Mad Mel

Mad Mel is one of the bandit bosses that you will face. He drives a large truck around a circular arena.

Strategy
Mad Mel drives a large armored truck so small arms will do little to no damage to him so you will require a rocket launcher or a vehicle that has a mounted rocket launcher. The map is a large donut shaped arena with walls surrounding you and a flaming center piece in the middle. Mel drives around in one direction and will try to run you over so keep your eye on him if you're on foot because you will be killed if you get run over. One easy way to win is by locking on to Mad Mel with a machine gun vehicle turret and driving circles around him while firing. This way the raiders cannot hit you easily, nor can Mel.

This battle is extremely difficult on foot and it is not recommended considering that obtaining a vehicle is quite easy. In the ring there are many enemies running around along with outriders possibly spawning if you take too long. There are also launcher rounds being fired from the holes in the wall and you cannot kill them so be very careful, they will continue to fire even if you are not in a vehicle.

However, it is possible to attack Mad Mel using a corrosive weapon in order to weaken him, which helps as the large amount of runners in the arena which can quickly kill you if you're not careful.

If you do happen to die during this boss fight, you'll respawn directly before the ramp leading to the dome. If you have a sufficiently good ranged weapon, it is possible to stand outside the dome, using the ramp as cover and kill Mad Mel that way.

For Hunters, use an explosive elemental sniper rifle and shoot at Mad Mel from as far back as possible and use your Bloodwing for anything that comes in close.

The best tactic to take against Mad Mel, however boring, is to remain in your vehicle and lock onto him with the Turret Gun (The Rocket Launcher is not as effective). Once you have done this follow the circular pattern in the room and just go nuts, it takes a few minutes but you rarely get hit by anything.

Trivia

 * Mad Mel is a reference to the the movie "Mad Max," an Australian post-Apocalyptic movie starring Mel Gibson. Borderlands bears a number of similarities to the Mad Max series of movies including vehicular combat, bandit raiders and fighting over fuel in the quest Fuel Feud.  The achievement "Can't We Get BEYOND Thunderdome?" is also a reference to the second Mad Max sequel, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome." Additional Mel Gibson movie references can be found in the different quest descriptions in that area (such as Braveheart and Lethal Weapon).