**Disclaimer** – For anyone reading this feature article series for the first time, the TMB “Road to the World Finals” is completely unofficial and just for fun. We assign points based on a driver’s performance using the actual results from events on MonsterJam.com so that we can see who the best performing drivers are throughout the season. See the bottom of this article for the full explanation of how it works.

After two full months of competition on the 2013 Monster Jam Tour, Carl Van Horn and Grave Digger have claimed the top spot on TMB’s “Road to the World Finals” Unofficial Power Rankings! This is easily one of the closest battles we’ve ever seen in the seven years we’ve been doing this feature, as less than 20 points separate the top 4 drivers with only 3 weeks of competition left to go.

Van Horn has earned the #1 ranking overall by not only having more wins than any other driver (42) but also by strong performances in the his stadium events. He holds a slim lead of less than 5 points over fellow Team Grave Digger drivers Charlie Pauken and Jon Zimmer, who sit in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Both Pauken and Zimmer have taken a similar route to the top of the standings, making the most of their stadium events while dominating in their arena shows. Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter is having one of his best Monster Jam seasons in recent memory, as his 4 stadium racing wins are the most of any driver, and when combined with his additional 26 arena wins and other strong stadium performances, he is less than 10 points out of the top spot.

In an incredibly tight battle, Carl Van Horn is leading the way on the “Road to the World Finals”!

The Anderson family is within striking distance however as they have been picking up stadium wins left and right. Adam in Grave Digger The Legend and Ryan in Son Uva Digger sit 5th and 6th, each with 6 stadium wins, while Dennis in Grave Digger is ranked 7th with 7 stadium wins, the most of any driver this year. With all three of them less than 30 points out of the lead, a big weekend could vault any one of them to the top.

Gary Porter in Grave Digger, Neil Elliott in Maximum Destruction and Damon Bradshaw in Monster Energy round out the top 10. Two-time “Road to the World Finals” winner Tom Meents sits 14th overall – he has 4 stadium wins to his credit, but has struggled with consistency in 2013.

Looking towards the back of the pack, the battle for the final spot is on. With 28 trucks going to be competing this year, every driver wants to finish in the top 28 so that they can say they earned their invite to the World Finals. Only about 10 points separate 26th place driver Mike Vaters in Black Stallion from 34th place driver Jim Koehler in Avenger, with Dan Evans, Lupe Soza, Chuck Werner, Frank Krmel, Donald Epidendio, Scott Buetow and Greg Winchenbach all in the fight.

Having said all of that, Monster Jam has announced the 27 drivers that WILL be competing in the World Finals this year, and the 12 drivers selected for the Young Guns Shootout. They are marked as such in the standings below and you will be able to see some of the good, and some of the not so good choices that were made when picking this year’s “qualifiers”. The biggest snub for this year will undoubtedly be Carl Van Horn being passed over, especially when he is currently the #1 ranked driver in our standings after nine weeks of competition.

Check out the Road to the World Finals unofficial rankings after February below:

Here is how points were scored in the Elite Level events held in February:

Week Six

2/2 – St. Louis, Missouri

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Chad Fortune – Captain America – 20
2nd – Carl Van Horn – Grave Digger – 15
Semi-Finals – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 20
Tie – 2nd – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 12.5
Tie – 2nd – Carl Van Horn – Grave Digger – 12.5
4th – Chad Fortune – Captain America – 5

2/2 – Houston, Texas

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Lee O’Donnell – Iron Man – 20
2nd – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 15
Semi-Finals – Todd Leduc – Metal Mulisha – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Frank Krmel – Grinder – 15
Tie – 3rd – Todd Leduc – Metal Mulisha – 7.5
Tie – 3rd – George Balhan – Mohawk Warrior – 7.5

2/2 – Tampa, Florida

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Damon Bradshaw – Monster Energy – 20
2nd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 15
Semi-Finals – Chuck Werner – El Toro Loco – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Lupe Soza – Grinder – 15
Tie – 3rd – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 5
Tie – 3rd – Dustin Brown – Wolverine – 5
Tie – 3rd – Steve Sims – Stone Crusher – 5

Week Seven

2/9 – Anaheim, California

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Andrew Peckhum – Tropical Thunder – 15
Semi-Finals – Rick Swanson – Obsession – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 15
3rd – Brian Deegan – Metal Mulisha – 10
4th – Dustin Brown – Wolverine – 5

2/9 – Miami, Florida

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 20
2nd – Debra Miceli – Madusa – 15
Semi-Finals – Dan Evans – Blue Thunder – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Lee O’Donnell – Iron Man – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Bari Musawwir – Spiderman – 15
3rd – Damon Bradshaw – Monster Energy – 10
4th – Lee O’Donnell – Iron Man – 5

Week Eight

2/16 – Atlanta, Georgia

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Scott Hartsock – Gun Slinger – 15
Semi-Finals – Kreg Christensen – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Debra Miceli – Madusa – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 15
3rd – Kreg Christensen – Maximum Destruction – 10
4th – Lupe Soza – Grinder – 5

