| Dave Sparks | |||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | David Sparks | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other Names: | Heavy D | ||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Utah, US | ||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 5 January 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Years Active: | 2008–present | ||||||||||||||||||
| Organization: | DieselSellerz LLC. (CEO) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Weber State University (withdrew) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Television: | |||||||||||||||||||
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David Sparks also known as Heavy D, (born January 5, 1985) is an American philanthropist, internet personality, helicopter pilot, world record holder, custom vehicle builder, monster truck driver and author.[1] He is most known for his role on the reality TV show Diesel Brothers, which aired on Discovery Channel. He is also known for his participation in Monster Jam and former owner of conserved Salt Lake island, Fremont Island.
Dave Sparks was born in Utah, US to a military family.[2] [3] He is from Salt Lake City and is the fourth child of his family. His father passed away when Dave was 21 years old.[4] He is of German heritage. He showed an interest in vehicles from a young age, with Auto mechanics being one of his favorite subjects in high school.[5] He began his tertiary education at Webster University at age 21, where he studied welding, mechanics, and fabrication,[6] he withdrew from school after having spent a semester, to kick off his own business.
He started his career splitting time between 2 different occupations; director of marketing for Rockwell Watches, a Utah based watch started by one of his longtime friends Rich Eggett and operating heavy machinery for his uncle and mentor's construction firm before launching his own excavation business. He began as a car enthusiast, kicking off his vehicle customization and fix-it shop for all types of vehicles. This marked the beginning of his career and the careers of his three other friends who took part in Diesel Brothers show.[7] He brought on his friend Diesel Dave and two others, to assist with equipment operations at his company.[8] After posting several videos on YouTube, an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno was fixed and after the show, he was contacted by Discovery Channel for the commencement of the Diesel Brothers.[9] The show is filmed mostly in Woods Cross, Utah, where his studio is located.[10] Some episodes have also been filmed in Salt Lake City and Wendover, Utah. As an internet personality, his Youtube channel has over 3.7 million subscribers and over 800 million views.[11] He has over 10 million followers and over 2 billion views across all social media platforms.[12] During the course of filming Diesel Brothers, he has also worked with actor, Chuck Norris, amongst others. His first build was a 1976 Yamaha YZ80.[13] One of his most well known creations was the Mega Ram Runner,[14] which he designed and created based on a Dodge Ram 3500 and had a Ford 4R100 transmission.[15] The Mega Ram Runner was displayed at the 2014 SEMA Show. Kanye West sold Sparks his customized Ripsaw EV2, following West's relocation from Wyoming.[16] [17] He acquired the Fremont Island as a potential location for his show filming, customization and vehicular activities, however, he resold the island in 2020 after being unable to secure permits to carry out these activities.[18] [19] Also on his show, he converted a Tesla Cybertruck to have snow tracks, amongst others.[20] He has a world record monster truck jump in his personally branded monster truck, The BroDozer.[21] [22] Some of his other stunts are using a flamethrower to thaw a helicopter,[23] driving multiple different vehicles long distances while tipped up on only 2 wheels, and an attempt at jumping a truck from plane; which was canceled due to safety concerns.[24] He is known for his search and rescue resource, and for being able to solve challenging rescue situations with his expert team and specialized equipment.
He is the co-founder and CEO of two automobile companies, DieselSellerz and Sparks Motors. DieselSellerz has its diesel truck classifieds community website, DieselSellerz.com.[25] [26] His third company called Diesel Power, is a lifestyle brand. He became a brand ambassador and partner with brands including Polaris Inc., Sany Equipment, Ariat Boots, BFGoodrich tires, New Holland Construction & Agriculture,[27] and was involved in a collaboration with MLB Network for the Father's Day of 2017 where he built custom Polaris UTV's for an MLB promotion, as well as played in the 2017 MLB Celebrity Softball tournament.[28]
He was hired by Nikola to design the Nikola Badger truck,[29] of which they delved into an attempt at creating a Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.[30] Nikola canceled the Badger project in 2020 and Sparks purchased all of the rights to the Nikola Badger and Powersports programs which he announced via social media in February 2024. He also has mentioned his intention of bringing the Badger FCEV along with electric UTV's and Personal Watercraft to the market under a new brand, EMBR Motors. He participated in 2 episodes of motorsport event Monster Jam; in seasons 16 and 17, alongside Adam Anderson and Grave Digger.
He published the book The Diesel Brothers: A Truckin' Awesome Guide to Trucks and Life in 2017, alongside Diesel Dave.[31] He hosts the annual Heavy Academy conference, where he lectures participants about business strategies and how to inculcate them into their ventures.[32]
He is well known for he and his team's fast response time to assist with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts by flying his rescue helicopter, as well as sending 6 fully loaded semi trucks with various rescue equipment to Houston in August 2018. He helped provide resources and his helicopter in the search for the corpse of teenager Dylan Rounds.[33] [34] He also helped stranded snow victims in California,[35] [36] and additionally rallied others to help.[37] In 2022, he helped the family of late pilot Wayne Wirt extract the remains of the latter's body,[38] as well as the wreckage of his ill-fated airplane the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, after the family had taken to the internet solicit for help due to the high cost of a professional extraction.[39] He paid condolences and assistance to the family of Fremont County, Colorado girl who lost her life from a climbing accident.[40] [41] He does an annual toy drive to gather toys for families in need each Christmas. He also helped a family with broken down truck who were harassed out of their camping space with a makeover.[42] [43] In February 2022, he posted, via his YouTube channel, four videos filmed over 11 days documenting an excavation of a 225-foot (69 m) deep mineshaft within the vicinity of the area husband of disappearance victim Susan Powell claimed to have gone camping the night his wife disappeared.[44] Upon having the remains forensically analyzed, it was concluded that the bones were unlikely to be human.[45]
He is outspoken in his support for Latin American culture and immigrants.[46] [47]
He is married to Ashley Bennett.[48] He resides in Utah. In addition to English, he also speaks Spanish and Portuguese, having gone on a Mormon missionary to Bolivia at age 19.[49] He also traveled to Brazil for missionary work. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the Major League Baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers on 18 May 2017.