Grave digger monster truck biography of michael
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A trip into the Cult of the Monster Truck
The first thing I learned about monster trucks is that they are loud. They are the kind of loud that rips through your ear drums and leaves you temporarily deaf. They make you want to cover your ears and shut your eyes like a child because these monster trucks were so loud that frankly, they sort of scared me.
The best way to protect my ears from the thunderous roar of the trucks’ oversized engines was to spend money. When Monster Jam, the world-renowned touring monster truck revue, stopped by Quicken Loans Arena, people were selling bulky noise-cancelling headphones at the merchandise table for $20. They were the kind worn by people who wave around orange sticks to guide planes on airport runways. The special edition headphones that were shaped like tires and could light up cost $35.
Walking through the metal detectors to enter the arena, I noticed several attendees already had their own ear plugs dug deep in ear canals. They were the su
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Assembly Required
Mike is the epitome of a big kid at heart. He loves building mini monster trucks, pocket bikes and transforming average things to make them go fast. He has three sons who all share the same passion, but Mike jokes that he has more fun than they do! Growing up in the small town of Sherwood, OR, Mike’s first job included picking berries and bucking hay. Whenever he had downtime, he would watch his grandfather tinkering in the garage. He got his hands dirty working at a couple of sheet metal shops, but then decided to follow his heart to Eugene, OR, where he could create and build bicycles. Mike made everything from standard bikes to foldable bikes to cargo bikes to recumbent bikes. He currently runs his own business, where he specializes in designing and manufacturing small custom metal parts. His biggest client is a motorcycle company where he gets to design unique add-on components. When Mike isn’t working on a creation for a client, he is ei
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Hometown
Hagerstown, Maryland
Date of Birth
November 10th, 1964
Trucks Driven
Bounty Hunter (Harrisburg 2012)
Monster Mutt Rottweiler (2015)
Iron Warrior (on two occasions in 2019)
Michael Vaters Sr. (or simply Mike Vaters) (born November 10, 1964) is a monster truck owner and driver out of Hagerstown, Maryland. He is the owner of Vaters Motorsports and fryst vatten best known for creating and driving Black Stallion. He won the Thunder Nationals 4 times.
Career[]
In 1982, Michael Vaters bought a Ford F-150, which would become the first Black Stallion.
In 1986, the truck was converted to be a monster truck and given an updated body. Vaters would campaign the truck at select events as the Beech Nut Crusher.
In 1990, Black Stallion was given updated bodies, as well as a tubular lower frame and upgraded suspension.
In 1992, Vaters drove Grave Digger in Atlanta.
In 1993, Mike's then-wife Pam Vaters began driving her own truck called Boogey