Donkey Kong (monster truck)

The Donkey Kong monster truck.

“It's not even close to a real job. It's more like a dream.”

—Frank Krmel on driving the Donkey Kong monster truck, Monster Jam Online driver bio

Donkey Kong is a monster truck that competes in the Monster Jam racing series, and is designed after the character Donkey Kong, the star of his own franchise. The truck is owned by Feld Motorsports, and is currently driven by Frank Krmel (last name pronounced "kerr-mell"). It debuted on December 8, 2007, and later competed in the Monster Jam World Finals 9 and 10 competitions. Another driver, Kreg Christensen, later took over as driver of the truck before the truck later retired in 2010.

Design

The Donkey Kong truck with its new "eyes."

The truck has a custom concept body, designed to look like Donkey Kong. It is colored brown, and features a large mouth on the front hood area, along with two nostrils. On the sides, where the door would be, it sports two large ears. Its most prominent feature is the necktie dangling from the front. Later, two large eyes were added to the windshield. Because of its resemblance to Donkey Kong and its large "facial features" and tie, it is especially popular among children.

Major competitions

The Donkey Kong monster truck performing in a freestyle competition.

Debut

Donkey Kong made its debut on December 8, 2007, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

In the racing competition's first round, it defeated Chad Fortune and his Superman truck. Moving on to face perennial powerhouse Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter, Krmel lost in the second round. The competition was eventually won by Linsey Weenk in Blue Thunder.

Later that day, in the freestyle competition, Donkey Kong came out and performed first. Scoring an intimidating 21 points out of 30, it sat in first place until bested by racing winner Linsey Weenk in Blue Thunder, who scored a 26. The competition was later won by Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger, who scored a perfect 30. Donkey Kong finished fourth, and Krmel began to make a name for himself freestyling in his new truck.

Monster Jam World Finals 9

Frank Krmel led Donkey Kong to qualify for the ninth annual Monster Jam World Finals at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

In the racing competition, Donkey Kong lost in the first round to veteran driver Dennis Anderson and his Grave Digger truck. The competition was eventually won by John Seasock in Batman.

In freestyle later that night, Donkey Kong scored a mediocre 26 out of 40 points, finishing in ninth place. The competition was eventually won by Adam Anderson in the Taz truck, who scored 37 points.

Monster Jam World Finals 10

Again the next year, Krmel lead Donkey Kong to the next world finals competition in Las Vegas.

Donkey Kong was the fastest qualifier for racing, earning a free pass to the second round. There, DK was upset by the truck Madusa. Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction was later crowned the racing champion.

In the freestyle competition afterwards, Krmel piloted Donkey Kong to the middle of the pack, tying John Seasock's Batman truck with 21 out of 40 points for twelfth place. Damon Bradshaw's Air Force Afterburner truck eventually won the freestyle title, earning 36 points.

Truck mechanics

Donkey Kong is powerede by a 540 cubic-inch Merlin engine, creating a whopping 1500 horsepower. It also features a Coan 2-speed transmission. It sports four massive 66-inch Terra tires.

Drivers

Driver Frank Krmel in his Donkey Kong driving suit.

Donkey Kong was piloted by Frank Krmel (born December 20, 1978). He currently resides in Montgomery, Illinois, when not traveling with the Monster Jam tour. He has been competing on the Monster Jam circuit since 2003, and has piloted trucks such as Pure Adrenaline, Demolition Man, Power Forward, Hot Wheels, and Del Taco's Del Scorcho before joining the Donkey Kong team. He also was a crew chief for the notorious "Team Scream," consisting of Jim Koehler's Avenger and Chris Bergeron's Brutus trucks. Krmel later moved to the Blue Thunder team.

Kreg Christensen took over driving duties of the truck after Krmel moved on to drive the Blue Thunder monster truck in 2010. Christensen has previously driven Max-D, Iron Outlaw, Wicked, and Dragon Slayer, which later returned.

Diecast toys

Along with many other Monster Jam trucks, the diecast car company Hot Wheels produced many diecast replicas of this trucks. As the popularity of this truck grows, Hot Wheels continues to make various sizes of toy Donkey Kong trucks, including 1:64, 1:43, and 1:24 scale trucks. The 1:24 scale trucks feature working suspension, and some 1:64 scale trucks contain a small flag designed like the truck. Also, the 1:44 scale trucks are marketed as "Rev Tredz," and if pulled back they will zoom forwards.

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  1:24 scale diecast

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  1:43 scale diecast

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  1:64 scale diecast