I can understand the crush cars going away but its a massive shame that i wont be seeing Blue Thunder completely desintegrate an entire caravan again.

Shoutout to the promoter who gave a phone interview! His insight was great.

Seeing that stadium packed to the brim with people screaming their heads off for nothing but Bigfoot driving over a couple cars is hilarious. Man just thought to himself "maybe I'll drive over this old Buick for a commercial" and everybody within 100 miles said "and where do I get a ticket?"

So impressive that they have been able to keep monster trucks popular for this many decades. Most extreme sports flame out within 20 years.

You did miss a tour on the shows that still crush cars, the monster truck malicious tour still crushes to this day

It's interesting to see that, while newer cars are terrible at holding up to small collisions and fall apart quite easily, especially in the context of car crushing, their ability to protect occupants in one massive crash is incredible. Compare this to older cars which were able to take small hits all day and were easier to repair, but left much to be desired in a big collision. Really neat documentary showing the role cars played in the monster truck arenas, and how they practically evolved their way out of the industry

"and section 116 of Sam Boyd Stadium" that made me chuckle haha, great video!! :D

Another thing is that the 80s cars are somewhat becoming collector cars and are ending up in junkyards less.

I have never had the slightest interest in monster trucks. Never seen a show. Never seen more than a 5 second clip in passing. Yet for some reason I found this video really interesting. Good work.

Tbh now that I'm an adult, I have been liking classic trucks from the 80's through the very early 90's. Just leaf springs and shocks, slower speeds, and the cool schemes from that era I've gone back to plus Monster Jam from the late 2000s. Should have a classic series that has crush cars and slower speeds, would be amazing to see!

This is why I try to go to monster nitro tour everytime they come through. They always have crush cars and have adopted new style setups for trucks. Replaced donut with skill competition. It’s a blend of new and old. I love it.

As a kid i remember loving monster trucks, but hating seeing all the cool cars being junked.

I can't tell you enough how much I enjoyed this documentary. As an old-school monster truck fan who loves crushed cars, I understand why they are doing away with them but it still stinks because the shows that don't have them for the most part tend to be boring. The trucks are lighter and faster compared to the USHRA days. I would love to see an old-school monster truck series form that uses crushed cars that don't have ramps similar to how it was done in the 80s.

Another issue with crushing cars is that they are harder to crush fully due to rollover protection leading to stronger roofs. Starting in 2009 the IIHS started testing roof strength and a vehicle’s roof needed to support 4 times the vehicle’s weight to pass. By now many of these early IIHS roofs are old enough to crush and they won’t do so nearly as easily as a roof from 20 years earlier.

"Plastic parts are cheaper to produce..." Yeah tell that to my insurance.

Seeing the trucks dance around like giant RC cars made me want to see them compete in some sort of monster truck X-games, or something like that. Crushing cars is cool, but it seems they’ve mostly become more of a hassle than they’re worth at this point. Watching a 5-ton truck flipping around and dancing in such a controlled manner, like it was a toy, is impressive in a whole new way.

I grew up watching Monster jam in the early 2000s and always enjoyed seeing the different and unique tracks. I've been to several different tours and independent shows that I see what works and what doesn't. The last time I went to a Monster Jam arena event was in 2013 in Greenville, SC which included crush cars and recently I went to my first Monster Jam arena in 2024 since 2013 and ill say that the pod is a genius move. It allows the drivers to do moves that once weren't believable in an arena. I think crush cars still have a time and place, even with Monster Jam using standing crush cars at their recent Super Star Challege.

It's because the Fast and Furious franchise took all the monster truck scrap cars for their 37 movie installments.

