During Indianapolis 500 festivities this week, two of the greatest forms of motorsport on Earth collided in glorious fashion: monster trucks and open-wheel racing.
Monster Jam unveiled a brand-new truck called Power Rush, styled to resemble an IndyCar machine. It features a pointed nose, protruding sidepods, and a towering rear wing that looks like it was borrowed straight from the paddock at IMS. Considering monster trucks already run exposed wheels, half the visual transformation was already there.
The concept was ambitious—maybe even a little absurd—and honestly, that’s part of the charm.
Did Monster Jam perfectly nail the proportions of an IndyCar? Not quite. The cockpit area, in particular, looks a little awkward, mostly because monster trucks are still built around massive steel-tube chassis and safety cages. At the end of the day, engineering realities tend to win out over some designer’s sketch of a sleek formula car. You can only disguise 66-inch tires and six tons of machinery so much.
Still, it’s an undeniably cool piece of equipment. And more importantly, it backed up the hype with genuine performance.
With driver Camden Murphy behind the wheel, Power Rush blasted down the front straight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and set a new monster truck world speed record at 165 km/h. Seeing something that normally spends its weekends flying over crushed sedans suddenly hammering around the Racing Capital of the World felt delightfully unhinged—in the absolute best way possible.
And honestly? Somewhere in the great beyond, the ghosts of the old CART series are probably nodding in approval.