RICK
DISHAROON

Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : March 7
Started competing in Monster Jam : 2014
Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : April 22
Started competing: 1996

RICK
DISHAROON

Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : March 7
Started competing in Monster Jam : 2014
Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : April 22
Started competing: 1996

RICK
DISHAROON

Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : March 7
Started competing in Monster Jam : 2014
Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : April 22
Started competing: 1996

RICK
DISHAROON

Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : March 7
Started competing in Monster Jam : 2014
Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : April 22
Started competing: 1996

RICK
DISHAROON

Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : March 7
Started competing in Monster Jam : 2014
Hometown : Delmar, MD
Birthday : April 22
Started competing 1996

Big Rick

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Rick Disharoon is the driver of monster trucks Smokin' and Wipe Out. He's also the creator and original driver of Backdraft (2001-2004). In addition to professional monster trucks, Rick owns and operates The Metal Shop in Delmar, Delaware with his family.

2010

Rick and Ryan purchased the lower half of two monster truck chassis. Determined to make the Saigon Shaker more than just a local favorite, Disharoon wanted to bring the Saigon Shaker to the big leagues (aka Monster Jam).

2015

Saigon Shaker made its first appearance in the Monster Jam league in Detroit at Ford Field stadium. The next year, Saigon Shaker had the honor of running in the most prestigious tour of Monster Jam Stadiums, followed by an invite to compete in a Young Guns Shootout at Monster Jam World Finals XVII.

Today

Disharoon competes in various live events including The Metal Shop's Monsters of Metal and Monster Jam.

1984-1991

Rick has always been addicted to 4x4’s. Throughout his later school years he would take his Scout, van and Toyota out to the local offroad trails. After he graduated from Delmar High School in 1985, he enlisted in the Air Force and went into the sheet metal fabrication pathway. The last year of being enlisted he traded his four-wheeler for his first truck, Logger’s Legend. It didn’t take him long to realize that it had been appropriately named Old Grandad prior to him buying it. He decided to part ways with the old Dodge and upgrade to an M715 he named Wet N’ Wild. It took several modifications to finally get Wet N Wild up to speed, but it was this project that sparked his interest in building offroad vehicles. He wanted something fast, but wanted it be his own. He decided to use local military surplus parts and other parts that he could afford at the time to build Wet N’ Wild.

1997-1998

Rick started piecing together his monster truck once he got his Patrick chassis. After much research, he decided that he needed Shafiroff Racing to build his blower motor if he wanted to be the best. He also wanted to be visually different from his competitors, so he had GTS Fiberglass make him a modern year Dodge 2500 long-bed pick up. He used a fire truck to inspire the design due to his father’s involvement with the Delmar Fire Department, as a former Engineer and President. Kids would love seeing the first ever fire truck monster truck. He went through many names but he finally landed on Backdraft. This truck was to have the appearance of a hot rod fire truck. He had Butch Gardener design a flame scheme and with the name to overlay the beautiful fire engine red paint job by Gene’s Autobody Now it was time to see what this build could do.

1999-2001

Before Rick went to his first show, he had junk cars delivered to his house and called up his good buddy Mike Vaters to come give him some pointers. Backdraft first appeared at an outdoor show in Mesa Park, FL. At this race, he would meet a soon-to-be good friend, Randy Brown. Together they became members of the MTRA. Rick would go on to run ProMT where he laid down a record speed pass for his series.

2002-2005

While Rick was racing against Samson in Nazareth, PA, he had a wild enough crash to be awarded “Crash of the Year” at the ProMT Awards Banquet. It was with this crash that he sustained one of his more notable injuries, splitting his tongue in half with his own teeth. With the growing popularity of Backdraft, he was one of the first independents given the offer by Monster Jam to get his own Hot Wheels mold. He took this opportunity to redesign the entire image of Backdraft. He wanted a distinguishable silhouette and loved the idea of the concept trucks that were coming out. He didn’t want to go full-on fire engine, so he took a regular truck hot wheels and put the cab of a brush truck on it to create the new image. Troy Lee Designs took this concept and created the Backdraft hot wheels model. From this model, Rick took his sheet metal fabrication skills and created this custom brush truck bed. Backdraft’s new image was very popular with the fans and helped to set him apart from the others. In 2005 he stepped away from racing and sold the Backdraft chassis to Steve Sims, who would then create Stone Crusher. He sold the name Backdraft to Andy Slifko.

