Bigfoot (truck)

Bigfoot

Bigfoot racing in Arizona
Owner and driver information
Owner	Bob Chandler
Driver(s)	Dan Runte, Rick Long, Ron Bachman, Rodney Tweedy, Nigel Morris, Alan Hartsock, Eric Meagher, Eric Tack, Keith Sturgeon, Jerry Dalton, Jim Heineman, Jim Kmiec, Brian Bertoletti, Amber Walker
Home city	Pacific, Missouri
Truck information
Year created	1975
Body style	Ford F-Series
Transmission	Ford C6 transmission, Abruzzi 2-Speed
Tires	48 inch, 66 inch, and 120 inch Firestone

Bigfoot, built in 1975 and debuted in 1979, is regarded as the original monster truck. Other trucks with the name "Bigfoot" have been introduced in the years since, and it remains a well-known monster truck moniker in the United States. Bigfoot 4×4, Inc. is owned and operated by its creator, Bob Chandler.

A former construction worker from the St. Louis, Missouri area, Chandler began building the first Bigfoot in 1975, using the Chandler family's 1974 F-250 four-wheel drive and found that automotive shops in the Midwest generally did not carry the parts needed to repair his frequently-wrecked 4×4. To remedy this problem, Chandler and his wife Marilyn, along with friend Jim Kramer, opened a shop called Midwest Four Wheel Drive and Performance Center in Ferguson, Missouri. The shop moved to Hazelwood, Missouri in 1984, which remained as Bigfoot's headquarters until 2015 when the headquarters was relocated to Pacific.

The truck's first attention grabbing modification came when Chandler heard of an idea proposed to the US Army of making steering capable on both axles of their four-wheeled vehicles, so that in the event of breakage in the front axle, it could simply be switched with the rear axle and held straight with a pin so that the vehicle could resume regular use with steering. Chandler decided to test that theory on his truck, but in addition would actually enable steering on the rear axle. The end result was an innovation in automotive technology – the "4×4×4", or a vehicle with four wheels, four-wheel-drive, and four-wheel-steering.

In 1979, Chandler started making appearances at truck and tractor pulls, as well as car shows, with his newly christened "Bigfoot" to show off the truck's capabilities as well as to promote his shop. The truck's growing popularity led to its appearance in the 1981 Gus Trikonis film Take This Job and Shove It (which also features the early monster truck USA-1 credited under a different name).

Chandler's next experiment would not only change his life and fortune, it would change the motorsports world forever. In 1981, Chandler obtained permission from a local farmer to place two dilapidated cars in his field, so that Chandler could videotape himself crushing the cars with Bigfoot as a joke. When Chandler began playing the video in his shop, a man promoting a motorsports event in Columbia, Missouri asked him to duplicate the stunt in front of a crowd. After initial hesitation because of the destructive image it would convey, Chandler eventually agreed to perform at the event in April of the following year in what is believed to be the first public car crush. Later that year, a second Bigfoot (built to help meet the steadily rising demand to see the vehicle) received more major media attention by crushing cars at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1983, Bigfoot began receiving sponsorship from Ford Motor Company, a relationship which continued until 2005.