Gary Porter is a monster truck driver that races on the USHRA circuit. He is currently a member of the Grave Digger team.

History

Gary's involvement in monster truck began in 1983 when he and his brother opened Porter's 4x4 Shop in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Then in 1985, they built their first truck to promote the business and competed at local shows. Modifications to the truck led to Gary's monster-truck racing career. The Porters did exhibitions from 1985 to 1988. He began competing in a monster truck called Carolina Crusher in 1987 with TNT Motorsports. He placed fourth in 1988, second in 1989, and third in 1990.

Beginning in 1991, he raced in the USHRA/Camel Mud & Monster Series Carolina Crusher placed sixth and became the series champion of the Special Events season. In 1992, the Porters decided to build a second truck in order to compete in three different monster truck series. A third Carolina Crusher appeared for the 1994 season, as did a new shop to host Carolina Crusher Racing. The trucks made 125 appearances in 1994. 1995 saw Carolina Crusher finish fourth in the Special Events Penda Points series and winning a race. He continued to race Carolina Crusher until after its sale to Paul Shafer in 1999.

In 2000, Clear Channel Entertainment hired Porter to drive various trucks for them, notably Ragin' Steel and Spider-Man. The following year, at the behest of longtime friend and rival Dennis Anderson, he began driving Grave Digger 12. He continues to drive the truck and has had tremendous success in it, as it is similar to his last incarnation of Crusher.

Hallmarks

Porter tends to have a tremendous amount of respect for his equipment, and is typically considered to be the tamest in freestyle of all the Digger drivers. At the same time, his truck control abilities are exceptional, and he has been a many-time USHRA points champion.

Off the track, Porter is regarded as one of the sport's true gentlemen. The 1992 USHRA Yearbook referred to him as "Mr. Nice Guy".