![]() Those tires smack of hammerhead sharks or saber-toothed tigers, creatures with outsize features evolved for ultraviolence.ĭan Runte helmed Bigfoot 1 for our photography. The rest of the rig seems all tires-a bulging, absurd mountain of rubber. Up close, Bigfoot’s pillbox body towered over my six-foot frame. The thing’s relative size made me feel like a kid, when doorknobs were eye hazards and my grandpa had to lift me into his work truck. You might expect the old Ford to feel small by modern standards, as old cars do. Today, at least, the truck was off its leash. Imagine Bigfoot crawling behind a Girl Scout float. The old truck didn’t languish, participating in the odd demo and appearing at local events, but by 2019, it had become an antique, idling through a few parades per year. Nearly a decade of abuse had taken its toll. By 1979, at its first paid appearance, in Denver, promoters coined the term “monster truck.”Ĭhandler retired Bigfoot 1 in 1982. In 1977, it was the first truck to sit on the show floor at SEMA. ![]() Bigfoot the machine officially debuted at events across the Midwest in 1975. ![]() “My general managers called me ‘Bigfoot.’ They said, ‘If you’d keep your big foot out of the throttle, then you wouldn’t have any problems.’ I liked that.” “I’d come back every Monday to the shop with a broken truck,” Chandler chuckled. The Ford’s tires and engine displacement grew. He swapped broken axles for five-ton military units scavenged from junkyard rigs. He stormed Midwest tractor pulls, mud bogs, river runs, hill climbs-any event where he could spackle the truck in mud and entice clients. The truck was impressing other people, because they’d come into the shop and want the same thing: bigger tires and on and on.”Ĭhandler kept on, too. So I put bigger tires on it, and, well, when you put bigger tires on, you start breaking axles. “I had a shop, Midwest 4x4, and I liked going four-wheeling with the truck. “Bigfoot kind of just happened,” said Bob Chandler Sr., 78, the former hobbyist who built the first monster truck. Up front, a café and gift shop greeted eager tourists while office staff organized a global monster-truck empire. Oversize work bays held the latest Bigfoot trucks. Behind the garages of a former tractor-repair shop, the day-to-day operations of Bigfoot 4x4 Inc. There it sat, awash in light from the rising Missouri sun. This story originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Road & Track. Four generations of monster-truck enthusiasts claim Bigfoot as their own, but my mind conjures just one: Bigfoot 1, a 1974 Ford F-250. ![]() ![]() A Monster Jam ticket and a Pit Pass are both required to enter the Pit Party.There have been 22 Bigfoot iterations since 1974, spitting mud and sound across nearly every county in America and packing stadiums with adoring fans. Pit Passes are valued at $10 and can also be purchased along with your show tickets online or on the day of the event at the Ford Field Box Office. Pit Passes available for a limited time at Metro PCS locations only. PIT PARTY TICKETS – Meet the drivers and get autographs before the show from 2-5 p.m.! Visit the online ticketing page and click on the blue SPECIAL OFFERS box to be taken to a new page where you can enter your code and select your seats. Save on your tickets with a NEW Monster Jam coupon code! Use the coupon code MJ15 for $15 flat rate tickets for the February 27 event. Monster Jam events create an electrified, entertaining atmosphere as 1,500 HP monster trucks fly 30 feet in the air, flattening anything in their path. Monster Jam performs to the delight of families with three elements to every show - the pit party, racing, and freestyle. Monster Jam is the world’s largest and most famous monster truck tour, featuring the biggest names including: Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, Monster Mutt, El Toro Loco, Captain’s Curse and Blue Thunder. ![]()
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