BIGFOOT 50x50 Day 34, 1991: “There’s a SNAKE in my shed!”

Back in August of 1990, TNT Motorsports was purchased by SRO/Pace. TNT wouldn’t fully fade away in 1991 but for all intents and purposes, SRO/Pace and the USHRA were the biggest game in town.

1991 was a very lucrative year for BIGFOOT. Especially in terms of sponsorship and licensing. Their relationship with Firestone starting early in the year and eventually moving to every truck. In February of 1991, Mattel announced that BIGFOOT would have toys produced under their Hot Wheels banner for their new BIGFOOT Champions line of toys. Jim Kramer, Gene Patterson and BIGFOOT 9 would leave Tampa for Manhattan to do a display and crush for Mattel during the 1991 New York Toy Fair.

For the 1991 USHRA/Camel season, Jim Kramer would do most of the driving with BIGFOOT 9. The season would be a see-saw for Jim with wins in Anaheim, New Orleans, and two event wins in Oklahoma City, but the severely stiff competition in Fred Shafer in Bearfoot, Dennis Anderson in Grace Digger, and Jack Willman in Taurus would prove formidable foes for the seasoned vet. Eventually all of the field would feel the horns of Taurus as the 1991 USHRA champion.

In April, Special Events, the company that promoted the yearly 4-Wheel and Off-Road Jamboree events, would gain sponsorship from Pendaliner to present the Penda points series. The tour would start with Andy Brass behind the wheel of BIGFOOT 8 at the Memphis Motorsports Park.

A strange new driver with a black suit and snakeskin painted mask would join the circuit this season as well in a new truck called Snake Bite. The driver’s name was Colt Cobra. Coincidentally he sounded an awful lot like BIGFOOT’s Gene Patterson. He struck the series with his red and yellow ‘91 Ford.. Snake, which had a chassis that looked eerily similar to BIGFOOT 4’s. Colt’s season probably didn’t go as well as he hoped, especially in Union Grove when he not only rolled over, but on another run lost control and ran over an unoccupied shed!

Andy had a relatively successful season, but much like Jim Kramer he wasn’t able to keep down the likes of Bearfoot, Taurus, and eventual season champion, Gary Porter and the Carolina Crusher. In July, Dan Runte would take BIGFOOT 7 on another, this time much longer trip to Australia for USA Motorsports. The duo would be home in November, just time for the holidays.