The History of Monster Trucks
Hello, speed aficionados, and welcome to the Force1 RC October blog! Since we’re in spooky season, we thought it would be best to leave part 2 of the history of RC cars for next month, and instead focus on something, well, monstrous!
That’s right, in today’s blog, we’ll be outlining the history of monster trucks, a tradition that’s as American as apple pie. So, let’s get to the arena and smash some cars!
The First Monster Truck
Monster trucks were fathered by Bob Chandler back in the late 1970s, an off road enthusiast who wanted to take his own Ford F-250 pickup truck to the limit. Chandler owned an aftermarket car parts store called “Midwest Four Wheel Drive” in St. Louis, Missouri, and to promote it, he decided to make his truck the unofficial mascot. How? As Mental Floss explains, he added 48-inch oversized wheels, and supported them with larger axles. He then cruised through St. Louis and the people and media were awestruck.
But it wasn’t until 1981, when, out of curiosity, Chandler and friends decided to check if the Ford F-250, now called “Bigfoot,” could run over a few junkyard cars. The event was taped, and after its success, various promoters began calling Chandler hoping to feature Bigfoot at local car events.
The media created the term “monster truck,” and it stuck. Other drivers began to join the scene with their own monstrous pickup trucks, with names like the USA-1, the Grave Digger, and King Kong. Soon, typical tractor-pull events became dominated by monster trucks and their dirt-caked exploits. There was no turning back: the world of monster trucks had been born.
Monsters Evolve
As the monster truck shows increased in popularity, people wanted to see how much more these monstrous vehicles could do! The events began to evolve from simple car-crushing showcases to races and acrobatics competitions, and nowadays you can go to monster truck shows that feature more than one of these events.
Also, you’d be happy to know that there are many world records that monster trucks have achieved, including largest truck, longest ramp jump, longest reverse jump, and even fastest speed!
Where to go for Monster Truck Fun
Although the Covid-19 pandemic shut down many events, it is now safe to say that monster truck rallies are back in action. If you want to attend any of these shows, you can find more information at the Monster Truck Racing League, or at the Monster Jam circuit homepage.
And with this, our monster truck blog comes to a close. Have you ever gone to a monster truck rally? Let us know your experiences in the comments below!
And if you’re itching to get into the offroad fun but can’t afford a real monster truck, you can get any of our RC car products, like the Tornado LED and the Atomic X. Go to the Force1 RC website to get your own!