Monster Jam World Finals

The Monster Jam World Finals is an annual monster truck event held in late March at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas community of Whitney, Nevada. It is the championship event of the Advanced Auto Parts Monster Jam series. It consists of racing and freestyle segments, and the winner of each is considered the series champion in that division for the coming year. It is the highest profile monster truck event in the country and draws tremendous media attention as well as criticism from those who dislike its destructive reputation.

Originally only 16 trucks were invited to compete in the event, however 20 were selected in 2005, and since 2006, 24 have been invited annually. Trucks and drivers are selected based on their performances over the winter season, which runs from January into early March. When multiple drivers for the same team or truck are selected, they are typically placed into other trucks which travel with their primary vehicle (Grave Digger drivers Gary Porter,Chad Tingler, and Randy Brown have competed in the World Finals in Monster Mutt, Monster Mutt Dalmatian, Spiderman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle respectively, and teammates Pablo Huffaker won the 2007 Freestyle Championship driving Captain's Curse) and Charlie Pauken's 2010 Freestyle Championship in Monster Mutt. Many more trucks are invited to be displayed during the "Pit Party" festivities in the days prior to the event.

The stature of the event leads to extremes in both competitions. The racing track starts in the parking lot behind the locker rooms of the stadium, and features a long straightaway with speeds reaching over 70 MPH. The freestyle track layout is typically the most extreme all season, with several large and unique obstacles, often producing a multitude of crashes. The scoring system is also modified for the event, with seven judges (1 for bonus points) and the lowest and highest scores dropped and up to 5 bonus points for a maximum possible score of 45 (not including tiebreakers), as opposed to three judges and a maximum score of 30 for the regular season.

It is sometimes debated between the die-hard fans that the Monster Jam World Finals is illegitimate, or unfair, as the event is an "INVITE ONLY", and there is no points series to determine who is entitled to compete. Another controversy is that the parent company, FELD Motorsports, owns a majority of the trucks that are initially invited to participate in the event. One last factor is that the competitors are not from around the world, with most of the drivers being based out of the United States. However, this is often countered by the fact that Monster Jam participates in a world tour(which consists of the United States, Canada, and Europe). Usually, for racing qualifying, all qualifiers run with no body, to keep the bodies nice for competition the next night if that truck rolls over. However, that is not the case for 2012, as it was announced that All qualifiers will qualify with full bodies on. Then starting in 2012 FELD added a new competition to the World Finals Double Down where 8 competitors with 2 years or less experience compete in racing for the title as Young Guns Shootout winner.