El Toro Loco (truck)

El Toro Loco

El Toro Loco in Phoenix, Arizona
Owner and driver information
Owner FELD Motorsports
Driver(s) Marc McDonald, Chuck Werner, Becky McDonough, Armando Castro, Kayla Blood and Mark List
Home city Ellenton, Florida
Truck information
Year created 2001
No. built 7
Body style 2004 Custom Bull
Chassis Carroll Racing Development, Patrick Enterprises Incorporated, Willman-style Chassis Design
Engine 540 cubic inch Merlin big block
Transmission Coan 2-speed
Tires S.I.R. racing slicks, Goodyear Terra

El Toro Loco ("The Crazy Bull") is a monster truck currently racing in the Advance Auto Parts MONSTER JAM professional monster truck racing series. It is currently driven by Marc McDonald, Chuck Werner, Becky McDonough, and Mark List, and was originally driven by Lupe Soza, who returned in 2014 to "grab the bull by the horns." Other drivers of the snortin' bull have included Dan Rodoni, Aaron Basl, Ryan Huffaker, Joey Parnell, Chris Baker, and Nathan Weenk. It features one of the first 3-D body shells, with horns sticking out of the roof. This body was originally designed for Bulldozer, and was found a second use for El Toro Loco. As El Toro Loco has increased in popularity, it has become the primary truck for the body style.

Truck History

The truck was created by SFX and PACE Motorsports in 2001, and the truck was driven by Lupe Soza, who had previously owned and driven Warrior from the 80's. The truck was a huge success among kids primarily. The idea stuck around.

In 2003, the truck made its first Monster Jam World Finals appearance with Lupe Soza still behind-the-wheel. With a poor performance in racing, "The Crazy Bull" made up for it in freestyle. Lupe Soza had the performance of a lifetime, featuring a crazy corkscrew flip off of an RV, and then getting the truck stuck on top of a sea container, earning him a second-place performance with a sensational score of 36 out of a possible 40.

In 2004, El Toro Loco was a Monster Jam World Finals freestyle co-champion with Madusa driven by Debrah Miceli, and Maximum Destruction driven by Tom Meents, all tied with a score of 31.

In 2013, El Toro Loco was given a makeover, creating a new black bodied truck piloted by Marc McDonald and a yellow bodied truck under the reign of Becky McDonough. The classic red bodies are still ran by Chuck Werner, Dan Rodoni, and veteran Lupe Soza.

With the truck being in the Top 10 of top merchandise sales with Monster Jam, the team was expanded to now 4 trucks as of 2012. The trucks are similar in terms of body design, but each chassis is unique and different. Marc McDonald is considered the "leader" of the pact of trucks, and he drives the newest El Toro Loco of anybody, with a Carroll Racing Development (CRD) chassis, featuring a lower center-of-gravity design and a softer landing suspension. Becky McDonough drives a Patrick Enterprises Incorporated (PEI) chassis, that is a couple of years old, and has been used before in competition. Chuck Werner was a part of Meents Racing a few years before, so his chassis is a Willman-style chassis, with the engine in the front and the axles designed a little different from many others. Aaron Basl and Ryan Huffaker use to share driving duties with a Racesource designed chassis by monster truck racing legend Pablo Huffaker until 2014 where they pilot the Wolverine monster truck.

In 2015, Becky McDonough drove the yellow El Toro Loco on the inaugural #MoreMonsterJam tour. Chuck Werner drove the red El Toro Loco on the new Fox Sports 1 Championship Series, and made history by scoring the first ever point on the series for being the fastest qualifier at Houston. He won freestyle in St. Louis a few weeks later.

For 2016, a red El Toro Loco is run on the AMSOIL Series with rookie driver Mark List behind the wheel. Mark won the first overall event in 2016 at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Becky McDonough currently has two points on the FS1 Championship Series in the yellow El Toro Loco. Dan Rodoni put his two trucks up for sale and has not driven in 2016.

Drivers

Current Drivers

Former Drivers

Monster Jam World Finals Championships and Accomplishments

Racing: lost in Round 1 to Blacksmith driven by Carl Van Horn Freestyle: 36 - 2nd Place

Racing: lost in Round 1 to King Krunch driven by David Smith (after crashing in the turn) Freestyle: tied for co-freestyle championship with 31 - 1st Place

Racing: lost in Quarter-Finals to Madusa driven by Debra "Madusa" Miceli Freestyle: 8 - 19th Place

Racing: lost in Round 2 to Pastrana 199 driven by Chad Tingler Freestyle: 11 - 23rd Place

Racing: lost in Round 1 to Monster Mutt Dalmatian driven by Chad Tingler Freestyle: 11 - 16th Place

Racing: lost in Round 1 to Black Stallion driven by Michael Vaters Freestyle: 28 - 7th Place

Racing: lost in Round 2 to Blue Thunder driven by Linsey Weenk Freestyle: 20 - 14th Place

Racing: lost in semi-finals to Grave Digger #20 driven by Dennis Anderson Freestyle: DNF - Broken front axle housing and 4-links

Racing: lost in Round 3 to Lucas Oil CRUSADER driven by Linsey Weenk Freestyle: 27 - 7th Place

Racing: lost in Round 2 to Maximum Destruction driven by Tom Meents Freestyle: 27 - 7th Place

Racing: lost in Championship Race to Grave Digger the Legend driven by Adam Anderson Freestyle: 20 - 18th Place

See also

References

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