Monster truck
A monster truck is an automobile, typically a pickup truck, which has been modified or purpose built with extremely large wheels and suspension. They are used for popular entertainment and in some cases they are featured alongside Motocross races, mud bogging, tractor pulls and car-eating robots.
Typically, a monster truck show involves the truck crushing smaller vehicles beneath its huge tires. These trucks can run up and over most man-made barriers, so they are equipped with remote shut-off switches, called the Remote Ignition Interuptor (RII), to help prevent an accident if the driver loses control at any time. At some events, only one truck is on the course at a time, while most feature two drivers racing each other on symmetrical tracks, with the losing driver eliminated in tournament fashion.
In recent years, many monster truck competitions have ended with a "freestyle" event. Somewhat akin to figure skating with giant trucks, drivers are free to select their own course around the track and its obstacles. Drivers will often try a 'Donut', also called a Cyclone, which involves spinning the truck in a high speed circle, and maybe even deliberately rolling the truck over. Additional items for the drivers to crush - usually including a mobile home - are frequently placed on the track specifically for the freestyle event.
History
In the late 1970s, modified pickup trucks were becoming extremely popular and the sports of mud bogging and truck pulling were gaining in popularity. Several truck owners had created lifted trucks to compete in such events, and soon competition to hold the title of "biggest truck" developed. The trucks which garnered the most national attention were Jeff and Steve Dane's King Kong, Bob Chandler's Bigfoot, and Fred Shafer and Jack Willman Sr.'s Bear Foot. At the time, the largest tires the trucks were running were 48 inches in diameter.
Sometime in the late 1970s, the Dane brothers began using King Kong to drive over automobiles at county fairs, making King Kong officially the first truck to crush cars in front of an audience. Unaware of this, Chandler drove Bigfoot over a pair of cars in a field as a test of the truck's ability, and filmed it to use as a promotional tool in his four wheel drive performance shop. An event promoter saw the video of the car crush and asked Chandler to do it in front of a crowd. Initially hesitant, Chandler eventually caved in. After some smaller shows, Chandler performed the feat in the Pontiac Silverdome in 1982. At this show, Chandler also debuted a new version of Bigfoot with 66 inch diameter tires. The event was a major success and launched Bigfoot as the first true "monster truck", under the current definition. The term "monster truck" was also coined at this time, reportedly by United States Hot Rod Association founder Bob George.
Both King Kong and Bear Foot followed Bigfoot to 66 inch diameter tires, and soon other monster trucks, such as King Krunch, USA-1, and Virginia Giant were being constructed. These early trucks were built off of stock chassis which were heavily reinforced, used leaf spring suspension, a stock body, and heavy military axles to support the tires. As a result, the trucks were incredibly heavy (usually 13,000 to 20,000 lb.) and most times had to crawl up onto the cars.
For most of the early 1980s, monster trucks performed primarily exhibitions as a side show to truck pulling or mud bogging events. In 1985, major promoters, such as the USHRA and TNT Motorsports, began racing monster trucks on a regular basis. The races, as they are today, were in the form of single elimination drag races, held over a course littered with obstacles. The change to racing eventually led truck owners to begin building lighter trucks, with more power. The establishment of TNT's first-ever monster truck points championship in 1988 expedited the process and found teams beginning to use straight-rail frames, fiberglass bodies, and lighter axle components to shave weight and gain speed.
In 1988, to standardize rules for truck construction, teams formed the Monster Truck Racing Association (MTRA). The MTRA created standards for several performance and safety features. The organization still plays a major role in the sport's development to this day.
With racing taking precedence, several teams began to think in new ways as to how the trucks could be built. In 1988, Jack Willman Sr., now with his own truck, Taurus, built a new truck which used a four-link suspension system and large coil springs, and that weighed in at close to 9,000 lb. The following year, another coil sprung truck, Equalizer debuted. The ultimate coup de grâce, however, came from Chandler, who's Bigfoot VIII featured a Baja 1000 inspired full tubular chassis and a long-travel suspension using nitrogen compression shock absorbers to cusion the landings. The truck revolutionized how monster trucks were built, and within a few years most top level teams built similar vehicles.
