American Daredevil, the monster trucks that changed the world, part 2...

 

The USA has always had a fascination with cars. That deep interest is a reflection of our pop culture. It is constantly changing and evolving. Trends flow from state to state, cross pollinating with local car scenes. Southern California for example gave rise to hot rod's Kustom Kulture. Enthusiasts could express themselves through their cars. The freshly paved freeways of post-WWII America were ripe for cruising and racing. People began modifying old cars and turning them into sporty coupes, race cars, or dragsters. All over the country similar opportunities were happening for DIY mechanics, engine builders and fabricators. Trucks were included in the changing landscape.

 

In the American Southwest trucks and buggies were modified to cross the desert, quickly and easily. Suspensions evolved to clear brush and rocks. Four-wheel drive technology was essential in taming the Rockies in the mountain states. Jeeps, and trucks were outfitted with aftermarket parts, winches, roll bars, and lights to safely get out of the worst situations. In the South trucks had to power through swamps and mud. In the Midwest trucks had to be workhorses on the farm, capable of handling any terrain, and strong enough to double as a tractor. Four wheel drive culture evolved from every corner of the USA. It influenced the evolution of both sport, and work trucks. Monster trucks were almost a mash up of all of these influences.

 

In St. Louis Missouri a guy named Bob Chandler would take his 1974 blue Ford F-250 truck out on weekends and show it off with friends. He would often drive it too hard and break something. He’d manage to get his truck back to work, the Midwest 4 Wheel Drive Center. His general manager Ron Magruder would ask “what did you and your big foot break this time?” Chandler would rebuild the truck, trying to make it bigger and badder than the rest. He made the engine more powerful, changed out stock parts for military components that could take much more abuse. Every time it went out it turned heads. It was fun and free advertising for his shop. The truck was quickly gaining a reputation. He thought that the oversized tires he and his friends used made the trucks look silly. He called them “silly trucks.” His wife Marylin said no, they looked more like monsters. He recorded himself driving over some old junk cars and would play the video in his shop. One day a promoter saw this and asked if he could recreate the stunt in front of a live audience. He would be paid handsomely of course.

 

Chandler pulled off many crushing exhibitions in small venues, but one night opportunity struck. In 1983 the Pontiac Silverdome was filled to capacity, some 70,000+ people were watching a tractor pull motorsports spectacular. The big blue Ford was a sideshow. It was bigger and more powerful than any other truck they had ever seen. Chandler had introduced 4-wheel steering, which he said made his truck a "4x4x4." It allowed him to “crab walk” the truck almost sideways. He quickly became the main attraction. The stunt that he pulled off was the most insane thing anybody had ever seen. The reaction would tear the roof off of the building, and thankfully video proof exists. The audience couldn’t believe that “Bigfoot,” now equipped with 66 inch terra tires, drove right over some cars. It was like the moon landing for the four wheel drive community. Monster trucks were about to take over our collective consciousness.

 

Bigfoot had been featured in off road magazines years before the Silverdome. Four wheel drive enthusiasts and manufactures were always looking for the next big thing. Magazines would send out reporters to look for hot reader builds. Few were as big as Bigfoot. It was much more than a “show” truck, whose polished chrome engine and accents could have collected ribbons at car shows. It was a fully functional four wheel drive truck. It proved its worth at every possible challenge. It performed exhibition hill climbs, mud bog runs, drag races, and tractor pulls. These were things that sometimes required a dedicated vehicle. A tractor for example wouldn’t run a mud bog, a hill climber wouldn’t be much use in a pulling competition. The Ford seemed unstoppable, crushing any obstacle in its path. It was a true star and it wouldn’t be long before Hollywood came calling.

 

Its breakout role was in the 1981 film Take this Job and Shove it. Sadly getting wrecked by stuntmen in the middle of filming, it forced a sloppy rebuild. It appeared on screen many more times. In Cannonball Run II in 1984, and in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment in 1985. On and on through many features over the years. To say that Bigfoot absolutely owned the ‘80s would be an understatement. I was smitten by the big blue Ford. I had seen the aforementioned movies, and had started gathering tidbits of information in the various off road magazines with articles on Bigfoot and his contemporaries. I think the mainstream breakout for the truck wasn’t in the movies as much as it was in the television show That’s Incredible!