I've only ever been to one monster truck show, and it was when I was a young kid. It was a really cool indoor colosseum show that focused alot on crush cars, and there was an old RV. I remember Grave Digger putting on a good show. Then some dumbass in a jetbike (yes jet engine mounted on the back of a motorcycle, no joke) came out and did a couple laps around the stadium. Everyone loved it, lots of cheering and clapping and stomping, all drowned out by that loud ass jet engine. Then the dude driving the jet bike backed up to the line of crush cars that contained the RV and hit his brakes while he revved the jet, blasting the crush cars. It was cool for about 15 seconds till the upholstery in the RV and minivans surrounding it caught flames. The flames kept growing higher and higher while the jetbike stoked them further, and it wasn't long before they were lapping at the metal roof of the stadium, which began to groan. I'll never forget that sound. That's when Dad grabbed me, my little brother, and my stepmom and rushed us to the nearest exit, squeezing passed people who were mostly still planted on the bleachers, just staring in awe at the fire show. I remember the the embers raining down on us and my Dad picking me up and carrying me because the smoke was already choking me up. It was when we were descending the stairs that led out of the colosseum that the announcer finally told people to get out of there, practically screaming "Evacuate!! Evacuate!! Everybody out NOW!!" That of course led to the mass panic and stampede that my dad had foreseen minutes ago, and which we managed to narrowly avoid. People got trampled that day, but I don't think anybody burned to death. Lots of injuries related to the smoke and the poor evacuation execution though. I learned later on from an inside track with the people hosting the show that the coliseum was so badly damaged they decided the best idea would be to tear it down. Now there's a casino resort in it's place. The Choctaw Nation hasn't hosted a monster truck show since, and I don't think they ever will.

"I think car quality declined" I'll disagree with that. I think car manufacture priorities changed. Cars are much safer for the occupants now than they used to be, in part because of crush zones meticulously engineered to meet safety standards while reducing mass. Just look at the 2009 Malibu vs. 1959 Bel Air crash test; I know which car I consider higher quality. Also, shedding parts from around the passenger compartment helps dissipate the energy of a collision. Basically, modern, safer, more efficient cars probably just don't function as ramps as well as older designs. And that's a good thing.

This is a very well made video. I never actually thought about the width of cars being so important, but that is very true; especially with how much wider some top-tier indie housings are now. I'm excited for more videos like this.

Even though they got rid of crushing cars, It's still a show about trucks with big Tires, and I am all there for it.

As a car guy, it HURTS me to see all these perfect junk cars go to waste. some of them I know every engine and part and what its compatible with. but at the same time MONSTER TRUCKS GONNA EAT! GIVE THEM THE CRAPPY CARS!!!!

Last time I went to a monster truck show we sat 2nd row. A truck was doing donuts in front of us and it shot a 3" bolt into my face like a bullet. It hit about a half inch below my eye... So ya... even without cars it's still dangerous as hell. I will never go again.

This video was DEEPLY informative; thank you for taking so much time to make this. Hopefully people will understand why cars are not in Monster Jam anymore.

Unfortunately, I think the removal of vehicle crushing and obstacles has kinda killed the sport. I miss the golden era in the 2000’s when regular Monster Jam events were regularly televised in massive arenas from around North America and elaborate courses with jumps, cars, trucks, buses and shipping containers. The head to head races and freestyle were all amazing!

The safety issue is always going to be brought up even though it's not the case. I just saw a monster jam truck flip into the stands off of a dirt pile. From what I've heard, junk yards have gone way up on prices for these shows to get cars.

I remember a while ago seeing a monster truck show for the first time in real life. My disappointment was immeasurable when they just did laps around the track and jumps and didn't crush anything.

19:15 I disagree. With the 2-wheel skills challenge at every event, I'd say it's exactly where the 3PT shot is in the NBA. It IS an integral part of the industry now, and even independent shows have been featuring more and more of these moves. I do agree with what you said just prior. I grew up with crush cars, and it always seems like something is missing whenever watching a show, even to this day. This was a fantastic documentary. Thank you for the information!

This is why I watch more independent monster truck shows they still use cars as of now because I grew up with lots of cars and in monster jam they being mostly gone and the independent shows haven’t so I watch them

This is the perfect KZfaq video essay. It’s about a phenomenon that I didn’t know was happening, in something I’ve only been vaguely aware of, and yet it’s such an interesting premise, researched with a lot of care and attention, and produced so professionally, that I found myself invested throughout the video’s runtime.

I haven't been to a monster truck show since they got rid of the car crushing events.

best random recommendation on YT in years . very well put together

6:46 holy. That attention span thing he mentioned is so true lol

Thanks for the research! I had heard the tire puncture issue before, but the safety aspect is a whole different level- and your video clips clearly showed it. Great work!

