Inside Monster Jam
This official Monster Jam podcast offers exclusive inside access to Monster Jam Operations, including drivers, safety, track design and the Monster Jam Garage.
Inside Monster Jam
Season 5 Episode 16 | From Bailey Circuit to the Big Stunt
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New truck. New chapter. And one epic secret. Cory Rummell returns to Inside Monster Jam to take fans behind the scenes of his incredible 2026 season, his transition to driving Bailey Circuit, and the secret World Finals opportunity that had him keeping quiet for months. Cory breaks down what it was like to take on the Stars and Stripes stunt, and nail one of the biggest rides of his career with a double backflip in front of a packed World Finals crowd.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast. I'm Scott Jordan. We just got done with World Finals weekend. We had an amazing time. We had two epic studs, including a 250th anniversary celebrating the United States of America. It was the Stars and Stripes stunt. And it is my pleasure to break all of that fun stuff down by bringing in the driver of the Stars and Stripes Monster Jam stunt truck, Corey Rummel. Welcome back to Inside Monster Jam. Thanks for being here, man.
SPEAKER_00No problem, man. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01So what a great uh weekend for you. I got it was great to catch up with you a few different things. But before we get to the stunt, I do want to pull back the curtain a little bit on your 2026 Monster Jam season because fans got to see you behind the wheel of Ringling Bailey Circuit. So let's go back just briefly and talk about that because the last we heard from you, you were stepping away from Monster Jam. You were leaving Team Screen Racing, then you came back and did a few other things. And then uh I run into you here at the Monster Jam Studios, and all of a sudden you're driving a flea truck, man, and not just any flea truck, but the newest truck in Monster Jam at the time. So can you tell me about how all of that unfolded and how you were let uh how you were known of the opportunity that this could be something for you?
SPEAKER_00Man, it's just basically the stars aligned. You know, I I ran for Jim McCohler with Team Scream Racing Forever, and that's what basically got me in the door, got me all experienced, met you, met everybody else, just met all the fans, and Monster Jam themselves seen me what I could do, and and I was like, you know what, I'm getting a little bit older, you know, I I can't just travel every day, you know. Basically, it feels like nine days a week, it almost feels like. So I basically had to step back a little bit, focus on my own life, being able to have time with friends, family, and then still enjoy Monster Jam. And just I didn't want to get away, but I I couldn't do the independent life forever. And I was like, you know what, let me just take a chance and you know, step away for a little bit and just see what other kind of opportunities just to change things up. And then and getting the phone call from Monster Jam and Felder Entertainment was absolutely probably the coolest moment ever. And it was actually, I was down in uh I think Myrtle Beach with my family on vacation when I got the phone call. So it was very, very cool, and my whole family got to experience it. It was very, very I mean, couldn't ask for a better phone call.
SPEAKER_01So this was a call that came from I I presume Keith Speller, correct?
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and he basically said, Hey Corey, uh we have a Ringling Bailey circuit truck that we want to put on a stadium series. Are you interested in coming to work for us?
SPEAKER_00Uh pretty much how it went. Um it was actually, believe it or not, I don't want to say what truck, but it was actually supposed to be a different truck. And then the last minute it changed, I got the phone call. I'm gonna be driving Ringling Bailey Circuit. I'm like, I wasn't even expecting it. I was like, you know what, this is pretty cool. And like what I was told is, you know, from everybody, Monsjeh Am and myself included, is just how awesome it is to get the chance to finally be able to drive a Monsieur Am truck for Feld Entertainment and basically drive one of their stars like our flagships of the company that represents the whole brand of Feld Entertainment, Monst Jam, Ringling Brothers, and put it all together in a big collaboration and to be able to drive that truck and take it all around the country for my first truck driving for the company, absolutely incredible. I mean, it's absolutely basically a dream come true.
SPEAKER_01How did you find the experience of working for fleets as opposed to being an independent? Because obviously, as an independent, you have to fix a lot of the things that you break. You have to drive the trucks in the semis all across the country. So, how was this different for you and what was that change like?
SPEAKER_00Um, it was absolutely incredible because I've never realized how much stuff I've been missing out on going around to the cities and checking out because I've been driving, I don't know, three days to get to an event and then get there, have to fix the truck and turn around and do it again after the event's over. Now I can fly in, enjoy a little bit of time off, go hang out with all the other drivers, go see different sites of the cities, and actually go do the things I want to do while I'm traveling. And this year's been incredible. I mean, I've had more time than I've ever been able to, and I've been to all the same cities I've been to, but now this time I actually got to go out and hang out, and it's absolutely pretty cool. I mean, this year has been absolutely phenomenal. Me, my crew chief Frankie, and my crew guy Andy, absolutely we had a blast all year. It was absolutely amazing. Couldn't ask for a better crew. I mean, we knocked it out. I mean, basically, they kept the truck 110%, which is very cool. But you know, it was a little bit different for me because I came from the side of fixing the trucks and doing it myself, and I had to rely on them. But you know what? I trusted them and they knocked it out of the park, and man, we had an awesome year.