 

The show filmed people all over the country performing daredevil feats, crazy stunts, or showing off inventions. Sometimes they would invite guests to perform in front of the studio audience. A young Tiger Woods and Rodney Mullen appeared on the show, respectively they grew up to become the most influential pro golfer and skateboarder for a generation. Bigfoot was tasked with competing in the first televised monster truck race. Chandler was pitted against his friend Everett Jasmer and his truck USA-1. I couldn’t wait for the race, and counted down the days for the next episode. It was all my kid brain could think about morning, noon and night. Just like the Brodozer jump some 36 years later captured my imagination. My brothers were hopeful that the truck I idolized would come out victorious. I bugged all my friends at school to see if they would be watching the telecast. They didn’t believe me when I told them that two giant trucks would be racing each other on top of parked cars. They simply couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea. Secretly I was praying that my hero would win in the end. Thankfully I was not disappointed!

 

Most kids my age in So Cal were rooting for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson. They were the star players with the Showtime-era Lakers. Others at school were all about the Dodgers, Angels, Rams or Raiders. I tended to gravitate more towards motor-sports, and drivers. I had a list of favorites, Richard Petty for NASCAR, Don “ Big Daddy” Garlits and Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney in top fuel dragster, Don “the Snake” Prudhomme in funny car, and Mario Andretti in Formula-1 and Indy Car. Of these Bigfoot and Bob Chandler were unique. They were the stars in an entirely new type of motorsport. A sport where ordinary people started with a stock truck and turned it into an absolute beast. It was something that anybody could do. It carried the same spirit that founded hot rod culture decades earlier.

 

The whole DIY mentality was the heart and soul of the four wheel drive community. It was the same thing that sparked hot rod culture for cars. As I learned from magazines no two trucks were alike. The way they looked, handled and performed spoke volumes about each builder. Some were mild, but several were outrageous, featuring engines pulled from jets, and helicopters! None of the trucks seemed to have the class or pedigree of Bigfoot and his growing family. Chandler went from rebuilding Bigfoot to starting from scratch and making better versions. Bigfoot II, III, IV... were seemingly coming out every year. Money for these new builds was not from winning races as much as from licensing deals. The Bigfoot brand grew to include toys, games, and even a cartoon show. Everyone wanted a piece of the truck, myself included.

 

The technology behind Bigfoot evolved along with the sport. Despite the hundreds of monster trucks that would appear over the next two decades, only a handful could compete at the same level as the big blue Ford. The best often had corporate sponsors helping pay for the builds. Veteran four wheeler enthusiasts teamed up with race car builders, and engine tuners to shape future trucks. Monsters began touring the country year-round. Appearing at state fairs, in organized competitions, and car shows. The biggest names commanded thousands just to show up. With multiple Bigfoots available, the team could appear every weekend at different venues. They did this over the next 40 years. With monster trucks going mainstream there were bound to be some accidents.

 

Chandler began pushing for increased safety for the trucks, drivers and spectators. His contemporaries were suffering severe neck and back injuries while driving the trucks. Worse yet runaway trucks had injured and killed spectators in small venues. The industry needed to learn how make things safer for everyone. Chandler and George Carpenter helped establish the nonprofit Monster Truck Racing Association (MTRA) in 1987. Almost 50 owner / drivers showed up for the first meeting. The MTRA drafted rules and regulations for operators and invited promoters to attend meetings. The US Hot Rod Association (USHRA) was recognized as the organizing body of the racing events. They helped standardize safety rules while brokering deals to get events on network and cable TV. Essentially helping expose monster trucks to the rest of the world.

 

The USHRA was acquired by Live Nation and Monster Jam was born in 1992. Feld Entertainment took over Live Nation in 2008. Feld was a family-owned company that ran the Disney on Ice, and also the Ringling Bros. and Barnun & Bailey Circus. Feld went on to buy the rights to several classic monster trucks. This created the appearance that they founded the sport. Many owners thought that Feld would continue to push the circus-like atmosphere when Live Nation ran the organization. With colorful, over-the-top monster truck bodies, and camera-friendly personalities on television the veterans weren’t far off the mark. Monster Jam became a traveling show featuring racing and “freestyle” competitions with dozens of trucks jumping over giant piles of dirt. The DIY uniqueness of Chandler and his friend’s trucks gave way to corporate branded monsters, with licensed names, and homogenized construction. The “best” trucks were the ones that performed the most outrageous stunts. Often these were either wrecks or incredible saves.

