BIGFOOT 50x50 Day 36, 1989: “The Trouble with Tribbles”

It would be later said that BIGFOOT “didn’t want to come out and play with us” in 1989, but just because BIGFOOT didn’t do much points racing with TNT doesn’t mean that BIGFOOT wasn’t racing, or that they weren’t busy. In fact, 1989 was the busiest year for BIGFOOT up to that point.

In March, an absolute classic of a race would happen at the Pontiac Silverdome. One that would pit friend versus friend. Before that race, Jim Kramer in BIGFOOT 7 would narrowly beat Jeff Bainter in High Voltage to win the finals of the Monster Truck category. After that, Bob Chandler took Fastrax to win the tank division against Ernie Brookins and Trak Attack. The final race for the night would come down to Jim and BIGFOOT 7 versus Bob in Fastrax. In a very tight, fast race the old friends would come across the line virtually at the same time, with Kramer just edging out Chandler. After their collective victory lap, both would park on top of the crush cars, and be all smiles as they talked with Mike Galloway in the pits.

In June, Jim would take BIGFOOT 2 down to Australia for BIGFOOT’s first tour of the outback. After a few weeks of car crushing, koalas, kangaroos, and maybe a taste of Vegemite, Jim and cameraman Ralph Keune would hand 2 over to Ken Koelling, who would wrap up the remainder of the month. Stateside, Andy Brass would take BIGFOOT 4 on the Renegades-TNT tour for the second half of July.

In September, every BIGFOOT vehicle would converge on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis for the annual four-wheel jamboree. The occasion marked BIGFOOT’s 5000th appearance, and they were gonna celebrate in style. The weekend was filled with time trials, BIGFOOT versus BIGFOOT races, and the usual car crushing fare. It was also the coming out party for someone new. BIGFOOT 8 would debut in Indianapolis. After many hours on AutoCAD and many months building and testing his designs, Bob Chandler was ready to unveil this radical, new concept. This, much lighter, tubed frame truck, with its cantilevered suspension was going to usher in a new era, the Third Stage of Monster Trucks.

Also debuting at the end of the year at SEMA in Las Vegas was the brand-new BIGFOOT 9. Since BIGFOOT 3 in 1984, Bob and Company would unveil at least one new vehicle a year up to 9 in 1989. Maybe it was time to take a year off.. or three, on that front.