Monster trucks are due in Hampton Coliseum

Dennis Anderson thought the tricked-out pickups he drove back in the 1970s were monster trucks. He’d knock together the spare engine parts and big tires that he’d find, barter or buy – and then tear into the fields of southern Chesapeake.

“Being an all-American guy, you wanted the biggest, baddest truck around,” Anderson said.

By the early 1980s, he had one.

“It was created as a fluke.”

The “it” Anderson refers to is the legendary Grave Digger, perhaps the best-known monster truck in the world. Two of the Grave Digger fleet – 11 in total now – will headline this weekend’s Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam, of which Anderson is a four-time champion. The jam takes place Friday and Saturday at Hampton Coliseum.

Anderson, now 51, won’t be driving, but son Ryan will be handling Son Uva Digger. Another local star on the circuit, Steve Sims, will drive his Stone Crusher.

Anderson fooled around with old trucks for years after graduating from Great Bridge High in 1978, and it was while living and working across the border in North Carolina that he got into a mouth fight with one of his friends.

The friend was bragging on his own truck, but Anderson shot back that he’d take his wheels and “dig you a grave!” The next day, Anderson spray-painted the words “Grave Digger” on his truck and the rest is racing history. Anderson continued to scour junkyards and backyards for spare pieces to construct his truck, joined professional racing and attracted a die-hard legion of fans. He raised money by selling Grave Digger T-shirts and posters.

“I put every nickel and dime back into my trucks,” Anderson said.

But now, there’s no nickel-and-diming in the big leagues. Trucks cost more than $250,000 with their custom-made engines and bulletproof transmissions, and that doesn’t include the spare parts needed to keep the Grave Digger in prime condition.

Anderson always pushed, from jazzing up the trucks to his all-out driving style, to give the crowd a good show. He promises that the fans will be in for a good one this weekend.

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com