Madusa a smashing success

As a professional wrestler, Madusa competed in Las Vegas often, including in 1995 when her staged wedding ceremony was foiled by a rival grappler.

The three-time women's champion in the then-World Wrestling Federation spent nearly two decades in squared circles worldwide but traded that lucrative career for another featuring high-flying moves.

Madusa, whose given name is Debra Miceli, will pilot one of 24 monster trucks tonight and Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Monster Jam World Finals. Sellout crowds exceeding 30,000 are expected each night.

In the monster truck world, Madusa doesn't choreograph her moves to a script. Outcomes are not predetermined.

"The businesses are similar; it's sports entertainment," Madusa said. "But you can't control trucks like you can control wrestlers."

Now the pet store owner from Ocala, Fla., doesn't have to deal with scenarios like her theatrical wedding 15 years ago.

"I always put on a good show as a wrestler, but I'm competitive. I found my niche in racing," said the longtime rider of Harley Davidson motorcycles who said she is in her 40s.

Madusa's racing career began in 1999 when a monster truck promoter wanted to capitalize on her wrestling fan base and have a woman racer. She was taught monster truck racing by legend Dennis Anderson of Grave Digger fame. She was a patient student, and despite racing only three months in each of her first five seasons she won the freestyle championship in the 2004 World Finals and added the racing title in 2005.

"I've always been in man-dominated sports, and it took many years for a lot of the guys to accept me as being more than a gimmick," she said. "At first they just thought I was the chick from wrestling with big boobs. Then they saw how serious I was about racing."

Madusa enters the World Finals with momentum after winning two freestyle competitions in Reno two weeks ago.

"My timing was good," she said. "I was getting sick air, and snot was flying in my helmet because I was laughing so hard. I was ... out of breath driving. I beat Digger all weekend."

Later this year she will follow Monster Jam to events in Costa Rica, Panama, South Korea and Beijing.

The Sam Boyd course features big jumps that will send the 10,000-pound trucks nearly 30 feet in the air and nearly 100 feet in distance.

"It's just 90 seconds of pure pleasure," Madusa said of freestyle runs. "I close my eyes going over some of that stuff."

Monster Jam racing begins 7 p.m. each night, and gates open at noon both days for autograph sessions.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.