In 1991, TNT was bought out by USHRA and their points series were merged. The Special Events championship began to grow in popularity with teams as it had open qualifying spots which the invite-only USHRA championship did not have. The Special Events series lost its Pendaliner sponsorship in 1996 and ended subsequently, it was eventually followed by the ProMT series in 2000.
Although racing was dominant as a competition, USHRA events began having freestyle exhibitions as early as 1993. These exhibitions were developed as drivers, notably Dennis Anderson of the extremely popular Grave Digger, began asking for time to come out and perform if they lost in early rounds of racing. Promoters began to notice the popularity of freestyle among fans, and in 2000 USHRA began holding freestyle as a judged competition at events, and now even awards a freestyle championship.
Today, USHRA's Monster Jam series is the most popular series, with trucks like Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, and Bounty Hunter. Bigfoot often runs with Checkered Flag Productions, which is the second largest promoter of events, while Monster Nationals, AMP Live Events, Chris Arel Motorsports, Southern Monster Truck Showdown and Special Events all also hold major events. Monster truck events remain extremely popular, especially in major markets throughout North America and Europe, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Orlando, Toronto, Edmonton, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Zurich and Milano. They are the second biggest form of touring family entertainment shows in these regions, behind Disney's touring ice shows.
Truck design
A modern monster truck is more of a scaled up, four wheel drive dune buggy. As such, they generally aren't actual "trucks" and only maintain their name due to the common style of fiberglass bodies used on the vehicles. Trucks now have custom built tubular chassis, with four-link suspensions to provide up to four feet of travel. Mounted just behind the driver on most trucks are the engines, which are typically supercharged, run on methanol, and have displacement well upwards of 500 cubic inches. Axles are typically out of either heavy-duty military trucks or road vehicles like school buses, and are modified to have a planetary gear reduction at the hub to help turn the tires. All trucks have hydraulic steering in both the front and the rear (four-wheel steering), with the front wheels controlled by the steering wheel and the rear wheels by a toggle switch. The tires are typically "Terra" tires used on fertilizer spreaders, and have measurements of 66"x43"x25".
The trucks have many safety features, several required just to run in the small arenas that the trucks frequent. The aforementioned RII is one of three kill switches on each truck, the other two being one within the driver's reach in the cab, and another at the rear of the truck so that the engine may be shut off in the event of a rollover. Drivers sit in the center of the cab for visibility, and also have clear floorboards to see where they are going when the truck's front wheels are in the air. Drivers are required to wear firesuits, safety harnesses, helmets, and head and neck restraints. Most moving parts on the truck are also shielded, and high pressure components have restraining straps, both in case of an explosion.
Popular culture
Because of their initial popularity in conjunction with tractor pulls and mud bogs, monster trucks are often portrayed as being popular solely among rednecks. While the trucks are indeed popular in the rural areas of the United States, they are also becoming popular in major cities, and recent promotion of the trucks has been to lead them away from the "redneck" image.
Monster trucks are also often portrayed as being a form of motorized professional wrestling. Commonly cited evidence is the use of names for the trucks, rather than numbers and sponsors, and often accusations of rigged races, as some trucks (including Bigfoot and Grave Digger) are seen as winning more often in order to please the crowd. However, promoters have widely denied rigging races, and many shows often feature evidence to the contrary when the unpredictable happens. Perhaps more than the redneck stereotype, the pro-wrestling stereotype is hated among drivers and teams, who feel they are unfairly disrespected despite their work to compete at a high level, and among fans who would like to see the sport treated by the media as NASCAR is currently. However, as monster truck events do feature a considerably more show-like atmosphere than most other motorsports, the events can be considered a form of "sports entertainment".
The advertising of monster truck events has also become a part of popular culture. A familiar 1980s series of radio commercials for various monster truck races featured a screaming announcer, blaring rock background music, and heavy use of reverb, and usually began each spot with "Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Sunday!!!", and ending with "BE THERE!!!!!!". Although commonly associated with monster trucks, the ads were conceived in the 1960s for funny car match races at drag strips. As some promoters of those events also became promoters for monster truck events, the ads were retooled to fit the monster trucks. The ads have been frequently parodied in other advertisements.
See also
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