We want to acknowledge and congratulate the family of Mike Tuana on his induction into the Australian Monster Truck Hall of Fame, forming part of our inaugural class. Mike’s involvement in monster trucks began after he attended the 1991 Motor Mania II event at Perth’s Burswood Dome, in which he was given the opportunity to sit inside the cab of the American-import Taurus.

Prior to his involvement in monster trucks, Mike was the owner and operator of the Perth-based company Mole Craft 4x4 Conversions, which he would later cease operations with, in order to pursue the construction of his own monster truck. His extensive mechanical and fabrication knowledge enabled him to construct the country's first full tube frame monster truck chassis, Stress Factor, from the ground up in 1995. The truck, complete with nitrogen suspension - another Australian first, was a mechanical feat that greatly advanced the local industry from rudimentary builds to ones that utilised advanced monster truck technology.  

In 1999, eight years after Tuana sat inside the cab of Taurus, he would return to the same venue, this time marking the debut of Stress Factor in front of a packed crowd. In 2008, after having toured extensively across Australia and New Zealand for years, he would begin constructing his second truck, Shattered Silence, to accompany Stress Factor. Between 2010 and 2012, Tuana and his team would commence working on the film Mad Max: Fury Road, in which both Shattered Silence and Stress Factor would feature, redesigned to appear as identical versions of each other.

Mike’s technical innovation enacted the advancement of monster trucks in Australia and pushed the industry to a new standard. During a time in which many Australian trucks were imported from overseas, Tuana showed that Australians had the know-how to match international standards. It is all of these accomplishments that make him one of our proud inductees into the Australian Monster Truck Hall of Fame.