Photo credit: Monster Jam/Feld Entertainment
Hard to believe it, but we're already 4 weeks in to the 2023 Monster Jam season. That means we have an entire month's worth of competition to analyze and decipher what the current World Finals picture truly looks like. This week, instead of discussing every single driver on each tour, I'm just going to highlight and discuss the drivers that made big moves over this past week that may have implications - both positive and negative - on their chances (and those that share the same ride) at making it into the big show come July.
Cory Rummell and Todd LeDuc (Megalodon) - This position is particularly worth mentioning because of the proceedings from Stadium Tour Red's outing in Miami, specifically the second show on Sunday. Todd LeDuc finally broke the curse that had been following him for the beginning 3 weeks of the season by taking home both a Racing and Overall Event win. With that being said, Cory still holds superiority over LeDuc as far as placement and overall driver rating goes. The discussion here surrounds the politics of the decision: Todd is an in-house Monster Jam driver who hasn't missed a single World Finals since 2012. He is also a 2-time World Champion. Cory Rummell has only made the main field of the World Finals twice, one of those being the result of his Showdown Championship in 2018, and last year in 2022 he was realistically the only Megalodon driver truly in the running for the World Finals spot. So what could happen? Well looking at recent precedents, Monster Jam/Feld has specifically made it a point to not have any duplicate identities in the main field outside of Grave Digger - their most popular identity. One other precedent that used to be much more popular than in current years was the practice of switching a driver to a different identity for the World Finals, the last time being Cynthia Gauthier in Monster Mutt at World Finals 19 (2018). Nothing concretely says either of the precedents remain in-place, but it does stir the conversation a bit and lead to a scenario where there's no telling what will actually happen come World Finals XXII.
Armando Castro, Elvis Lainez, Jamey Garner, and Mark List (El Toro Loco) - This is easily the most shocking of scenarios right now. Mark List, the sole World Finals El Toro Loco driver from 2022, is currently performing statistically and placement-wise the worst of the 4 above-listed Toro pilots. Historically speaking, Monster Jam treats the stadium driver(s) with higher priority come World Finals than their arena counterparts. But Elvis Lainez currently leads his tour, albeit by only 6 points, which means his ticket is currently in the best shape of all of these drivers. This is where the discussion begins to get ugly, and honestly even frustrating: considering all of the same talking points from my Megalodon discussion, we're unlikely to see more than 2 El Toro Loco drivers make it into the Main Field at World Finals XXII, if even that many get the berth. If Elvis cannot hold on to the top spot, and Armando remains in second place for the remainder of the tour, odds are Monster Jam elects to take only Mark List for the field, which is extremely insulting to the remainder of the Toro fleet. Mark currently sits in 9th place on Stadium Tour Blue, Jamey Garner sits 5th on Stadium Tour Red, as mentioned above Elvis holds 1st place on Arena Tour West, and Armando Castro remains in 2nd on Arena Tour East. So how much sense does it really make for Mark to get the nod over the rest of the drivers listed? It is very possible (and probable) that he moves up on his tour, but realistically Armando and Elvis are guaranteed at least 2nd place on their tours come the end of the season, and for Mark to even match that placement on stadiums he would need to finish in 3rd. Not only is this incredibly unlikely, but it is the bare minimum for Mark to match Elvis and Armando's placements - not even beat them. Keep an eye on this Toro matchup across the different tours, as this has a high likelihood of awarding some disgusting snubs to some of its drivers (much like Armando Castro in 2022).
Colt Stephens and Tony Ochs (ThunderROARus) - This matchup mimics a lot of what was discussed above, however Colt is noticeably improving in his performances and making his way up the standings to make this decision virtually an even draw. Colt is on-pace to rise to 5th or even 4th place on his tour in the coming couple of weeks, while Tony is projecting to hover around 3rd or 2nd for the remainder of his tour. These are very comparable placements all things considered, and I think the ultimate decision on this one is going to come down to who has more publicly been the face of ThunderROARus. Considering Colt was the star of the unveil of the truck and the recent featurette on the creation of the truck, the internal favorite does seem to be incredibly obvious. But as with all of the drivers who have been mentioned above, there's an incredibly strong argument to be made for both of these drivers to appear in the Main Field of the World Finals. The issue is that the field only has 24 available spots (unfortunately...), so there just does not exist enough room to fit everyone who deserves a spot in the Main Field and those that pilot a sponsored/fan favorite ride.
Travis Mowery and David Olfert (Velociraptor) - I'll start this portion off by saying I will be happy with either of these drivers getting a World Finals berth. They are both among the upper echelon of independent drivers on the Monster Jam circuit, and certainly both have stakes to a spot in the big show. With that being said, if the likelihood of duplicate Monster Jam identities in the field is small, it reduces even further (to virtually 0) for independent identities. So who among these two takes/deserves the berth? Well, with Paul Jensen having taken the reigns for Travis in Miami 1, and Jeff Souza taking over in Tampa this upcoming weekend, outlook does not look positive for Travis to maintain his placement he had before his paternity leave (congratulations to Travis and Kaylyn on their baby boy!). As of right now, Olfert currently sits 3rd on Arena Tour West while Travis has now fallen to a distant 9th on Stadium Tour Red. Based on this, I would put money on David Olfert in his orange/pink/purple Velociraptor truck to make their first appearance at the World Finals this year. Now it is entirely possible for Olfert to drop a spot of Krysten begins earning points akin to her 2022 season, but the same could be said for Travis once he gets back behind the wheel. This inter-team matchup is absolutely going to be one to watch for the remainder of the season.
Let us know what you think in the comments below! Do you agree with anything I said? Disagree? Post it down below.