Monster Career

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

Known simply as CVH to the sport’s avid fans, Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam driver Carl Van Horn has the best of both worlds. He drives the legendary Grave Digger, which fetes its 30th anniversary this year, and acts as its crew chief.

“It’s definitely fun,” says Van Horn, who is scheduled to participate in the Monster Jam at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Chase Field. “There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that people don’t realize. We’ve come so far with the trucks and making them hold up better. It’s helping a lot. But [when] we make the trucks land better and make the parts stronger, they just make the ramps higher. We still end up breaking it pretty good a lot of times.”

Feld Motor Sports, the company for whom Van Horn works, says there are 110 Monster Jam trucks in its fleet. Each truck has its own driving team, which can vary in number of members. Van Horn jumped on board in 1999 as a “crew guy” for the truck Blue Thunder. Three years later, he landed a job as a driver for Spiderman after an audition with five other crew members.

The 43-year-old driver has had a lifelong love of racing and cars, so his position is a natural fit. Van Horn says when he was a child, he quickly learned to ride four wheelers and go-karts.

“When I was old enough to get my license, I was terrorizing the dirt roads,” Van Horn says with a laugh. “I was always trying to do something to go fast. I guess that little bit of time doing that helped me adapt to a monster truck.”