2007-2013

Over this course of time, his son, Ryan, started to show more interest in becoming a driver himself. It was easy for Rick to decide that it was time to get Ryan in the driver’s seat, with the hopes that one day they could be a racing team together. They built a mud truck together to start off. Rick and Ryan shared a passion for competing; always looking for new ways to be better, to be faster. This constant progression would take this side project and turn into what we all know today as the Saigon Shaker monster truck.

2015

Rick proved that he was more than capable of building a competitive mud truck worthy of competing across the circuit up until 1991, when his son Ryan was born. Rick stepped away from racing to run the family’s business and provide for his family, but the itch to race never left. Little did he know that these previous years racing he met several influential people, like Dennis Anderson, Eric Meagher, Gary Porter, Mike Vaters, and other future monster truck drivers, all of whom would make an impact on the future of his racing career. He had decided that he was tired of just being a fan, he wanted to be a monster truck driver. He used these connections to find out just how to make this happen. After many conversations, it became clear what he really needed to start and be considered a contender – he needed a Patrick chassis.

2014-2020

Rick started piecing together his monster truck once he got his Patrick chassis. After much research, he decided that he needed Shafiroff Racing to build his blower motor if he wanted to be the best. He also wanted to be visually different from his competitors, so he had GTS Fiberglass make him a modern year Dodge 2500 long-bed pick up. He used a fire truck to inspire the design due to his father’s involvement with the Delmar Fire Department, as a former Engineer and President. Kids would love seeing the first ever fire truck monster truck. He went through many names but he finally landed on Backdraft. This truck was to have the appearance of a hot rod fire truck. He had Butch Gardener design a flame scheme and with the name to overlay the beautiful fire engine red paint job by Gene’s Autobody Now it was time to see what this build could do.

2021-present

Enough time had passed since his back injury and Rick felt like he was physically ready to get back behind the wheel. At this point in his business career, he owns one of the biggest names in monster truck manufacturing, The Metal Shop. With his production company’s annual show, the Monsters of Metal, coming up, he put his crew to work, and his team had less than 3 months to complete a full monster truck build. On Friday, June 18, one day before the show, Smokin’ was completed and unveiled. Fans from all over came to see Rick get back out on the track. He put on one hell of a freestyle and wrecked Smokin’ on its first outing. The next year, at the same local event, he took home the racing win while his son took the freestyle win - it had finally happened. After years of hard work and many sacrifices, the two are racing together as a team.

1984-1991

Rick has always been addicted to 4x4’s. Throughout his later school years he would take his Scout, van and Toyota out to the local offroad trails. After he graduated from Delmar High School in 1985, he enlisted in the Air Force and went into the sheet metal fabrication pathway. The last year of being enlisted he traded his four-wheeler for his first truck, Logger’s Legend. It didn’t take him long to realize that it had been appropriately named Old Grandad prior to him buying it. He decided to part ways with the old Dodge and upgrade to an M715 he named Wet N’ Wild. It took several modifications to finally get Wet N Wild up to speed, but it was this project that sparked his interest in building offroad vehicles. He wanted something fast, but wanted it be his own. He decided to use local military surplus parts and other parts that he could afford at the time to build Wet N’ Wild.

1991-1996

Rick proved that he was more than capable of building a competitive mud truck worthy of competing across the circuit up until 1991, when his son Ryan was born. Rick stepped away from racing to run the family’s business and provide for his family, but the itch to race never left. Little did he know that these previous years racing he met several influential people, like Dennis Anderson, Eric Meagher, Gary Porter, Mike Vaters, and other future monster truck drivers, all of whom would make an impact on the future of his racing career. He had decided that he was tired of just being a fan, he wanted to be a monster truck driver. He used these connections to find out just how to make this happen. After many conversations, it became clear what he really needed to start and be considered a contender – he needed a Patrick chassis.  

1997-1998

Rick started piecing together his monster truck once he got his Patrick chassis. After much research, he decided that he needed Shafiroff Racing to build his blower motor if he wanted to be the best. He also wanted to be visually different from his competitors, so he had GTS Fiberglass make him a modern year Dodge 2500 long-bed pick up. He used a fire truck to inspire the design due to his father’s involvement with the Delmar Fire Department, as a former Engineer and President. Kids would love seeing the first ever fire truck monster truck. He went through many names but he finally landed on Backdraft. This truck was to have the appearance of a hot rod fire truck. He had Butch Gardener design a flame scheme and with the name to overlay the beautiful fire engine red paint job by Gene’s Autobody Now it was time to see what this build could do.