I've never been to a monster truck show, but I've wanted to see at least one my whole life. I grew up in the 90s. If I went to a show, and zero cars got crushed, and instead I had to sit through a truck balancing on its nose, I would just walk out. I'm glad I caught this video, I should look into the tours you shared that still crush cars.

After seeing Tom Meents' career ending injury earlier this year, I just have to wonder: if he landed on crush cars instead of a dirt mound, would he have still gotten as badly hurt? Those cars eat up a lot of the impact and basically act as an exterior crumple zone for these giant roll cages with wheels. I wish we could get them back for both driver safety and nostalgia purposes

Older cars were built with more quality metal parts but also didn't last as long on the road. They rusted out and had poor engine design. It's a funny combination that probably helped there be more access to crush cars. Nowadays car engines last much longer than they did in the 60s and 70s. People don't need to buy a new car every 40,000 miles anymore and cars are so expensive new, that people opt to repair them rather than buy another one. Your average brand new car in the 60s was only $2500. It also doesn't help that half of the cars we crushed 20 years ago are considered collectors items now since many cars from the 80s and 90s are very desirable and reliable and actually do last a long time.

I was born in 1974 and literally watched the growth of monster truck racing and events. I liked the transition from car crushing to motocross style side by side racing over dirt mounds. The freestyle events have gotten insane with some of the things the drivers can do with a monster truck. But, like other motorsports, when iconic drivers start retiring, and the lack of TV coverage, I have not seen an event in probably at least a decade.

Moster Jam from the late 90s and the early 2000s was the best.

as an old school monster truck fan i 100% miss the car crushing, remember as a kid going to the tractor pull competitions and afterwords they have two monster trucks come out and totally destroy a line of cars and sometimes even a truck or a bus, now monster jam is just all racing not a single car to be found I find it totally boring and I do not watch anymore. I really wish they would bring back the cars and the buses and things like that for them to destroy especially during the freestyle, even the championship that they hold in Las Vegas is boring without the cars in my opinion really wish they’d bring it back

8:37 that save was amazing 🔥🔥

Thank you so much! I grew up in the 90s with the crush cars as the center of the show. I'll never forget El Toro Loco making a headlong charge into an RV trailer and just pulverizing it! But I can understand the various reasons for the changes. I've had the good fortune of attending the MJ World Finals a couple times in the past few years, and the skill of the drivers in freestyle is absolutely incredible. And with the stability offered by dirt ramps, the trucks can fly high and still stick the landing. I got to see Todd LeDuc's death-defying leap at World Finals XX in-person! Thanks again for your thorough and entertaining documentary. I'm definitely going to watch more of your stuff!

really shows you how interconnected everything is i would not have guessed many of these reasons for crush cars going away

I was born in 1984, monster trucks have been one of my favorite things my whole life. Personally for my I don't miss the cars and really could care less about them, my favorite things are courses that allow for wide open throttle straights, corners to slide, and ramps to get huge air. plus all the stoppies, moon walks, back flips, and my favorite slap wheelies are all so much cooler then crushing cars. Plus for me I am a lover of old weird sedans, wagons, and vans. So even though nothing is sacred it bummed me out a little watching some of my favorite weird sedans and wagons being crushed. especially when I used to see G-bodies being crushed. This was a really well done video, I had really only clicked on it to see the reason and instead watched the whole thing. Thank you!

I remember going to a Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live and we were in the 1st row cut off (or as I call them, tarp seats). Seeing the amount of parts that fell off the cars after every hit & how quickly the disintegrated, the more I understood the change to starting going away from them. As an old school fan from the 80s, crush cars will have a soft spot in my heart, but like you said a few times, the sport of monster trucks has evolved.

I've been wondering about this. I'd noticed fewer and fewer cars in monster truck shows when I'd see them. And ... it all does make sense. There's really no 'it's their fault' finger pointing that will work or even help with the matter. Nice video.

