For Nicole Johnson, Scooby-Doo’s driver is no Monster Jam mystery

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When Monster Jam went snooping around to find a driver for its new Scooby-Doo truck, the mystery was solved pretty quickly when Nicole Johnson was revealed as the person behind the wheel. And with an impressive debut last weekend in Houston, Johnson is ready to show the Georgia Dome what she and Scooby are capable of when Monster Jam returns to Atlanta Jan. 11. Having previously driven another animated pop cultural icon (Tasmanian Devil), as well as spending some time behind the wheel of Advance Auto Parts Grinder, Johnson and her cartoon canine are looking for more than just some Scooby Snacks in one of the season’s most crucial events. As she prepares for this challenge, Johnson talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about her career, her trucks and the possibility of following a mud-strewn yellow brick road with the monster truck of her dreams.

You’re the driver of the new Scooby-Doo truck, but you previously drove a truck based on another animated pop cultural icon, Tasmanian Devil. Do you just have a thing for wacky cartoon character trucks?

I started driving the Tasmanian Devil in 2011 and part of 2012. Then I drove Advance Auto Parts Grinder for about half the season in 2012, filling in for an injured driver. That was great because at the time Advance Auto Parts was our title sponsor and it was a really fun truck with a pretty high profile. At the beginning of last year we introduced Scooby-Doo. This will be Scooby’s second year, but the first time the truck or I have been to Atlanta to compete at the Dome.

How did you end up behind the wheel of Scooby-Doo? Was that something you were you asked to do or did you want to do it?

It’s a partnership with Warner Bros., it’s their officially licensed Scooby-Doo truck. Through Monster Jam I was asked to drive that truck and it’s been a really fun experience so far because I find that adults and kids all know Scooby-Doo and we all grew up watching Scooby-Doo. It’s still relevant because they’ve got new shows on now, which I didn’t realize before. I thought it was just from the ’70s. I thought, “Do kids even know who Scooby-Doo is?” Oh, yeah! They totally do. It’s pretty popular.

The Monster Jam season began last weekend, and you did fairly well in your first event of the season. What are your goals for Atlanta?

Last Saturday we were in Houston. I live in Las Vegas and I’m lucky enough to get to fly home for the shows. My crew will be on the road for three months with the trucks. It was fun [in Houston]. My goal was to not destroy the truck. Fans probably want to see the truck destroyed every single time. But it was my first weekend back after not being behind the wheel since July and zero practice or seat time. So my whole goal was to hold it together. I didn’t break anything and I didn’t roll, which makes my crew very happy because they have to do a lot less to prepare for Atlanta and keep it entertaining.

You come from a four-wheeling background prior to driving a monster truck. What was the transition like for you, especially considering that the only practice you get driving a monster truck is during actual Monster Jam competitions?

My background is rock crawling competitions and extreme four-wheel drive vehicles. I’ve also done some off-road racing, so I’m used to being in the dirt and on rocks and gnarly terrain where sometimes you’re completely vertical and can only see sky or you’re doing a completely vertical drop-off where you’re side-hilling. In rock crawling competitions it’s about finesse. It’s not necessarily about how fast you get through the course, it’s about getting trough the obstacle course without hitting a cone. Sometimes we’d be down on time and my husband is my spotter and I’d look at him and say, “Move out of my way. I’m going to monster truck it!” Then I would just jump off the rocks because I had no other choice. There was no finesse. I think it was a great background for moving into Monster Jam trucks because you’re often not completely on stable ground. In monster trucks you’re either jumping up in the air or you’re on two wheels and I learned a long time ago how to save it on two wheels in my rock crawler. So it seems like a really seamless transition, truthfully. There’s just a lot more height involved, but the components are very similar. I feel like it’s one of the more natural backgrounds to have come from as opposed to something where you’ve never left the ground and you’ve never been sideways.

Part of the reason you got into Monster Jam was simply that they were looking for more female drivers. There has been a bit of an influx of female monster truck drivers in recent years. Why do you think Monster Jam is looking for female drivers and why are more women becoming interested in it?

I think there’s probably a stereotype out there that women can’t drive. This is a pretty male-dominated sport, motorsports in general are male dominated. You can see what kind of attention Danica Patrick has gotten in NASCAR and Indy, and I think fans like to see something different and want to root for the underdog. Women and girls can relate in that I’m showing them you can do anything you want to do, regardless of whether or not there’s a gender stereotype in that profession.

