Bigfoot is the first and possibly the most well known of the monster trucks. It crushes cars. It flies. It accelerates like a madman. It goes over 80 miles per hour. It owned part of the imagination of any Child of the 80s.

In 1981, Bob Chandler, a St. Louis, Missouri construction contractor used his hooked up Ford F250 4x4 truck to drive over some junk cars. He later did this in a stadium show. Bigfoot was then sponsored by Ford Motor Company and others build their own monster trucks. Car crushing joined other events like truck pulling and mud racing. Bigfoot's first major competitor was Bear Foot, driven by Fred Shafer. Car crunching continued until 1984 when the Battle of the Monster Trucks was created to race monster trucks.

Bigfoot was first put together in 1974 when Bob jacked up his suspension and put on some oversized tires. These tires are often used on fertilizer spreaders and are called flotation tires It was used as a promotional tool for Bob's company, Midwest Four Wheel Drive, which serviced and provided parts for 4x4 vehicles. Bigfoot itself started to become an attraction. In 1979 it did its first paid event, a Denver car show. Later it participated in truck pulls in stadiums.

Today, Bigfoot has grown to a fleet of 14 trucks and you can even ride in one yourself! Check out their website for the list of promotional appearances.


www.gravedigger.com
www.bigfoot4x4.com
www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/sport/monster-trucks