BIGFOOT 50x50 Day 10, 2015: “40 Years In”

BIGFOOT’s 40th Anniversary would see the team experience everything from big moments to big moves, big crashes, new bodies, new places and everything else in between.

Southaven, Mississippi would be the lucky crowd to witness the debut of the brand-new BIGFOOT 21 on January 9th with Dan Runte driving. The duo would go on to win both racing and freestyle that weekend in the Landers Center. Summit 21 would take Dan to not only his fourth, consecutive Toughest Monster Truck Tour Championship, but the fourteenth championship of his career. Meanwhile, Larry Swim would go on to win double championships in the year. Capturing both the Monster X and 4-Wheel Jamboree Monster Truck Thunder Drags Racing championships.

In February, J.R. Adams was doing a show in Amarillo, Texas at the Amarillo National Center. During a race against Equalizer Adams hit the second jump over the crush cars and mid-flight the truck nosed over, crashed hard into the floor, and then went end over end. J.R. was fine, but the damage on 10 was severe, with the chassis and cage bent out of place. Ultimately it was decided to retire BIGFOOT 10 after 23 years of service.

On April 16, all 12 BIGFOOT monster trucks made their way down to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the 2015 Summit Racing Equipment Motorama. Sadly, the weather was a factor in the festivities but guests were treated to a one of a kind parade of all 12 trucks at the same time, and freestyle with Firestone 18, Trick Flow 19, and Summit 21.

Sadly, June would see another retirement in BIGFOOT 11. At a show at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Kevin Koszala nailed the ramp hard on the tail end of a race against Rammunition, but just like with BIGFOOT 10’s crash, 11 nosed down sharp and hit the ground violently before going end over and and coming to rest upside down. Kevin was ok, but again, just like 10, 11 was far too gone, and suffered far too much damage and was forced into retirement after 23 years of service.

In July it was announced that after 31 years, BIGFOOT 4x4 would be moving its headquarters from 6311 N. Lindbergh in Hazelwood, to a new location in Pacific, Missouri. The closings on both properties were scheduled to happen at the end of August, and on October 24th the ribbon was cut at the new BIGFOOT headquarters at 2286 Rose Lane in Pacific.

To cap off an exciting 40th Anniversary, luminaries from the monster truck world descended upon Auburn, Indiana at the Kruse Automotive and Carriage Museum for the Fifth Annual International Monster Truck Museum Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion. This year BIGFOOT would be celebrating alumni Gene Patterson for his accomplishments, not just at BIGFOOT but also with the Breen Brothers. He even put Colt Cobra’s mask on in a salute to his old friend. I wonder how he got that..?