BIGFOOT 50x50 Day 14, 2011: “I’m Eighteen”

After the absolute mammoth that was 2010, Team BIGFOOT showed no signs of slowing down. The year started off with Eric Tack subbing for Larry Swim in Bad Boy 14 on the Checkered Flag tour, where he showed no signs of rust. At the same time, Rick Long and E3 Spark Plugs 15 were busy stomping the Monster Nationals competition in their own right.

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, Darron Schnell would begin his racing career with a wild ride and a wild save in Firestone 11 on the AMP tour, while Rodney Tweedy would continue his winning ways on the Monster X Tour with BIGFOOT 10. Dan Runte would be joining Monster X as well, in a new version of Summit Racing 16. When their respective seasons ended, top honors would go to both Rick Long, who would win his second consecutive Monster Nationals Racing championship, and Dan Runte, winning the 4-Wheel Jamboree Monster Truck Thunder Drags Racing Championship. Which would be his tenth career championship.

In May, BIGFOOT would release one of their most beloved and still sought after home videos, BIGFOOT In Action V: The Vault Edition. Written and designed by Kyle Doyle, and edited by Bobby Chandler. Distilled from over 700 hours of footage, the 3-plus hour, 2-disk DVD set was filled to the brim with footage, much of it never seen before. From BIGFOOT 1’s street truck days, team racing and freestyle throughout the years, car crushes, sled pulls, hill climbs, mud runs, testing, and everything else a hardcore BIGFOOT fan could ask for.

2011 would also see BIGFOOT have a pair of repeat performances from 2011. The first being another visit to the MLB All-Star FanFest, this time in downtown Phoenix. MLB 10 wasn't just a classy showpiece, It was built for go as well. Kyle and the Chevy-Powered 10 would prove that in Northampton, Massachusetts and Rochester, New Hampshire late in the year, racking up seven racing and freestyle victories over the competition. Northampton also marked not only Kyle's first competition event, but also the first time a Chevy-powered BIGFOOT competed on track. The other event would see Dan Runte and Summit 16 visit Texas Motorplex to go drag racing against Darron Schnell and the new, cow-themed Vi-COR BIGFOOT during the American Drag Racing League World Finals.

The International Monster Truck Museum and Hall of Fame was founded in 2010 by Jeff Cook (owner/driver of War Wagon) with the goal of documenting and displaying the history of the sport and the industry it created and honoring those who shaped and molded it. Originally located in Auburn, Indiana, the museum boasted an assortment of displays dedicated to the rich history of monster trucks in the form of body panels, crew and driver uniforms, merchandise, photo and video, and actual full size monsters themselves. 2011 marked the first year for inductions into the hall, with the Inaugural class consisting of BIGFOOT’s Bob Chandler, King Kong’s Jeff Dane, Beast 4x4’s Dan Degrasso, USA-1’s Everett Jasmer, Bear Foot’s Fred Shafer, and Taurus creator, Jack Willman. A fitting first class as these gentlemen are the bedrock of the monster truck industry.

At the end of 2011, BIGFOOT 18 was completed and ready to debut. A wholly new chassis and suspension design, 18’s design and development was sparked by Vice President of Sponsorships and Business Development, Bob Trent, who claimed that BIGFOOT was standing still by continuously updating the design of the same chassis. And he did have a point. Since BIGFOOT 10 debuted, BIGFOOTs 11, 14, 15 and 16 were all the evolution and refinement of 10’s design. With that style reaching its zenith, it was time to head in a new direction. BIGFOOT 18 featured an additional four and a half inches of shock travel on the front end, nearly six inches of additional wheelbase, new shock mounting angles, and a massive structural support overhaul. All of this under a new, desert trophy truck body, a radical departure from the traditional pickup truck body.