As we hit the half way point of the 2004-2005 Monster Jam season that will climax with the Monster Jam World Finals March 19th at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas let's take a look at this season's statistics to see what trends may be developing and which teams are building the momentum toward a run at the Monster Jam World Championships.

We're going to look just at the results from Speed Channel televised major dome and stadium events, since I believe these events serve as the best Vegas previews. Checking the won-loss statistics of those events that began last October in Montreal, up to the end of January TV events in Orlando and Indianapolis, the first thing that jumps out at you is that Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction is undefeated this season! That undefeated mark does include an asterisk, because in two of the televised events he was at Meents never raced due to freak accidents before the actual racing began. Still, when he has pulled Max-D onto the racecourse Meents is 11 and 0 this season with three event victories (Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Tampa). Clearly Tom is on a mission. Remember, this is the team that was so dominant at the start of the millennium, but Tom's bunch has left Las Vegas with out the racing championship the last two years. He is clearly, as he likes to put it, "on a mission" to regain the crown this year.

The other gaudy won-loss stats so far this season belong to the reigning World Champion, Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger XIX. After a strong start in Montreal Anderson has been in a bit of a slump in terms of event wins, but for the most part he has been close. Anderson has won lots of early rounds this year, but has not been able to get over the hump to the winner's stage recently. He's not far off though. Anderson appeared to have the win in the Orlando final round last week, edging across the finish line inches ahead of Scott Hartsock in Gunslinger in a thrilling final race that had the standing room only crowd on its feet screaming with delight. But Anderson was assessed a five second penalty in that race for not getting both front wheels up the ramp on the final leap to the finish line, and Gunslinger got the victory. Penalties for the ramp violation and knocking over turning poles have proved very costly to Anderson.

For the season thus far Anderson has won more rounds than any racer on the events that make up the '05 TV series. He's won 14 and lost only 5, and has the one event victory in Montreal. That's nearly a 75 percent win rate, so it's not like the icon is having a down year. I'm sure though that he would like to grab a few event wins over the second half of the season to carry as much momentum as possible into Las Vegas where he'll defend the world title.

A deeper look into the stats does bring up one major cause of concern for Digger fans looking ahead to the World Finals. On Speed Channel Grave Digger is 2 and 2 against Maximum Destruction, however both of Anderson's wins over Max-D have come with Phil Foster behind the wheel. Meents has beaten Anderson the two times that they have renewed the most intense rivalry in motorsports head to head so far this season.

We know that Meents and Anderson are the drivers to beat, but who else is having a strong season that could figure into becoming Vegas contenders? Several names fit in here, starting with the newest truck on the circuit, Superman with Chad Fortune behind the wheel. As I've said before Fortune is a great fit in the Superman machine, and he is benefiting from the fact that his new outfit is part of the same team that travels with co-World Freestyle Champion Madusa. That means Fortune's operation is overseen mechanically by Ron "R.L." Arace, considered by many to be the premier Crew Chief in the sport. Fortune has taken advantage of the situation, piloting his strong equipment into the finals both in Atlanta and Tampa, He finished in the runner-up slot at both of those sites but it just seem like it's only a matter of time until Fortune puts Superman on the winner's stage at a major USHRA Monster Jam event. Overall Chad is the third winningest driver in the bracket style races with a solid 8 and 5 record at Speed events.

Some other veterans who are in the middle of stellar seasons include Allen Pezo's Predator and Guy Wood, driving for Team Meents in the Hot Wheels/Bob & Tom Ford. For the season Pezo is 7 up and 3 down in televised races, having won the huge Georgia Dome Jam and he finished in the runner-up spot to Wood in Indianapolis. Guy was wooed out of retirement by Meents last fall and is enjoying one of his best years ever, the Indy win serving as proof of that. Overall Guy Wood is winning races at a 67% clip on TV, with 6 wins and 3 losses. Other drivers who have winning records on the toughest circuit in the sport (the stadium events on Speed Channel) include Foster who is 4 and 2, Mark Schroeder in Devastator who is also 4 and 2 with a pair of semifinal round appearances so far, and John Seasock in the Traxxas T-Maxx at 3 and 2.

The only other driver above .500 on the tour is Scott Hartsock and Gunslinger, but we need a little more info to determine if Hartsock is back on top of his racing game. The former runner-up for the World Championship struggled badly in 2004 and was off to a rough start in 2005. He got well in a hurry, though, in Orlando when he swept through the competition, winning the racing title in the Citrus Bowl. That upped Gunslinger's record in individual races this year to 4 and 2.

These statistics are sure to fluctuate over the second half of the season, and most teams place an even greater priority on February and early March events trying to build momentum for Las Vegas. Still the first half of this campaign allows us to congratulate all of the above on great starts to the new year and indicates, that at least as of right now, Meents, Anderson, Pezo, Wood, Hartsock, Foster, Fortune, Schroeder, and Seasock are the drivers at the top of the 2005 Monster Jam "food chain".