Week Nine

2/23 – Oakland, California

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 20
2nd – Chuck Werner – El Toro Loco – 15
Semi-Finals – Donald Epidendio – Titan – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Kelvin Ramer – Time Flys – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 20
2nd – Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 15
3rd – Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 10
Tie 4th – Dan Rodoni – The Patriot – 2.5
Tie 4th – Scott Buetow – Hot Wheels Firestorm – 2.5

2/23 – Arlington, Texas

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 20
2nd – Ryan Huffaker – El Toro Loco – 15
Semi-Finals – Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 7.5
Semi-Finals – George Balhan – Mohawk Warrior – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Jim Koehler – Avenger – 20
Tie 2nd – Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 12.5
Tie 2nd – Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 12.5
Tie 4th – Chad Fortune – Captain America – 2.5
Tie 4th – Damon Bradshaw – Monster Energy – 2.5

2/23 – New Orleans, Louisiana

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 20
2nd – Carl Van Horn – Grave Digger – 15
Semi-Finals – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Scott Hartsock – Gun Slinger – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Carl Van Horn – Grave Digger – 20
2nd – Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 15
3rd – Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 10
Tie 4th – Scott Hartsock – Gun Slinger – 2.5
Tie 4th – Sean Duhon – Zombie – 2.5

2/23 – Jacksonville, Florida

Racing Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 20
2nd – Marc MacDonald – El Toro Loco – 15
Semi-Finals – Bryan Wright – Hooked – 7.5
Semi-Finals – Alex Blackwell – Captain’s Curse – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Driver – Truck – Points Earned

1st – Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 20
Tie 2nd – Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 12.5
Tie 3nd – Marc MacDonald – El Toro Loco – 12.5
4th – Kreg Christensen – Maximum Destruction – 5

For results from Normal Level events, check out the 2013 Results Tracker page (drivers earn 5 points for a racing or freestyle win, 2 points for a wheelie or donut win).

Keep following TMB’s “Road to the World Finals” for all the results and current standings each week. Keep in mind this is all unofficial and is just for fun, and enjoy as we track the Monster Jam series all the way to the World Finals in March!

About TMB’s Road to the World Finals:

For some time, fans across the country have wondered why the USHRA does not run a public points system of some kind for their Monster Jam series. We are included in the group that would love to be able to follow the standings of such a series each week. We are of the belief that a berth in the Monster Jam World Finals should be earned based on performance throughout the year in both racing and freestyle. Regardless of what portion of the monster truck industry you favor, there is no denying that the Monster Jam World Finals is the biggest and highest profile event our sport has to offer. A chance to compete at this event is a big deal for many drivers out there, and it is our opinion that they should be able to earn their way in. We’re not saying that Feld Motorsports doesn’t pick the World Finalists based on performance currently–we’re simply saying that we don’t know how they make up the field because the process isn’t made public.

So with that in mind, we have created an UNOFFICIAL points system that is simple (although it may seem complicated) and that rewards performance in all Monster Jam events across the country leading up to the World Finals. In our Standings, we will show the cut-off after the 24th truck, indicating that IF entry to the World Finals was based SOLELY on performance, these are the drivers that would be headed to Las Vegas. Keep in mind that this is just for fun and has no actual bearing on the selection of World Finals participants. See below for a breakdown of our points system and our rationale for the decisions we made in creating it.

Elite Level Events

What is an Elite Level event? We define an Elite Monster Jam event as any with a field of 12 of more trucks. We have chosen to award these events the highest amount of points, because these are the highest profile Monster Jam events. These events are the ones held in the major stadiums in front of the biggest crowds, some of which are even televised on SPEED. It is our belief that performance in the highest profile shows should be weighted most heavily toward a World Finals berth because these events are most similar to the World Finals itself. The most points any one driver can score in an Elite Level event (and thus in any event) is 40. If an event meeting all of this criteria holds 3 or more shows over the course of a single weekend, the points for each show are worth half of what is listed below.

Racing Finish – Points Awarded

1st – 20
2nd – 15
Semi-Finals – 7.5

Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded

1st – 20
2nd – 15
3rd – 10
4th – 5

Normal Level Events

What is a Normal Level show? The majority of Monster Jam events held around the country are Normal Level shows. These events are typically held in smaller arenas around the country, consisting of multiple shows held over the course of the weekend (anywhere from 2-5), with fields of anywhere from 5-10 trucks. Looking at the points awarded for these shows, you will notice they are much less than the upper levels. We equate the significance level of an entire 4 show weekend of Normal Level events with the significance of one Elite Level show–thus, the maximum points a driver can earn in racing/freestyle each weekend at a Normal Level event is 40 (this based on the usual maximum # of shows being 4–a couple events being the exception with 5–and an available 10 points per show (10×4=40)). Beginning in 2012, we are also awarding 2 points for wheelie/donut contest wins as that information has become more readily available than when the Road to the World Finals was first started.

Wheelie/Donut Finish – Points Awarded

1st – 2

Racing Finish – Points Awarded

1st – 5

Freestyle Finish – Points Awarded

1st – 5