1999-2001

Before Rick went to his first show, he had junk cars delivered to his house and called up his good buddy Mike Vaters to come give him some pointers. Backdraft first appeared at an outdoor show in Mesa Park, FL. At this race, he would meet a soon-to-be good friend, Randy Brown. Together they became members of the MTRA. Rick would go on to run ProMT where he laid down a record speed pass for his series.

2002-2005

While Rick was racing against Samson in Nazareth, PA, he had a wild enough crash to be awarded “Crash of the Year” at the ProMT Awards Banquet. It was with this crash that he sustained one of his more notable injuries, splitting his tongue in half with his own teeth. With the growing popularity of Backdraft, he was one of the first independents given the offer by Monster Jam to get his own Hot Wheels mold. He took this opportunity to redesign the entire image of Backdraft. He wanted a distinguishable silhouette and loved the idea of the concept trucks that were coming out. He didn’t want to go full-on fire engine, so he took a regular truck hot wheels and put the cab of a brush truck on it to create the new image. Troy Lee Designs took this concept and created the Backdraft hot wheels model. From this model, Rick took his sheet metal fabrication skills and created this custom brush truck bed. Backdraft’s new image was very popular with the fans and helped to set him apart from the others. In 2005 he stepped away from racing and sold the Backdraft chassis to Steve Sims, who would then create Stone Crusher. He sold the name Backdraft to Andy Slifko.

2007-2013

Over this course of time, his son, Ryan, started to show more interest in becoming a driver himself. It was easy for Rick to decide that it was time to get Ryan in the driver’s seat, with the hopes that one day they could be a racing team together. They built a mud truck together to start off. Rick and Ryan shared a passion for competing; always looking for new ways to be better, to be faster. This constant progression would take this side project and turn into what we all know today as the Saigon Shaker monster truck.

2014-2020

The Saigon Shaker is now deemed worthy enough to compete in Monster Jam. This was always a main goal of the father-son duo: for Ryan to one day compete in Monster Jam just like his father. Rick felt it was Ryan’s turn to take the reins and he was proud to see his son carry on his legacy from the sidelines as his Crew Chief. In 2015, Rick decided to take the Saigon Shaker mega truck out to DAMMP for their North vs South race. It was very clear on his first pass that he hadn’t forgotten where the throttle was; he got massive air that shocked the entire crowd and other racers. Weeks later he would also be shocked to find that he had broken two vertebrae on the landing. On June 8, 2016 Rick’s world was turned upside down with the passing of his father. He came to realization of just how short life is so he took some time to heal from his previous injuries and work on his health. 

2021-present

Enough time had passed since his back injury and Rick felt like he was physically ready to get back behind the wheel. At this point in his business career, he owns one of the biggest names in monster truck manufacturing, The Metal Shop. With his production company’s annual show, the Monsters of Metal, coming up, he put his crew to work, and his team had less than 3 months to complete a full monster truck build. On Friday, June 18, one day before the show, Smokin’ was completed and unveiled. Fans from all over came to see Rick get back out on the track. He put on one hell of a freestyle and wrecked Smokin’ on its first outing. The next year, at the same local event, he took home the racing win while his son took the freestyle win - it had finally happened. After years of hard work and many sacrifices, the two are racing together as a team.
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      1984-1991

      Rick has always been addicted to 4x4’s. Throughout his later school years he would take his Scout, van and Toyota out to the local offroad trails. After he graduated from Delmar High School in 1985, he enlisted in the Air Force and went into the sheet metal fabrication pathway. The last year of being enlisted he traded his four-wheeler for his first truck, Logger’s Legend. It didn’t take him long to realize that it had been appropriately named Old Grandad prior to him buying it. He decided to part ways with the old Dodge and upgrade to an M715 he named Wet N’ Wild. It took several modifications to finally get Wet N Wild up to speed, but it was this project that sparked his interest in building offroad vehicles. He wanted something fast, but wanted it be his own. He decided to use local military surplus parts and other parts that he could afford at the time to build Wet N’ Wild.