15:28 i'll be honest .. watching all this ... just makes me want to play monster truck madness 2 lol

I think a way to keep crush cars, busses, and campers would be using them at bigger shows and keeping them out of arenas. Places like Charlotte and other speedway shows. Maybe monster jam can use them at only their big shows. Aka world finals and all-star challenge. They did have some in anaheim for the superstar challenge. Maybe that's the way ut will have to be from now on. These new cars can just hold up to these trucks' demands.

When I was 5 years old, I dressed up as Grave Digger for halloween. Absolutely loved the thing, even though I hadn’t even heard of it before. I’ve been completely in love with monster trucks ever since.

Man the good old monster truck drag strip was so dope I use to go with those with my dad in the late 80s when they were still an actual pickup

I like crush cars and other crush vehicles because they can make a track look more whole and complete. However, the moves that you can do off of them can vary at any time and the pieces usually scatter. Thank you for another great video!

I'm gonna guess more, consistent air time and less cleanup.

Great documentary, and props to the promoters for being so open. For me, I think the sport can still be very entertaining. The only issue i ever had with it is when they go to small arenas where there is barely enough room to turn and they can't get up to speed. May as well watch them idle around the course at that point.

I haven't heard about monster trucks since the early 2000s. My friend told me his parents were taking him to something called monster jam. I didn't realize it was still going on after all this time! Great video

1:00 I was in the audience here. 😃 Seeing Bigfoot crushing cars was excellent. Years later I watched one where the cars were already crushed and the trucks jumped over them. 😒 Never went back, lost interest. ☹️ Maybe they can make fake cars that are designed to be crushed? Parts pressed out of aluminum that can be recycled, filled with dirt friendly filler?

when i was a kid i used to think the cars in the show were cars from the parking lot and i was afraid my car would be brought out

Excellent video! I'm a fan of the old school.... steel leaf sprung trucks running over cars, but this is a great video explaining where things are going and why. You really did your homework.

This is extremely comprehensive and i appreciate the research you did rather than going mainly based off speculation. Thank you for making this video

I was in Tacoma dome sitting behind the young man who passed from flying debris. I was in therapy for two years from it. Needless to say I can never be a steward of this power sport again.

Just want to say that the guy on the phone saying car quality is down is just wrong. Quality isn't down, safety is up. To save your life in a car crash, the energy from your car crashing needs to be dissipated before it hits your body. In the 60s through 80s with the more rigid cars, you simply died as al that car crash energy went through your body and shattered you inside. These days cars are engineered to crumple, the materials they utilize are designed to break and shatter. Every crumple, break, or shattered piece is a bit of energy that isn't being transferred to you. So it isn't that car quality went down, it's that as a society we have decided that its more important to have safe cars which suck at monster truck shows than it is to have entertainingly rigid cars that kill 10x more people day to day.

Don’t get me wrong. I am one of the biggest monster jam fans out there, but I think we can all agree we need to start boycotting and quit supporting in all ways till they bring back the golden era of monster jam with crush obstacles and steer away from the stunts. And as for the stunts It was impressive when they weren’t planned, somehow they’ve made it unimpressive to see a backflip anymore

I watched the whole video, but @1:04 I genuinely cried seeing that footage again. I grew up watching a cassette tape of that event.

Keep up these documentaries 🙌

If they could do what they did for TNT Unfinished Business and what they do for Outlaw monster truck tour that would be great.

This just unlocked a good old memory I had totally forgotten I ever even had lol. I was born in '98, and my dad took me to a Monster Jam show at some point in the mid to late 2000s. At least I'm pretty sure that's what it was, I'll have to ask him about it!

The video no one asked for, but we all wanted! Good job!

How many promoters other than Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live is still using crush cars? Probably a few if that.

This was why I stopped watching Monster Jam and lost interest in monster trucks

1. Safety because of the flying shrapnel from the crushing 2. People nowadays would crush those cars in a safer more efficient ways if they want more metal 3. There's increasing number of people restoring car wrecks and disused vehicles to road worthy as a hobby.

9:29 wow, 5 is the last truck I’d expect to be used as an example in this video 😂

I'm glad they don't crush cars anymore, and I wish they never crushed cars.

I guess the question comes down to this: if there are no cars to crush, what's the point of having monster trucks? You can jump anything with enough speed and power, so they aren't unique in that aspect. There's literally nothing else a monster truck can do that other vehicles can't.

