| BATTLING BEASTS | | | | In the early 1980's several chrome crunching |
| Just more than a decade ago, the first monster truck | | | | monsters appeared in exhibitions at fairs and |
| stunned 70,000 fans occupying the Silverdome in | | | | motorsports events. From 1981 to 1984, monster |
| Pontiac, Mich. It was 1974 when Bob Chandler built his | | | | trucks just rolled over cars with the intention of |
| dream truck, a 4-wheel drive Ford F-250 pickup with | | | | flattening them. They didn't race. In 1984, the Battle |
| a jacked-up suspension and oversized tires. He called | | | | of the Monster Trucks was created with a race style |
| his creation Bigfoot. In 1982, in front of a packed | | | | competition and in 1987 the Unites States Hot Rod |
| house in Pontiac, this monster of a truck smashed | | | | Association (USHRA) created and sanctioned the first |
| two cars with a single blow. Bigfoot monopolized the | | | | series with head to head competition. Today, coil |
| monster truck scene until Bear Foot, a fierce | | | | over and nitrogen charged suspension systems, 66 |
| competitor, came out of hibernation. Fred Shafer was | | | | inch tall tires and alcohol-injected engines can |
| the first monster truck driver to challenge Chandler's | | | | generate 1,500 horsepower, making today's monster |
| Bigfoot, and he would go on to win three | | | | trucks bigger, badder and meaner than ever. |
| worldchampionships. | | | | |