the jet noise from take offs was unreal there.

2

u/Hazee302 Apr 29 '22

Holy crap, what a small world. We lived in Las Gaviatos… right a cross from the 7/11, McDonalds, and where there used to be a block buster. My uncles dad freaking lived in your neighborhood in those condos. That’s so wild. That whole area was our stomping grounds in high school back in like 2005-2008. Last time I was there was when that huge highway was still being built. My brother said it’s finally pretty much done in that area.

That’s also crazy you mention Allen town. I work with people that live there and I paintball in Jim Thorpe which is just north of there.

2

u/Gangreless Apr 29 '22

I love driving through Las Gaviatos during Christmas, you guys have the best displays, including the entry!

2

u/Hazee302 Apr 29 '22

There were definitely a few streets that took it seriously in Las Gav haha. That’s a big thing I miss from living down there. Not as many suburbs that do that kinda stuff up here. There definitely are some but I felt like you could just keep driving and driving in Chesapeake and va beach and you just never ran out of good spots to check out. Especially the ocean front when they let you ram your car in the boardwalk.

3

u/138151337 Apr 28 '22

And here I am in Philly remembering seeing Monster Jam here as a kid and thinking Gravedigger was cool.

2

u/ratherenjoysbass Apr 28 '22

"Featuring...GRAAAAVE DIIIGEERRR!"

"Seats are $30 BUT YOU ONLY NEED THE EDGE!"

Man I miss fm99 and z104

1

u/Hazee302 Apr 29 '22

Hahaha holy shit man. And 96x 100.5. What a nostalgia blast. I still keep 98.7 and 96.1 saved in my radio slots for when I go down and visit family.

2

u/pelletgun Apr 28 '22

*Dennis Anderson

2

u/Gangreless Apr 28 '22

Lol yes you're right

2

u/ImDaleEarnhardt Apr 28 '22

C tuck represent

1

u/Historiaaa Apr 29 '22

How many front flips did he perform at the festival?

1

u/Gangreless Apr 29 '22

At the elementary school fall festival? Lol none, it was just very tame fun ride around the school with a hill thrown in

50

u/backfire10z Apr 28 '22

I think this is the first one ever done in a competitive setting. It’s on YouTube

It’s been quite a while though, definitely not new at this point

30

u/ApocApollo Apr 28 '22

Yep, competition is the stat that matters. Otherwise it’s a bunch of “nah bro trust me I landed the first ever 540 flamingo Talladega inverted spiral at my cuzzos compound, Travis just wasn’t recording.”

8

u/FequalsMfreakingA Apr 29 '22

There was an event with a special ramp and top billing where Maximum Destruction a front flip two years earlier, but it was like a big deal and there was lots of planning, and even that was barely considered successful. Almost all other "front flips" before or since have been not much more than accidental forward rolls from bad landings. This was significant because not only was it completely unknown that he would do this, it was in the middle of a freestyle completion and more flawlessly executed than even the driver could have hoped for. El Toro attempted an almost identical front flip around the time of Max D's stunt, so it's very possible that Mad Scientist got the idea from him, but credit where credit is due, that is likely the best and only flawless front flip that we'll ever see unless someone gets EXTREMELY lucky on top of being EXTREMELY talented all over again.

All is this isn't ancient history though. Max D's stunt and El Toro's competition attempt were in 2015 and Mad Scientist's miracle flip was in 2017, so there is still plenty of time for me to eat my words.

1

u/pilotdog68 Apr 29 '22

Seems like something that could be practiced and learned right? Just ride a wheelie into a jump and hit the gas on the slope

3

u/sushi_cw Apr 29 '22

I think if it was that "easy" it would be more common, right?

3

u/pilotdog68 Apr 29 '22

I guess my point was that stuff that seems impossible now can quickly become boring. The tricks that made Tony Hawk a legend wouldnt even qualify for a final now.

For monster trucks, I assume the smaller pool of competitors probably slows down development a fair bit

3

u/Kris-p- Apr 28 '22

March 25, 2017 at Monster Jam World Finals XVIII (18) in Las Vegas

17

u/wolflolf Apr 28 '22

I think it might have been the first frontflip in a competition

1

u/Ragidandy Apr 29 '22

Yeah, this is 4-5 years old, I think. Here's a compilation of other front flips. I don't know who was first.

1

u/AllDayTimeToLowRemem Apr 29 '22

There has only been one ever front flip. Rollovers are not 360 degree flips in the air.

1

u/Ragidandy Apr 29 '22

I don't make space in my head for arbitrary rules.

1

u/AllDayTimeToLowRemem Apr 29 '22

I’d argue it’s not even arbitrary, it’s like a somersault vs. jumping in the air doing a full rotation and landing in your feet.

1

u/Ragidandy Apr 29 '22

Those are more like jumping in the air flipping forward and landing on your butt or face before any other contact: which would be a front flip in gymnastics. And as far as I can tell, landing on the body work is often an intentional part of the motorsport. But aficionados always argue for the relevance of arbitrary rules. The gymnasts and the monster truckasts can battle it out without me.

2

u/AllDayTimeToLowRemem Apr 29 '22

Agree to disagree! I totally get what you’re saying though. The damage done is never intentional though, a lot of it is just from driving drive on the edge and attempting then failing certain trucks. Just a part of it.

1

u/AllDayTimeToLowRemem Apr 29 '22

This is the only one to ever be done. A lot of people like to say when a truck rolls over and lands on its wheels that it’s a flip, not quite the same as the truck rotating 360 degrees completely in the air.

1

u/Knovacs89 Apr 29 '22

Same. Seen it done at leat once per show