I'm just a very casual fan of monster trucks but I think you did a very good job of explaining the change. I'd still prefer to see stuff get crushed, but the new nose-stands etc are pretty damn cool too.

Awesome video man! I like that instead of just voicing your opinion, you got people who know why this is happening. I feel I long as cars are still incorporated (like embedded in the dirt, so at least their roofs can be crushed), people will still enjoy monster truck shows. Also, 10/10 Captain’s Curse joke!

2:38 💀

God, current Monster Jam sucks so much ass.

Did not think this video would go this deep and be this grounded and logical. Well done sir!

I remember as a kid going to Ascot RaceWay with my dad and watching crash up derbies. One time a cars tire blew out and his rim dug into the dirt flinging huge chunks as he turned. The lady sitting next to me took a football size chunk to the face. Seeing cars crushed in the same era was amazing. I am glad to have grown up in that time when monster trucks were still kind of an exposition and not full on racing with big sponsors who wanted to win. Your video and the promotors make lots of good points as to why there are no more cars.

Whats the point of monster trucks now everthing is becoming poncey

Unpopular opinion, i don't miss crushing cars despite growing up with it...😅 I will always have that memory

I’m 41, drive a Mazda hatchback and listen to NPR. I haven’t been to a monster truck show since I was 15 at the oldest. I deeply enjoyed this discussion.

I just went to see the HotWheels Monster Jam show with my kriddos for their first show. I was elated to see some crush cars still present, and even an apperence from the great metal lizard himself who still puts on quite a show. My 2 year old was enamored. ❤

They still crush cars

I haven't watched Monster Jam in years with one of the big reasons being no crush cars

I'd probably say I'm a "casual monster truck fan". I was born in '76, so I grew up with knowing what Bigfoot was, and playing with radio controlled monster trucks, and so on. I've been to events in the 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's, and probably in the 20's, though the whole Covid thing really put a damper on that. And you know what? I've had fun, every time I've gone. They're big trucks, making lots of noise, doing crazy stuff. Whether they're smashing cars or not, they're still just *cool*, y'know? :D That said, I appreciate you making this video. It was neat to see the history behind the changes in this sort of event. :D

Born in 81 and I've watched monster trucks evolve almost from the start. The new drivers have skills that the old school drivers probably never even thought of! The tricks they do now is way more impressive than smashing cars. That being said I do miss it!

Do monster trucks still crushing cars now?

My dad took me to a monster truck derby in the 90s, and I loved it. Until I saw a few versions of my car getting crushed. I was like 10, and I LOVED our family car, and I have a bunch of them to this day. It truly made me sad that I saw Hyundai Ponys (and even Stellars) getting crushed underwheel. I still remember how I felt about it now, 30 some odd years later. It was at the flying high over the cars era.

Mine and my sons birthdays are coming up and since they're only a few days apart my wife got us both Monster Jam tickets as a gift and I can't wait. There's just something about big, loud, jacked up trucks flying through the air and crushing everything in sight that will never get old to me

I think people love pure talent in many of the same ways they love crushing cars. I feel like in any sport, virtuosity is as exciting as the big plays.

Im so angry 😡💢 that monster jam has water down the show and now it's way less fun and got boring and they lost a lot of people and noticed almost all monster jam shows are not full of people anymore it used to be a full house and I noticed the crowds have been acting Dry lately

BKT tires suck! U Crane is better!

Fantastic and informative. No filler, all too the point.

Rip all those classics that are now worth alot

The safety busy bodies ruin all the fun

The one where they race across pure ramps, around the same measured track, is a 'Sport'. The bit show where they still crush stuff, and do backflips etc, is a 'Show'.

Broke my heart to see the 2000s monte carlo waiting to get crushed. May god bless me with one

i for one am happy to see the transition, because holy sxxt i love seeing a truck behave like a skateboard.

Uh oh, it's beginning to look like rain. Here comes Blue!!! Thunder!!! I always remember that from that Monster Jam 360 game. I never knew about the lack of crushed cars. But as far as trucks doing more tricks. I'm intrigued. It reminds me of skateboarding in a way.