SPEAKER_01How was it? Uh how was it let me rephrase that. Did you ever want to step in and grab a wrench uh and and take over? Was that just sort of human nature for you at this point? Or did you fully trust them to get it done?
SPEAKER_00Um, I I definitely stepped in because uh I was kind of a little bit of a guinea pig this year. Uh, we did a lot more shock changes and stuff just because I've had the experience of driving other trucks and we're trying to update and upgrade everything. So I got the chance of that. So being that we did that, um, my crew guys had to step up and they did phenomenal. And I was actually showing them how to like do different stuff on shock settings and doing different stuff on the truck that they might not have necessarily done or knew because it's just coming from a different world. So I definitely got my hands dirty here and there. Um, I taught them several things. I learned some things from them also, but it was yeah, I definitely had to still get my hands dirty a little bit. I remember the first or second week or second weekend at Anaheim, it was Saturday night. I ended up having a crazy crash, still trying to figure out these you know trucks, which are unbelievably fast. But I had a nasty crash and I bent one of the down bars of the roll cage, and I felt guilty, and I actually stayed up with them Saturday night and fixed it for them. I mean, they did all the hard work, but I put the new tube in there, well lit for them, got it all done, and they finished the rest of the truck. So definitely I felt guilty wrecking it. You know, I can't step away 100%, but you know, driving's a priority, and that's what's on my mind. But I definitely still like to get my hands dirty.
SPEAKER_01All right, two more questions before we move on to the stunt number one. How do you feel about wearing yellow? I thought you looked great in it, by the way. I thought you very it's a very, very colorful truck, and the kids love it, but uh, I want to know your opinion on that.
SPEAKER_00Um, actually, I never thought yellow was my color. You know, then I drove Earthshaker last year, and I was like, you know, this isn't so bad. And I was like, okay, you know, what are the chances of me driving a yellow truck again? And then I get the phone call for Rangling Bailey Circuit and I'm in yellow. I'm like, I guess yellow is my thing. I mean, it's absolutely I after seeing it, I was like, this is pretty sweet. And it it's my biggest thing is irrelevant to the colors, I love a bright colored truck. Like I love bright, you know, color contrast, one picture to another, or one uh truck to the other. Like when it's flying through the air and you get pictures and just all the lights are on it, I love a bright standout truck. To me, is that as awesome. So yellow, neon yellow, it is what it is. The neon paint, I I mean, absolutely wasn't my color going into it, but I'm not I'm not mad about it. It's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_01It's definitely a hit with the kids. All right, last question. Um, as far as the truck that you built for Team Screen on the Rage chassis, um, what you know, or were you sad to say goodbye to that? Because I know you put a lot of hours in there, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. So what was that bittersweet for you?
SPEAKER_00Um, it definitely was. I mean, it's definitely emotional. I have a video that's still never posted yet, and I probably won't, um, from the last event ever driving the truck. But it's definitely a very cool feeling. Um, but I feel as I build a strong truck and it'll be around for a long time, just like building Jim's truck. Those two are some of the stoutest trucks and they've taken more beatings than most, and they're still around. And I still see them from time to time. I mean, they're only I only live three miles down the road from them, so it's not like they're far, but I I definitely like to change the pace. You know, it's still got my name on the truck, so it's still mine, but you know, every now and then it's time to move on and try something different.
SPEAKER_01All right, well, let's move on to the 250th stud. We celebrate 250 years of the American story, world finals, and the final night is this Stars and Stripes epic grand finale. We had the fireworks presented by Vetix. A lot of fans were wondering where you were because when we announced the world finals lineup, you were nowhere to be seen. So fans started asking questions what about Corey Rumble? You know, we see three in Ringling Bailey Circuit. Can we get two in Ringling Bailey Circuits? I saw all the comments. So then you show up at like stealth, like you're just stealth. I saw you uh we were filming uh uh some content. Well, I'm not gonna talk about that because that'll come out later. We're filming some content for uh some upcoming stuff in the fall, but I'll run into you there, and then all the all the dominoes start falling. That okay, now this is why you're here. So let's talk about that process for you. When did that become an opportunity for you? When were you notified that this was on your radar for World Finals 25?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'll tell you what, it goes way farther and back what than most people thought. And I want to say it was in Houston, um, March, February, March, somewhere in there. I actually sat down with Keith, and that's when they actually dropped it on me and asked me if I want to be a part of it and I want to be the one to do it. And I was like, I think I want to do it. Let's do this. So I've known for a very long time, and then I've been like, you know, sitting there like this, throwing my thumbs, like you know, anxiously waiting to do it, because I love doing stunts. I've done you know, back flips, I've tried corkscrews in my own truck. I mean, I I've tried and I love stunts, I've always have. And when they asked me to do that, it was very cool. And then to have to bite my tongue a little bit from then all the way up into world finals, it is what it is, you know. And I got to see a lot of people online. You know, I seen a lot of the comments, I seen all the tags I was in, but I couldn't say anything because I wanted to be a secret, just because I knew it was gonna be epic. I mean, what better year for the 450th anniversary than this year to do something crazy like this? So I knew that I had to keep it secret, and it was very, very cool to be sitting in the background and looking at all the comments. And but, you know, if I I kind of wanted to be part of World Finals just because I stepped away and I would really love to be part of it again. And I know the time will come eventually, but I was like, you know what? Let me let me do this one because I think this one will be epic.