When I met the folks at Monster Jam and heard they were looking for females, I hadn’t really paid much attention to it before. I had never been to a show and I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. About two weeks after meeting the folks at Monster Jam, I was test driving Grave Digger in North Carolina and after two days of driving they offered me the job. Six weeks later was my very first show. It was funny because after they offered me the job I was like, “What does that mean?” They said, “Well, you go on tour every single weekend and we start in six weeks.” Then I said, “OK. When will I get to practice again?” They go, “Oh, you won’t. Your first show will be the next time you drive.” I’m just glad to have been able to fill the position. You’re right, there are a lot of women coming in lately. You’re going to see more and more and I think the goal is if we can get a female at every show, there’s that representation across the board every weekend.

During your time in Monster Jam, have you developed rivalries with particular drivers or do rivalries emerge based on the trucks you drive?

No, not really. I think everybody takes a big team approach. Even though we’re out there racing against each other and trying to get the best freestyle scores, there really is a huge camaraderie among all of the drivers and crew. We are collectively focused on trying to make sure the show is fun for everybody and that everybody leaves there having had a good time. I don’t have any rivalries. I’m actually touring with Dennis Anderson this year. My truck and his truck share a crew, so we’re going to be at all the same shows together. For me, this is probably the biggest opportunity to learn. So I’m not looking at it as, “I’m going to go out there and crush the competition,” although that sounds really cool to say. I’m really going into it thinking, “I want to absorb as much as I can from Dennis. I want to learn.” He’s got 32 or 33 years of experience doing this. This’ll be my fourth season, so I’m definitely still feeling like a rookie compared to a lot of these guys.

I heard that your favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz. Has there ever been talk of having Wizard of Oz-themed monster trucks in Monster Jam? If so, I’m guessing you’d be happy to drive one of them.

I would be that Wicked Witch in a heartbeat! Man, I’ve never even thought of there being a Wizard of Oz Monster Jam truck. But I would be all over that. I would be a huge nerd. I can recite every line from the movie. We were doing the Path of Destruction tour over the summer and we were in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which is right across from New York City, and I had a chance to go into the city and see Wicked on Broadway and that was a huge treat. Yep, I am a nerd. I love it.

So you’d want to drive the Wicked Witch truck, if there was one?

Oh, I would be Glinda, I would be the Wicked Witch, I’d be a Munchkin, I’d be the Cowardly Lion, I’d be anything.

After your stop in Atlanta this weekend, where are you competing next?

After Atlanta, Dennis and I are going to Tampa, then Orlando, then back to Tampa. So I get to spend three winter weekends in a row in Florida, which isn’t too shabby. After Tampa we head out west for Anaheim. I’m from Southern California, so I’m excited for that show because I’ll have lots of family and friends there.

www.johnson4x4.com

The many ways in which Keith David’s talents have been “Enlisted”

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He may not be as instantly recognizable as the A-list actors he’s often co-starring with, but once you hear the deep bellow of Keith David‘s voice you’ll immediately start trying to figure out where you’ve heard it before. From voicing ominous animated characters such as Goliath in Disney‘s Gargoyles or the title character in HBO‘s Spawn to narrating the recent The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment DVD to appearances and voice work for a wide range of movies including Platoon, There’s Something About Mary, Cloud Atlas, Coraline and The Princess and the Frog. And who could forget that famous fight scene he had with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in John Carpenter‘s They Live? With numerous new films slated for release this year, David also has a recurring role in all 13 episodes of the new military comedy Enlisted, debuting this Friday night. Next month, David will be part of a reunion of The Thing cast at Days of the Dead: Atlanta (where he will also reunite with Piper) and he continues to narrate upcoming documentaries for WWE. Amidst his busy schedule, David takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about his many contributions to film, television and theater.

While watcing the recent History of WWE DVD, I immediately recognized your voice as the narrator, though I didn’t see you credited anywhere.

I guess I’m going to have to get on them about that, right?

Of course you do! You’ve done some previous work for WWE. How did your working relationship with WWE come about?