 

While Monster Jam provided exposure, and paid drivers well, they controlled many of the names, and prohibited some trucks from appearing on other circuits. If you are familiar with the world of professional wrestling I want you to think about the McMahon family, the WWE company which they own, and the wrestlers they hire. Yes the wrestlers are famous and get paid well, but they are all treated like independent contractors and not employees. They don’t own their “gimmick” or stage name, are prohibited from appearing at outside promotions, and do not have health or retirement benefits. Any appearances in games, or merchandising are shrewdly negotiated. The lions share of the profit stays with the WWE and the McMahons. The family didn’t create wrestling, they just cornered the market, and bought out the competition. Feld had been essentially using the same business model.

 

Chandler refused to have Bigfoot appear under the Feld umbrella. He was one of the few owner / operators to go independent and survive. Others would join Monster Jam for a season or two and drop out. They’d either retire, sell their name, or join independent shows as well. Of course no other circuit had guaranteed television broadcasting rights, meaning that the competition would be small at best. It was the price to pay to control your own brand. Indy shows such as the Monster Truck Throwdown, Monster Truck Nationals, Monster X Tour, and Toughest Monster Truck Tour continue to build a following. They are organized by owner / operators, highlight the veteran trucks, and new blood keeping the sport fresh. Coincidentally the indy wrestling promotions seem to do the same for that community.

 

Some of this might be common knowledge to you. Some of it may be completely new. I recalled a lot of this history while watching the Brodozer stunt on Memorial Day. It made me realize that it had been 36 years since Bigfoot raced USA-1. So much had happened in that time. The Brodozer was a star on the Monster Jam circuit. It joined legends like Max-D (Maximum Destruction) and the Grave Digger. Incidentally Dennis Anderson sold Feld the Grave Digger team in 1998. I wanted to make sure that people didn't forget the origins of the sport. We shall dig even deeper, and explore the pioneers that made the Brodozer possible in the next blog. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

American Daredevils, the monster trucks that changed the world, part 1...

 

Where were you on Memorial Day, Monday May 27, 2019? If you were like me you were counting down the minutes until a monster truck jumped over a flying airplane. It was simply too outrageous to be true. There was a social media push months before the event which was hard to miss. I didn’t let on to my coworkers, who were focused on the NBA, and various boxing championships happening around then. Monster trucks were for kids, but it was constantly on my mind. I had always been a fan of monster trucks, I mean going back almost 40 years! But that love had been dormant for a long while.

 

My prized collection of off road, and monster truck magazines was destroyed in a freak Southern California rainstorm more than a decade ago. Since that time I couldn’t bring myself to look at anything monster truck related. It just hurt to think about what I lost. When I heard that some crazy person was planning on jumping an airplane that passion came roaring back. Every moment spent in the playground with my Matchbox Super Chargers was recalled in vivid detail. Powering over Hot Wheels on miniature sand dunes at the park, crushing makeshift cardboard race tracks on rainy days. The tiny button that I had made reading I (heart symbol) Monster Trucks was pinned inside my wallet, like a secret message that only true fans knew about. Every video game, every toy featuring a monster truck was forever a part of my identity. My friends and family all knew it. That bit of me had been in a coma, it was now waking up.

 

I planted myself in front of the television hours before the event. Turning off my phone and other distractions so I could live in the moment. The stunt came from the mind of a kid like me. Somebody with an overactive imagination. In this case the kid was the burly Dave “Heavy D” Sparks, one half of the “Diesel Brothers.” Sparks along with “Diesel Dave” Kiley run the Diesel Power Gear shop and website. Their adventures are covered on the Discovery channel. They build for customers, but also give away trucks. Their marketing must be working because they are flooded with projects week in and week out. They've created many amazing builds. Many of them are featured on their show, however their star is called the Brodozer. It is the first diesel truck in Monster Jam competition. It is a bright yellow 2018 Ford Super Duty Crew Cab inspired by an offload truck that Sparks had built years earlier. This new monster truck is a real beast. With a Duramax Diesel engine generating 1,100hp, it has enough power to make the 5 ton truck do backflips!

