Fans of monster truck shows are used to masculine truck names like Monster Patrol, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock. So how would they react to a metal-crunching truck with a title as feminine as Body by Joanie?

"I'm thinking about that name for my truck because my roots are in fitness," says Joanie Laurer, known to World Wrestling Federation fans as the former wrestler Chyna.

Now that her WWF wrestling days are over, Laurer says she may try her hand at owning a monster truck and hiring a female driver to compete at truck shows across the country.

But for now, the 5-foot, 10-inch Laurer is content making appearances at events such as the Extreme Monster Truck Nationals beginning tonight in SeaGate Convention Centre downtown. Laurer is scheduled to appear tonight only, from 6 to 8.

Since she retired from the WWF last year, Los Angeles-based Laurer has wrestled occasionally in Japan. She has made some television and big-screen appearances, and is in a Disney film, Frank McClusky, C.I., scheduled to be released this spring.

Why monster truck show appearances?

"I really wanted to get out there again with the fans," she says. "I had built such a reputation with them and since I wasn't wrestling in the States anymore, I wanted to be with them again so they could see me in the flesh. As a little kid I remember going to truck and car shows ... and some of the same fans that I had in wrestling are at the monster truck shows. It's middle America."

In addition to Laurer's appearance, other features at the Extreme Monster Truck Nationals include performances by X-Games motorcyclists, a robot vehicle called Transaurus, and some 20 trucks.

The Extreme Monster Truck Nationals are scheduled for at 8 p.m. tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. tomorrow, and 2 p.m. Sunday in SeaGate Centre, 401 Jefferson Ave. Tickets at SeaGate Centre cost $17 for adults and $11 in advance for children ages 3-12. (Children's tickets cost $14 on the day of each show.) Children under age 3 are admitted free. Doors open two hours before each performance. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, Harmony House, the Stranahan Theater, and select Kroger stores. For tonight's show, $31 VIP tickets include preferred seating and an opportunity to meet Joanie Laurer. Information: 419-321-5032.

First Published March 22, 2002, 11:19 a.m.