SPEAKER_01Well, you are uh and I've talked to you about this before on Inside Monster Death, but you are a part of the most epic moment I've ever had at World Finals because I did the out-of-breath interview with you when you won the showdown. I this was I think 28. This was the last World Finals of Sam Boy Stadium, and I had to run across, I had to run from the pits all the way down Thunder Alley into the stadium because somebody stole the keys to my golf cart. I had a golf cart, and I still I think it was Leslie Mears that did it. I I don't have any proof, but I think Leslie sabotaged it. It could have been, but it was also I'm also to blame on that too, though. You're all you well, I had to run, and you know, you were celebrating. I had to run to you, and by the time I got to you, I was so winded, I was so out of shape, um, that I just had to throw the microphone to you because I couldn't say anything. Um and that I I remember I'll never forget seeing everybody like just staring at me, running running all the way across the track. And uh yeah, so that will live on an infamy somewhere, somewhere out there. But let's let's go back to you. I got a chance to interview you at World Finals, and we talked a little bit about the stunt, and you admitted that you had never successfully landed a double backflip. So um how how how was that for your confidence knowing that all eyes are gonna be on you? You are the last thing here, you're capping off this amazing weekend, but you've never actually been able to perform the stunt that you're asked to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, and actually throughout the years, they've done a lot of um test practice stunts at Tom's at Mont Sham University. And this year we kind of basically they threw the idea at me too, and I agreed with it, is about not practicing. Just because we didn't want to overthink it, we didn't want to change this, and to be wrong, you know, we're like, let's just let's just go off the information that Tom tried years ago, and it was super close to nailing it, you know. Let's try it. But this was a different truck, different stuff that he's ever done prior on the when he's tried the double backflip. So it's definitely a little bit of a difference. Plus, we tried off a trench box that they've never tried off before. But I did actually get the chance to go to Tom's at the university about two weeks before World Finals, right before Pittsburgh. And I got to drive the stump truck for the first time, which is very, very cool. That truck is awesome. I'd love to drive that thing again. Um, but I got to go out there and do like a little burn-down freestyle, just a short little run. And then I got to do like four or five backflips with it, just single flips, just to get used to the truck flipping, just to get used to driving. You sit so low in it, it's hard to see over the dash, so I just get comfortable with that. And then we did a bunch of speed passes, and I got up to speed almost every stinking time, and then we did the same thing going into World Finals once we had the track set up. At night, we actually went out there and I did speed passes out on the track, got up to speed almost every time, and that's pretty much all we had to go off of. And we actually did have a simulator run. I forgot about this. We had a simulator run of the basic ramp style in the truck and everything, and obviously a simulator simulator, it's not 100% real life, and it worked perfectly on there, so we changed it up a little bit just because we went off the older information that Tom had that was 90% successful years ago. So we kind of cheated halfway between that and the simulator, and that's what we ended up with. And now, after doing it and realizing what actually happened, it'd be very cool one day if I ever get the chance to try it again. Because I got a couple things up in my brain I'd like to try. Maybe that might help out.
SPEAKER_01Well, you nailed it, you landed it, and that was amazing. But you also had uh six other trucks out there with you. Did you know, did you have any interaction with the other drivers of the Stars and Stripe trucks before the stunt, or was it all um I know you said you didn't get to practice the double backflip. Did anybody else get to practice? Was it something that was synchronized together, or did you guys all just go out there and and and try to run this thing uh on a fly?
SPEAKER_00We basically almost ran it on the fly. Um, we did actually do like blocking practice uh Monday when we got to world finals, and we did like we lined up, we did the passes, we lined up on the ramps, we backed up, we did everything, but we didn't actually do the flips itself. Um so that's what we did on Monday, and you know, everyone nailed it, everyone's experienced, everyone's done backflips and stuff, so we're like, you know, there's no point just doing, you know, for all them guys, just a single flip that they've done dozens and dozens of times. So basically lined up, and then for mine, we already knew what I was doing, and we just went with it, man. And sometimes the least prepared sometimes turns out to be the best situation in the long run. You know, it's not all the time, but sometimes it works that way.
