TEST DRIVE
WORLD EXCLUSIVE!
GRAVE DIGGING DUO!
TRAXXAS SON;UVA DIGGER AND
GRAVE DIGGER 30TH ANNIVERSARY
KIT | ELECTRIC | OFF-ROAD
WORDS ERICH REICHERT PHOTOS HOPE McCALL
FOR OVER A YEAR NOW, Traxxas has been releasing licensed replicas of
the Monster Jam monster trucks. While they’re essentially the same underneath their scale bodies, monster truck fans swarm
to each new release to keep their field of mini
monsters complete. ;e newest editions to
the fleet are the Grave Digger 30th Anniversary and Son-Uva Digger trucks
driven by father and son duo Dennis
and Ryan Anderson. So, what
makes this pair of separately sold
monsters of mayhem so special?
Are they just a set of new stickers and colored accents? Well,
if I’m honest, yes. But that’s
exactly what makes them so
exciting. When you buy one of
these trucks, you’re buying it
for what has always been at the
root of this hobby in its purest
form—the fantasy. It’s that and the
notion that this is as close to driving
the real Grave Digger as most of us
will ever get. But fear not, my upgrade-hungry little car crushers—Along with the
release of the Son-Uva Digger truck complete
with new body and blue accent parts, Traxxas
has made the 30th Anniversary Digger into what would
be considered a “special edition” trim. Now is a better time than ever to
imagine yourself behind the wheel, doing donuts, and putting on a killer
freestyle show—so let’s do this!
PERFORMANCE Both the Son-Uva Digger and Grave Digger are based on the wildly popular and successful Traxxas Stampede platform, as are the rest of the Monster Jam lineup. In other words, I had a good idea of what the
trucks were going to drive like before I even hit the ground running. As expected, the trucks
were a ton of fun to drive and were very stable considering they’re taller in stature compared
to most RC trucks. The Stampede platform is a time-proven combination of steady handling
that’s easy to drive and exhibits just enough speed to keep things interesting. I happened to
have brought them home with me, so when the punchy black and green paint scheme caught
my son’s eye, it was on. He took the Grave Digger and I grabbed the Son-Uva Digger and we
proceeded to have a great time blasting up and down the road. To make things a little more
exciting, I brought out a few of my other cars and lined them up in front of a ramp jump I keep
handy. Before we knew it, we had our own Monster Jam show going on with kids from the
nearby park watching as we thrashed over the other vehicles and nearly missed a few mid-air
