The Avenger was created in 1997 by Columbus, Michigan native Jim Koehler. The original monster truck sported a forest green Chevrolet S10 body style and a teal chassis and rims. With the exception of the design featured at World Finals 14, the Avenger truck has always sported at least three flaming skulls (one on each side and one on the hood) and flowing flames running from the wheel wells. As time passed, the S10 body was replaced by a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air body with bright green headlights, which is the same body style that is run today by "Mr. Excitement."
Avenger is out of the Team Scream stable, which also features the Brutus, Mega-Bite, Spike, Rage, Axe, Mayhem, and Wrecking Crew trucks. The original Avenger chassis is currently retired, while the second one is currently being run as Axe with young driver Joe Foley behind the wheel.
Body styles
Avenger and Jim Koehler is now the only truck and driver to compete in all 24 iterations of the Monster Jam World Finals, which began in 2000. Tom Meents was the other to compete in all until missing World Finals 18 due to a back injury until he returned for the 2017 Monster Jam Path of Destruction Tour in Foxborough. However, the latter driver retired in 2024. There are various versions of the Avenger truck, which are:
Forest Green Chevrolet S10 Forest Green 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air Orange Bel-Air Half Forest Green and Half Orange Bel-Air Chrome Bel-Air Toxic Green Bel-Air Neon Green Bel-Air "Scuba" Light Blue Bel-Air Black "Rat Rod" Bel-Air Candy Apple Red "Las Vegas" Bel-Air Yellow "Two Time Champion" Bel-Air "Garners" Candy Apple Red Bel-Air Purple Bel-Air Garners Towing Style White Bel-Air Junkyard Style Light Blue Bel-Air Bright Green Chevy S-10 Dark Green "Celebrating 20 years" Chevy S10 with chrome logo Lime Green Custom Nomad Red, Blue and White Stepp's Towing Bel-Air White and Green “Global” Bel-Air Silver “Glow in the Dark” 25th Anniversary Bel-Air Gray “Country Music” Bel-Air Red, Blue and White "USA flag" Bel-Air Gray "War Plane" Bel-Air
Monster Jam World Finals accomplishments
Avenger has taken several titles over the years, but none shine brighter than his two Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Championships. He won his first world championship title in 2003 with the original Forest Green Bel-Air and teal chassis, Jim shocked the Monster Jam World by being the first Freestyle Champion not named Dennis Anderson or Tom Meents. The following year in 2004 Koehler was stopped on him. He bent a 4-link bar that caused the transmission to break after he went over the cars, causing him to be frustrated. In March 2011, with his red "Las Vegas" Avenger, Jim tied with Cam McQueen in the Nitro Circus Monster Truck in the Freestyle competition, edging out McQueen to claim his second Freestyle title, making Jim Koehler one of only three drivers to have more than one Freestyle title at the World Finals, the others being Tom Meents and Adam Anderson (monster truck driver).
In 2009, Avenger debuted the Aussie Avenger, built specifically for the Extreme Monster Trucks Australia tour. This truck featured a bright orange chassis as well as canary yellow rims, with a classic 1957 Chevy Bel-Air body. Jim traveled "Down Under" for the South Pacific Finals where he continued the tradition of American drivers bringing home the Australian championships with his Freestyle victory. In 2010, Koehler returned to Brisbane for the South Pacific Finals 3 to defend his Freestyle Championship. "Mr. Excitement" held true to his name by taking a second straight championship in freestyle. In 2016, he is driving in the Fox Sports 1 Championship Series.
Awards Monster Jam World Finals 1999 (Motor Madness World Finals 0, Forest Green S-10)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Bear Foot in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 22
2000 (Forest Green S-10)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to King Krunch in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 26 - Tied for seventh with Sudden Impact and Bulldozer
2001 (Forest Green S-10)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Beats Spider-Man in Round 1 due to a broken tire-rod Freestyle: Scored 34 - Tied for fourth with Sting
2002 (Forest Green Bel-Air)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Sudden Impact in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 8 - Tied for last with Bulldozer
2003 (Forest Green Bel-Air)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Wolverine in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 37 - First
2004 (Orange)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Bounty Hunter in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 9 - Tied for last with Blue Thunder and Team Suzuki
2005 (Half Orange, Half Forest Green)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Escalade in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 25 - Tied for sixth with Scarlet Bandit and Escalade
2006 (Chrome)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to El Toro Loco in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 16 - Tied for sixteenth with Pastrana 199
2007 (Toxic Green)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Brutus in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 20 - Tied for fifteenth with Pastrana 199
2008 (Neon Green)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Captain's Curse in Round 2 Freestyle: Scored 17 - Fourteenth
2009 (Light Blue)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Brutus in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 4 - Last
2010 (Black and White)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Grave Digger in Round 2 Freestyle: Scored 25 - Tied for tenth with Blue Thunder and Iron Man
2011 (Candy Apple Red)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Batman in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 32 - Tied for first with Nitro Circus (Won its second world title via a tiebreaker.)
2012 (Yellow)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Northern Nightmare in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 13
2013 (Garners' Candy Apple Red)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Spider-Man in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 23 - Tied for seventh with Zombie and Son-uva Digger
2014 (Purple)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Max-D in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 26.5 - Tied for eighth with Wolverine and Overkill Evolution
2015 (White)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Neil Elliott's Max-D in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 22 - Tied for thirteenth with Monster Mutt
2016 (Rusty Blue)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Adam Anderson's Grave Digger in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 12 - Last
2017 (Dark Green Retro S-10)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Son-uva Digger in the Semi-Finals Freestyle: Scored 9.240 - Third
2018 (Lime Green Custom Bel-Air Wagon)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Tyler Menninga's Grave Digger in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 2.990 - Last
2019 (Red, Blue and White)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Great Clips Mohawk Warrior in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 6.399 - Nineteenth
2022 (White and Green)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to The Black Pearl in Round 1 High Jump: Scored 33.144 ft. - Sixth Freestyle: Scored 6.835 - Fourteenth
2023 (Silver “Glow in the Dark”)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Bakugan Dragonoid in Round 2 High Jump: Scored 19.9892 ft. - Eighth Freestyle: Scored 4.411 - Twenty-third
2024 (Silver)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Wild Side in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 6.708 - Fifteenth
2025 (Red, Blue and White "USA flag")
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Jurassic Attack in Round 1 High Jump: Scored 10.090 - Seventh Freestyle: Scored 4.488 - Twenty-third
2026 (Grey)
Driver: Jim Koehler Racing: Lost to Dragon in Round 1 Freestyle: Scored 0 - Thirteenth
References