I do have a good working relationship with WWE. I’ve been narrating documentaries and stuff for them for a long time. First of all, I like to work. Second of all, I’ve been a fan of WWE since the days of Bruno Sammartino. So it was a nice thing to be asked to participate in their documentary and I was very happy to do it. We have several documentaries coming out about the history of WWE and how WWE is actually changing the face of sports entertainment. That’s what this documentary is about is how WWE has changed the face of sports entertainment and how we look at sports. They have hundreds of thousands of fans that attend these huge events and all these big stars that have come out of WWE. I don’t think any of them have become great actors in the same way that some NFL athletes have, but more and more of them are getting parts in movies, guest starring on television shows and things like that. Some are even becoming politicians, like Jesse Ventura.

What I like about [this documentary] is you get a very clear picture that the persona of the wrestler in the ring is exactly that, it’s a persona. It’s like an actor playing a character because they do have lives outside of the arena. And some of them, i.e. Jesse Ventura, are very responsible men with very strong political views who are wanting to make a difference in their communities.

How much did you learn about WWE while working on this documentary and how much were you already aware of?

Generally speaking, I knew about all the different leagues and I knew the names of the creators like Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff and those guys. But in the documentary you learn about some of the specifics about how [WWE] negotiated these different deals. I didn’t realize some of the internal battling that has been going on between some of the stars, the re-creation of some of their personalities and things like that. That kind of stuff is very interesting. We’ve seen the results of all that, but we’re not always necessarily privy to how they came about.

Prior to working directly with WWE, you worked with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in They Live. What was it like working with Piper and being part of such an iconic cult movie?

Oh, man. Roddy was the first professional wrestler that I ever met up close and personal. What a wonderful human being! At that time, he was pound for pound the strongest man I had ever met in my life. I was weighing at least 230 pounds at the time and he would lift me up like I was a 3-year-old and look back at the director like, “What am I supposed to do with him?” We had a lot of fun. He taught me a few wrestling moves and we had a lot of fun choreographing our fight, along with Jeff Imada. It was some of the best fun I ever had in my theatrical life, in the movies or on stage. One thing about doing fights in movies that’s different than on stage is you have all those different angles to cover. We just had a great time. It was a really good time. All of his training in the ring and mine in stage combat helped us be able to sell a really great fight. It was very fun working with him.

Will you be working on any other WWE projects?

Absolutely. I have one coming up this week, as a matter of fact. I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but it’s going to be part of the ongoing documentary series.

You have several movies coming out this year. What can you tell me about some of those movies?

I have a movie coming out called The North Star, which was the first time I got to play Frederick Douglass in a movie. I haven’t seen it yet, so I hope it turned out well.

In the meantime, you have a new TV show coming out called Enlisted.

Keith David as Command Sergeant Major Donald Cody in “Enlisted”.

Amen! Yes, Enlisted is coming out on Friday, Jan. 10 at 9:30 p.m. on Fox. It’s a workplace comedy and we just happen to be in the Army. We are a rear detachment unit and I play the Command Sergeant Major on this post. It’s all about how we take care of the families of the deployed soldiers and how we run the business of the Army. Everybody can’t be deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq; some of us have to stay home and take care of running the business and that’s what we do.

Enlisted is one of several military roles you’ve played. You were also in WWE Studios‘ Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia with Mr. Kennedy in 2009. What was it like working with Kennedy?

It was fun. He was a good guy. He was playing a soldier and he certainly looked like a soldier. We were in Puerto Rico, so it was a good time had by all.

Would you be interested in doing more work for WWE Studios, especially considering how many more movies they are putting out each year?

I like to work, so if the right project comes along I will be very happy to work with them.

Are there any particular WWE stars you’d be interested in working with in a movie?

Oh, I don’t know. It would depend on the project. There’s a big difference between a personality and an actor. Depending on the project, you’ll see how those dynamics work together. Sometimes there’s a great personality in a particular show or movie and the story flows. Then there are other things that are far more challenging. There are plenty of guys that would be great to work with and I would enjoy working with any of the wrestlers under the right circumstances.

I understand you’re also working on a musical release. What can you tell me about that and when will we be able to hear it?

Every year I wind up saying, “By the end of the year.” But certainly by the end of this year I’ll have my CD project out. Also, my next project in Los Angeles will be playing Paul Robeson in a production called Paul Robeson at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center with the Ebony Repertory Theatre in March.

www.keithdavid.com

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