 

Sparks splits his time between running the business and driving the truck on the Monster Jam circuit. He’s just one of three people that pilots the Brodozer. Diesel Dave also gets a chance to run it, and second-generation monster truck driver / builder Colt Stephens as well. Sparks was the one behind the wheel on Memorial Day when he jumped over an 800lb plane piloted by Anthony Oshinuga. Getting the stars to align took a lot of hard work, and months of preparation. Every challenge behind the attempt, from locating a pilot to prepping the truck would be recorded. Legendary monster truck driver Tom Meents would help make sure that Sparks was prepared. It became the narrative behind the fifth season of their show. The Brodozer team was promoting the event on every media outlet they could find. You can imagine that it didn’t take much to get me interested. I was on board and counting down to the big day.

 

The original idea was for the Brodozer to break the monster truck distance world record on Memorial Day. Monster trucks had been setting distance records for more than thirty years. The lead had changed hands a few times in the past decade. Almost exclusively between Dan Runte in Bigfoot and Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit. Runte was possibly the best monster truck driver of his generation, and Sylvester was a young-guns champion and accomplished driver on several popular trucks. The two had gone over 200 feet in their rivalry. Sparks did not feel confident that he would topple their records. So instead of distance he decided on something more spectacular. The Brodozer would jump about 100 feet in distance, but at a height of around 40 feet, leaving enough space to allow an airplane to fly underneath it with room to spare. This was an insane idea to say the least.

 

Discovery made an event out of the jump. It was very much in the style of classic television spectacles. They stretched out the show by featuring other record-breaking attempts, and guest commentators. For those old enough to remember, ABC Wide World of Sports would host specials featuring motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel. When I was a little kid my family would huddle around the TV hoping to see a man jump his motorcycle over a row of buses or die trying. The Brodozer jump made me feel like I had traveled back in time. It was an electric feeling! As much as I was enjoying this moment I knew there would be a new generation forever be changed by this event. It’s hard to put in words how much a sensational stunt could change a life. It made me think about how I was fortunate enough to live through some revolutionary pop culture periods.

 

The jumps (and horrific crashes) of Evel Knievel became the stuff of legend. I was born after Evel’s greatest stunts, but his name was inescapable growing up. Evel had become so big in his lifetime that a movie was made about him while he was still active. Can you remember a biopic for a singer or actor being made at the height of their career? More often than not they are filmed decades after their death. Such was the influence of Knievel. This daredevil “fad” was not short-lived, but instead lasted decades. New comic book heroes, movies, and tv shows revolved around motorcycles. To be fair Evel was not the first person to shift the pop culture sphere through the ‘70s and even early ‘80s. Everyone wanted to become a martial artist thanks to the films of Bruce Lee. Kung-fu became hot on TV, in comic books and toys around the same time as well. The influence of these icons never faded, and in fact, continue to color pop culture 40-years later.

 

The kids that grew up with Bruce Lee and Evel Knievel are now running companies. They are writers, directors, animators and producers. They get to decide what the entertainment industry focuses on. Look at the character Duke Caboom, introduced in Toy Story 4 in 2019. The entire series is a love-letter to childhood, and the toys that meant the most to us. Kaboom was inspired by the Evel Knievel stunt cycle, rather than the toys of today. You can imagine that if he was covered in stars and stripes then the Disney would have owed the Knievel estate a big paycheck. Instead they painted Caboom in the colors of the Canadian flag, red and white with a maple leaf on his cape to avoid any trademark infringement. Even with those changes audiences could guess who inspired the toy.

 

Kids are going to remember every detail of watching the Brodozer jump over an airplane. They are going to fondly recall the summers spent lining up jumps for their motorcycle and monster truck toys. They are going to draw, write about or become the daredevils in their own life story. Eventually there will be a generation that doesn’t know the names of Knievel, or where monster trucks came from. There are many names that should never to be forgotten. Pioneers of motor-sports and pop culture deserve some recognition. I want to talk a moment about the forefathers that made monster trucks popular. We will look at these people in the next blog. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!