      1991-1996

      Rick proved that he was more than capable of building a competitive mud truck worthy of competing across the circuit up until 1991, when his son Ryan was born. Rick stepped away from racing to run the family’s business and provide for his family, but the itch to race never left. Little did he know that these previous years racing he met several influential people, like Dennis Anderson, Eric Meagher, Gary Porter, Mike Vaters, and other future monster truck drivers, all of whom would make an impact on the future of his racing career. He had decided that he was tired of just being a fan, he wanted to be a monster truck driver. He used these connections to find out just how to make this happen. After many conversations, it became clear what he really needed to start and be considered a contender – he needed a Patrick chassis.  

      1997-1998

      Rick started piecing together his monster truck once he got his Patrick chassis. After much research, he decided that he needed Shafiroff Racing to build his blower motor if he wanted to be the best. He also wanted to be visually different from his competitors, so he had GTS Fiberglass make him a modern year Dodge 2500 long-bed pick up. He used a fire truck to inspire the design due to his father’s involvement with the Delmar Fire Department, as a former Engineer and President. Kids would love seeing the first ever fire truck monster truck. He went through many names but he finally landed on Backdraft. This truck was to have the appearance of a hot rod fire truck. He had Butch Gardener design a flame scheme and with the name to overlay the beautiful fire engine red paint job by Gene’s Autobody Now it was time to see what this build could do.

      1999-2001

      Before Rick went to his first show, he had junk cars delivered to his house and called up his good buddy Mike Vaters to come give him some pointers. Backdraft first appeared at an outdoor show in Mesa Park, FL. At this race, he would meet a soon-to-be good friend, Randy Brown. Together they became members of the MTRA. Rick would go on to run ProMT where he laid down a record speed pass for his series.

      2002-2005

      While Rick was racing against Samson in Nazareth, PA, he had a wild enough crash to be awarded “Crash of the Year” at the ProMT Awards Banquet. It was with this crash that he sustained one of his more notable injuries, splitting his tongue in half with his own teeth. With the growing popularity of Backdraft, he was one of the first independents given the offer by Monster Jam to get his own Hot Wheels mold. He took this opportunity to redesign the entire image of Backdraft. He wanted a distinguishable silhouette and loved the idea of the concept trucks that were coming out. He didn’t want to go full-on fire engine, so he took a regular truck hot wheels and put the cab of a brush truck on it to create the new image. Troy Lee Designs took this concept and created the Backdraft hot wheels model. From this model, Rick took his sheet metal fabrication skills and created this custom brush truck bed. Backdraft’s new image was very popular with the fans and helped to set him apart from the others. In 2005 he stepped away from racing and sold the Backdraft chassis to Steve Sims, who would then create Stone Crusher. He sold the name Backdraft to Andy Slifko.

      2007-2013

      Over this course of time, his son, Ryan, started to show more interest in becoming a driver himself. It was easy for Rick to decide that it was time to get Ryan in the driver’s seat, with the hopes that one day they could be a racing team together. They built a mud truck together to start off. Rick and Ryan shared a passion for competing; always looking for new ways to be better, to be faster. This constant progression would take this side project and turn into what we all know today as the Saigon Shaker monster truck.

      2014-2020

      The Saigon Shaker is now deemed worthy enough to compete in Monster Jam. This was always a main goal of the father-son duo: for Ryan to one day compete in Monster Jam just like his father. Rick felt it was Ryan’s turn to take the reins and he was proud to see his son carry on his legacy from the sidelines as his Crew Chief. In 2015, Rick decided to take the Saigon Shaker mega truck out to DAMMP for their North vs South race. It was very clear on his first pass that he hadn’t forgotten where the throttle was; he got massive air that shocked the entire crowd and other racers. Weeks later he would also be shocked to find that he had broken two vertebrae on the landing. On June 8, 2016 Rick’s world was turned upside down with the passing of his father. He came to realization of just how short life is so he took some time to heal from his previous injuries and work on his health. 

      2021-Present

      Enough time had passed since his back injury and Rick felt like he was physically ready to get back behind the wheel. At this point in his business career, he owns one of the biggest names in monster truck manufacturing, The Metal Shop. With his production company’s annual show, the Monsters of Metal, coming up, he put his crew to work, and his team had less than 3 months to complete a full monster truck build. On Friday, June 18, one day before the show, Smokin’ was completed and unveiled. Fans from all over came to see Rick get back out on the track. He put on one hell of a freestyle and wrecked Smokin’ on its first outing. The next year, at the same local event, he took home the racing win while his son took the freestyle win - it had finally happened. After years of hard work and many sacrifices, the two are racing together as a team.