BIGFOOT 50x50 Day 43, 1982: “And Then There Were Two”

“Just a little fancy footwork” is how legendary announcer and TV presenter Mike Gallaway once described the exhibitions of early monster trucks. These showcases were all about class, brute power and ingenuity. They were the sleek movements of front and rear steering during the national anthem, the power of the pull, and of being able to navigate the mud pits or formidable hills. Then came the crushing of cars.

By 1982, those days were done. After nearly a year of declining offers, Bob Chandler finally relented and agreed to crush cars with BIGFOOT for money at a truck pull in Jefferson City, MO. Until this point, Bob had refused to crush cars again since the Teson Farm Experiment, fearing the destruction would tarnish BIGFOOT’s image as a classy, reputable marketing machine. Now, with some promoter pressure and the encouragement of many folks who had seen the now-infamous video of BIGFOOT’s first crush, Bob was ready to give it a go.

After some complications on the first night of the event, Bob returned the second day in fine form and successful executed a car crushing performance with BIGFOOT. Everything was different now. A new feat conquered.

With the demand for BIGFOOT increasing by the day, Bob and his crack squad at Midwest set about building another BIGFOOT. Both trucks would be virtually identical however, Bob decided to use the now-standard 66” tall “monster truck” tire, from the outset. Repurposed from their original agricultural use, these “flotation” tires would prove that they could float over most anything in their path. But I digress on the “floating” discussion for now..

Debuting at the Indy Jamboree in October to the same kind of adoration one would expect surrounding any newborn, BIGFOOT 2 garnered massive fan and press interest. Looking back these were seismic shifts in the primordial soup of the “Monster Truck Industry” and while both trucks would be busy BIGFOOT 2 was poised to make some serious history of its own in the months ahead..