SPEAKER_01Were you nervous at all?
SPEAKER_00Very um, I had a lot of different things running through my head. You know, it's something crazy. I've never drove towards a backflip ramp for 30, 35 miles an hour. So, you know, just everything can happen. I know these trucks are the safest in the world, but even if everything works out perfect, even if it just lands straight to the cage and everything holds up perfectly, it's still gonna hurt. So that's just one thing that kept going through my head, and you know, and it was absolutely nerve-wracking, but now afterwards, I'm ready to do it again. I mean, that was probably the sweetest and funnest ride I've ever done. I remember hanging upside down, the steering wheel ripped out of my hand. I actually have the in-cab video. Um, it's pretty sweet to watch. Um, but it it was absolutely incredible, and I just remember hanging on and like, when is this thing gonna hit the ground? I've never been that high in the air, and I was like, that's probably when I was probably most nervous. I'm like, I don't know what's about to happen. And once you see the in-cap GoPro, you'll realize it. My uh next sock actually slipped over my visor and I couldn't see anything. So I had no idea where I was, nothing, just by feel, so I had no idea when the ground was coming.
SPEAKER_01But when you realized that you landed it, what was that emotion like for you?
SPEAKER_00It was absolutely awesome. Absolutely awesome. I uh got out of the truck. Uh my crew guy was there, Josh Dyke was there, which is he's been around doing the double back flips with Tom Mentz for years. Tom was there, Keith. I mean, I got out of the truck, I gave Josh and Andy a big hug. You know, when we had to run off the track. The number one thing is we had to get off the track because all the trucks were gonna flood. And then the first thing I did was call my dad afterwards. So it was very cool down in the tunnel. And while all the trucks are trying to drive by, I called my dad and just uh let him know everything worked out.
SPEAKER_01That was epic, man. Did you get a chance? Uh, were you were you on cloud knives? Did you get a chance to watch the fireworks after you were done?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, actually, afterwards, um, since I was down in the tunnel, I basically walked back out and you know, got to watch the fireworks show with everybody and all with all the trucks out on the floor, and it was incredible. I mean, I I got a picture, I actually got to post it soon. There's a picture of me with a stunt truck with fireworks going off in the background. It's it was very, very cool to be out there and witness that with everybody.
SPEAKER_01So are you uh are you ready to continue your stunt career with Monster Jam? Is that something that we can expect you to uh maybe be a part of in the future?
SPEAKER_00I would definitely love to be part of it. I mean, all it takes is a phone call. Call me up, let's see what can happen. But you know, Monster Jam, they have 10,000 different things in the work. So, you know, I never know what's gonna happen. Neither do you, neither do we. I mean, just nobody knows. And they have amazing things, you know, probably planned that we'll never know about, but when it comes out, hopefully I can.
SPEAKER_01Are you um are you looking forward to 2027? Are you gonna are you trying to come back in Ringling Belly Circuit? Is that something that's on your radar?
SPEAKER_00Um, I really don't know. I mean, I I've heard of what next year is gonna be, but I don't, you know, things change. Um I'm hoping for anything. I just want to be part of my jam in general. It's like a big family to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not gonna pressure you. I just want to know if is that something that you we you you would like to do? Would you like to come back? And in just Corey Rumble's opinion, not fact, not rumor, but in your opinion, would you like to run it back again with Ring and Bailey Surge?
SPEAKER_00100%. You know, um, it was an incredible experience. You know, uh the fan interaction with me and Bailey, just you know, having fun was absolutely incredible. I would absolutely love to do it again. If I get the phone call, I'd absolutely, you know, be ecstatic. I can't wait to do it again. It was very, very fun. It was very cool to, you know, Snapchats and just play around with uh Bailey yourself and playing with kids. It was very, very cool. And you know, it was I never got to experience that of having kind of like a partner out there, and it was it was very different, very cool, and yeah, I definitely wouldn't would enjoy doing a game.
SPEAKER_01Well, great, man. Well, so good to catch up with you at World Finals. I hope to see you down the road and thank you for coming back on the show to tell everybody how this amazing, epic, awesome stunt uh came to be, man. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no problem. Yeah, like I said, anytime I get the chance, call me up. That was probably the coolest ride, and I wish everybody watching this can experience a ride like that because that was probably the coolest thing I've ever done.
SPEAKER_01Corey, thanks so much, man. I will see you later. And that is all the time we have. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you next week on Inside Monster Jam, the official Monster Jam podcast.