History of monster trucks

There’s something oddly primal to me about seeing a monster truck. Any time I see four tires taller than I am, attached to a humongous suspension that in turn is attached to a more gargantuan body, it just gets my blood pumping.

This April, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks heads back to the Bryce Jordan Center for three events of thunderous competition. In anticipation, I’ve been bitten by the monster truck bug, and I’ve been looking into the iconic pasts of trucks like Bigfoot, Grave Digger, Max-D and so much more. Join me as I break down a quick history of the monster truck phenomenon.

Late 1970s

Competitions like mud bogging and truck pulling gained popularity in rural parts of the US. Bob Chandler, the owner of a Four Wheel Drive shop in Saint Louis, began putting new products on his 1974 Ford F-250. The goal was to always just make the truck bigger and better. Friends of Chandler joked that he was not afraid to lay his foot on the gas, eventually giving this truck the iconic name: Bigfoot.

Bigfoot would eventually be a regular staple at local four-wheeling events. It was at one such event that Chandler met Everett Jasmer, the eventual creator of Bigfoot’s rival, USA-1.

1982

Dennis Anderson was a worker on a wealthy family’s farm in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. In his spare time, Anderson would take his 1952 Ford pickup truck, assembled from mostly spare parts, down to the mud hole to compete.

On one fateful day, Anderson and his fellow mud boggers were in a session of good old-fashioned trash talking. The son of the man who owned the farm Anderson worked on eventually called his Ford “old junk.” Anderson aptly responded, “I’ll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it.”

Impressed, his competitors put “Grave Digger” on Anderson’s time card. That night, he said he spray-painted the same name on the side of the truck.

Around this time, Bigfoot was becoming increasingly popular, being the first truck to feature 66-inch tires. It attempted the first car crush in front of a crowd at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.

Mid-1980s

Monster truck popularity was increasing, but mostly as a sideshow for more established events. Bigfoot and USA-1 would change this with a side-by-side car-crushing race on the TV show That’s Incredible!, where Bob Chandler would win.

TNT Motorsports and the United States Hot Rod Association would clamor to host monster truck events across the country. In 1988, TNT organized the first monster truck racing championship, where USA-1 beat Bigfoot in a tight battle.

Grave Digger became a crowd favorite by being competitive even against larger teams like Bigfoot and USA-1. 1986 saw the debut of the iconic black-and-green paint job on the Chevy panel van body. ESPN aired a race in 1987 in which Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger beat Bigfoot, making the truck a household name.

1990s

The USHRA established a league in which monster trucks would compete in multiple event styles for world championships to end the season. The promotion was dubbed “Monster Jam.” Grave Digger and Bigfoot would continue their rivalry in this competition until 1998, when Bigfoot left due to licensing issues.

Monster Jam introduced freestyle and two-wheel skills events, in which drivers competed for points based on the most impressive stunts. Freestyle was a category dominated by Anderson and Grave Digger.

2000s

Bigfoot would continue to perform independently while Monster Jam became the premier monster truck promotion. Grave Digger had a new rivalry in Maximum-Destruction, piloted primarily by Tom Meents.

Their rivalry would be the draw of the decade for Monster Jam, where the two trucks traded world titles spanning many years and drivers. When all was said and done, Meents retired with 14 total world titles across his career.

2010s-Present

Monster Jam expanded its competition by adding more trucks and regional series over the years. Dennis Anderson made his final run in 2017 after suffering an injury at an event in Raymond James Stadium. He retired with four world titles in total, three in racing and one in freestyle.

Grave Digger is continued by Anderson’s children and was challenged over the years by trucks like Blue Thunder, Zombie, and Mohawk Warrior.

After years of producing licensed toys for Monster Jam, Hot Wheels parted ways with the league to launch its own promotion in 2019: Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live. The tour featured Bigfoot's return to organized competition.

Monster trucks capture the awe of fans of all ages, and before I did my research, I didn’t even know they had a rich and storied history alongside the giants of American motorsports. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live keeps the monster truck story going on April 18-19 at the BJC.

Wyatt Beach is a second-year broadcast journalism major. You can reach him at wfb5184@psu.edu