march2015

SEXY GLAM

MAGAZINE - MARCH 2015

monster truck points championship in 1988 expedited the

process and found teams beginning to use straight-rail

frames, fiberglass bodies, and lighter axle components to

shave weight and gain speed.

In 1988, to standardize rules for truck construction and

safety, Bob Chandler, Braden, and George Carpenter

formed the Monster Truck Racing Association (MTRA).

The MTRA created standard safety rules to govern mon-

ster trucks. The organization still plays a major role in the

sport’s development in the USA and EU.

With racing taking precedence, several teams began to

think in new ways as to how the trucks could be built.

Towards the end of 1988, Gary Cook and David Morris de-

buted Equalizer, a truck with a combination of coil springs

and shock absorbers as the main source of suspension

rather than the standard of leaf springs and shock absorb-

ers. In 1989, Jack Willman Sr., now with his own truck,

Taurus, debuted a new truck which used a four-link sus-

pension system and large coil over shock absorbers, and

that weighed in at close to 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg). How-

ever, the ultimate coup de grâce came from Chandler, also

in 1989, whose Bigfoot VIII featured a full tubular chassis

and a long-travel suspension using cantilevers and nitro-

gen shock absorbers to control the suspension. The truck

revolutionized how monster trucks were built, and within a

few years most top level teams built similar vehicles.

In 1991, TNT was purchased by USHRA and their point’s

series were merged. The Special Events championship

began to grow in popularity with teams as it had open

qualifying spots which the invite-only USHRA champi-

onship did not have. The Special Events series lost its

Penda liner sponsorship in 1996, but the series is still run-

ning. The short-lived Prompt series started in 2000.

Even though racing was dominant as a competition,

USHRA events began having freestyle exhibitions as early

as 1993. These exhibitions were developed as drivers,

notably Dennis Anderson of the extremely popular Grave

Digger, began asking for time to come out and perform

if they lost in early rounds of racing. Promoters began to

notice the popularity of freestyle among fans, and in 2000

USHRA began holding freestyle as a judged competition

at events, and now even awards a freestyle champion-

ship.

Truck styling and creating

A modern monster truck is more of a scaled up. As such,