| Predator Racing, Inc. Predator Racing, Inc. is
a monster truck team consisting of the trucks Predator, Prowler and Pouncer, all
of which currently compete primarily on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit. The team
is owned by Allen Pezo, and includes Pezo, Dale Mitchell, David Pezo and Larry
Jaruzel as drivers. The trucks are famous for their "cat" designs, with the
trucks modeled after a panther, tiger, and cheetah, respectively. The team also
occasionally runs a conventional Dodge Ram by the name of Lone Eagle.
About Allen Pezo Allen Pezo has been on the
monster truck circuit since he was 15 years old. He got the idea for building
his own monster truck when he went to a truck pull at the Ponitac Silverdome in
Michigan. There, the idea for his first monster truck, the Lone Eagle, was born.
It was a 1984 Chevy Silverado pickup, purchased brand new (stock truck) and
modified. It weighed 16,000 lbs. Allen started booking shows with SRO
Motorsports. He did 20 shows per year to start. Allen’s Lone Eagle was a special
attraction which was used as filler for the truck pulls and custom car shows.
During these shows, Allen strictly crushed cars. There was no racing, no
freestyle, no doughnuts or getting major air off the jumps. The monster truck
was only for riding over cars. Allen hauled Lone Eagle around on a flatbed
pulled by a 1 ton dually pickup truck. There was just enough room for the
monster truck tires and the truck itself. Very few spare parts were carried.
This first truck was run on gasoline. Five gallons lasted a month. Allen ran
Lone Eagle for 5 years, until 1988. Allen, with the help of his family and a few
friends, built this first truck. One of these friends was Larry Jaruzel, who
currently shares driving responsibilities in Prowler with Allen’s cousin Dave
Pezo. These same people helped Allen with each of his trucks, and are still
around helping him out today.
In 1986, SRO was interested in having another truck, a Ford, to be more
specific, so the White Knight was born. It was all a Ford-Chevy battle back
then. The White Knight was 1986 Ford Ranger single cab short bed truck. This
truck was built from all junkyard pieces. This truck weighed only 13,500 lbs.
The fact that it was a smaller truck accounted for the weight difference. Allen
still used the flatbed trailer with his 1 ton dually to haul this from show to
show. This truck was only booked for 10 – 15 shows per year. SRO did not use
this second truck as much as they said they would. Allen was running both Lone
Eagle and White Knight at the same time, but could only haul one at a time.
White Knight was still only used for between show entertainment to crush cars.
Nothing more. This was also a gasoline-powered vehicle. This truck was run for
two or three years and then was sold in 1989-1990. The person who bought it
still owns it today.
In 1988 Lone Eagle was redesigned. Chevy had changed body styles so the Lone
Eagle got a new body and a new name. It’s new name was Predator. This body was
blue with orange and yellow stripes down the side. This body was a single cab
with long bed. Allen was still booking shows through SRO. This first Predator
monster truck was booked for 25 – 30 shows per year. This was still hauled on
the flatbed using the 1 ton dually pickup truck. This was still just a
car-crushing exhibition.
In 1989, the second Predator monster truck was born. The chassis was different
on this new truck, but everything else was the same as the first, including body
style and paint job. A friend of Allen’s from Detroit did the paint jobs for all
the monster trucks. By this time, Allen had acquired an enclosed trailer to haul
one of the trucks around. He also built his first motor home to pull this
trailer. The motor home was a Chevy Kodiak. The flat bed and dually pickup still
hauled the other truck. At this same time, Allen also acquired a tank that he
brought to these exhibitions to crush cars. It was also called Predator and had
the same paint job as the two monster trucks. This tank was booked at roughly 15
shows per year. The other two Predators were booked at 15 – 20 shows per year.
Larry Jaruzel drove the second Predator. Both trucks had their own schedules and
rarely traveled together.
In 1991, Allen built his first race truck. This truck was white with neon
accents. This was 10,000 lbs – the light-weight tube chassis, fiberglass body vs
steel body, lighter axles, and all lighter parts made up the weight difference
between this and the previous trucks. This truck was also called Predator.
Around this time, Allen bought his first tractor-trailer and retired the dually
pickup. He could fit two trucks into this tractor-trailer, and still hauled one
truck in the enclosed trailer being pulled by the motor home. This new truck was
booked for 25 – 30 shows per year. Big Foot, Carolina Crusher & Grave Digger
were also part of this new monster truck racing circuit. The show formats were
as varied as they are today with Chicago style (roundy-round) racing, straight
drag racing, "U" turn racing and freestyle. They raced over rows of cars with no
dirt ramps before or after the piles of cars. The lone promoter of monster
trucks was Pace Motorsports, which bought out SRO some time in the 1990's.
The second blue Predator was torn apart and redesigned into a new race truck.
This was the first truck with the panther body. The paint scheme was black with
a neon orange and yellow logo. This truck was built in 1992 and started racing
in 1993. The first race truck, the white one with neon accents, got a black
panther body put on it. These two trucks were the only ones he raced. At the
same time, the first blue Predator truck was turned into a ride truck with a new
black panther body. The ride truck was only out when booked and was taken with
the race truck. In 1993 Allen bought the infamous black trailer with living
quarters in it. In 1994 he bought another tractor to pull this new trailer…a
1991 Kenworth, which he still owns today. Allen’s cousin Dave Pezo started
driving in 1993.
In 1995 a third Predator was built. These three were run until 1997 before the
first race truck was sold. He then just ran these last two until 1998 when the
second one was sold to one of Allen’s friends, along with the tractor-trailer.
This friend still races the truck today under a different name. In 1998 Prowler
was built out of all new components, including a new frame. The objective was to
have two identical trucks (except for the paint job) that traveled together in
one trailer. Today, Larry Jaruzel & Dave Pezo share driving duties with Prowler
while Allen Pezo still runs Predator.
During the 4th Quarter of 2002, Allen & Diane purchased their original third
monster truck and trailer back. It has been run, up until this point, as a
Predator black cat. We have a new body and paint scheme that we will introduce
in May 2003 at the Conyers, GA show. Keep an eye out for pictures! Also in 2003,
Allen decided to build a ride truck. It is still under construction in May 2003
but will soon be finished for the summer season. This ride truck will run with a
black Predator body on it.
Predator Racing, Inc.
Monster Truck Team
The Team consists of the trucks Predator, Prowler and Pouncer, all
of which currently compete primarily on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit.
Predator On Monster Jam
Predator Monster Truck on Wikipedia
Allen Pezo built his first monster truck, the original Lone Eagle, out of a
brand new 1985 Chevrolet Silverado at the age of 16.
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