There are plenty of similarities between NASCAR’s most popular figure these days, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Monster Jam’s reigning World Freestyle Champion Adam Anderson. Both have made their own names and brought tons of new fans along for their rides while being able to maintain much of their famous fathers unprecedented fan followings.

That mix of the new fan and old fan in Adam’s camp was in evidence during Monster Jam’s return to Freedom Hall where the young Anderson competed for the first time in a city that over the years was a major site in Dennis Anderson building the Grave Digger legacy, and where Dennis remains to this date one of the most popular motorsports personalities ever to have competed in the Derby City despite not having been in action there in several years. During the October weekend in Louisville this year Adam enjoyed massive lines at the Built Ford Tough Party in the Pits in search of his autograph and/or a picture with the youngest champion in the sport’s history, and then when he delivered with sensational performances both Friday and Saturday night in Freedom Hall, it was Adam who basked in some of the weekend’s loudest cheers from the crowd.

Like “Little E”, Adam grew up in motorsports and jumped at the chance to get into action at the youngest possible age, and both began their careers while their famous fathers were still at the top of their game. Even before the untimely death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. a huge block of the Intimidator’s fans were also becoming Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, and after Senior died in the crash at Daytona, while some fans turned away from the sport, an even larger group adopted Junior as their favorite NASCAR driver, and he remains far and away the most popular driver there to this day.

Dennis Anderson is still at the top of Monster Jam, having won two World Racing Championships in the last five years and he remains unquestionably Monster Jam’s most popular performer. As for Adam, similar to when Earnhardt Jr. started out, it’s obvious that Dad’s fans have also gravitated to the kid. Adam told me in Louisville that he was amazed at how many fans came up to seek his autograph and then wanted to chat about watching his Dad plant the tailgate of Grave Digger into a dirt pile in an amazing sky wheelie fifteen years ago in Freedom Hall, or seeing Dennis smack the wall hard in turn four at the old Louisville Motor Speedway, and so on. I talked with many of those long time fans of Dennis as well, and they made it clear to me that for most of them Dennis remains number one on their list, but Adam is now number 1-A.

The neat thing for Adam is that while he has inherited so many of his father’s backers, he gets the chance to make his own name, and earn his own fans, based on his on track performances. And that he continues to do virtually every time he rolls his Taz truck onto another track and turns in a freestyle run that makes his papa proud, as he did in winning the Saturday night freestyle competition in Louisville, and of course as he did in claiming the 2008 World Freestyle Championship at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas last March at the NGK Spark Plugs World Finals 9. Monster Jam’s constantly growing popularity means that every where the sport goes more and more new fans are becoming hooked on Monster Jam, and for many of them it is Adam Anderson that they leave the arena or watch the Speed TV program remembering, and cheering for, more than any other driver out there today.

Adam has done a great job of appreciating his father’s fans and their support of him, while making his own name and creating his own fan base. Talking to the crowd after his freestyle win in Louisville during his winner’s interview the younger Anderson thanked his Dad’s Louisville fans for their years of support of his father, and for how they’ve already been supporting him, but at the same time made it clear that it was important to him to make his own name in Monster Jam, that while he was proud of his father he does not want to be known only as Dennis’ kid, he wants stand on his own merits, something he clearly is doing. Making history as Monster Jam’s youngest World Champion ever, attaining that goal in just his third full year of competition, is exhibit number one in Adam making his own case for Monster Jam greatness.

What a year 2008 has been for Adam Anderson. Pleasing his father’s millions of fans and bringing new fans into his camp at the same time, we’ve seen Adam become a major player at the biggest live events and on Speed TV. We witnessed his brilliant performance on the sport’s biggest stage to make history in Las Vegas. And since then we’ve seen him proudly represent Monster Jam’s present and future at the same time, carrying the crown of World Champion with pride and delivering amazing performances everywhere he has competed this year, both before and after winning his first world title.

Now Anderson returns to soil where he has been making his own name on an annual basis: Europe. It was as a part of the Monster Jam World Tour across the Atlantic Ocean where Adam cut his teeth driving against the sport’s best and where he proved he could compete against any driver in the sport, even before he turned 20 years old. It was in Europe where Adam won his first major stadium racing event and where he went through stretches of freestyle domination. And it is in Europe where he is already one of the most popular figures in Monster Jam.

So the return of Adam Anderson to Europe as he looks for more wins in Taz is something the excited fans in both Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden, are anticipating greatly over these next two weeks. And you can be sure that Adam Anderson will continue to deliver, to the delight of both his father’s long time fans and the new fan base that he is a major factor in bringing to the sport.