USHRA

The United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) is an organization owned by Feld Entertainment that markets various motorsports. These include monster trucks (Monster Jam and Thunder Nationals) as well as , quad racing and others. According to their own statistics, more than 2.5 million people attended events in 2003.

The USHRA was founded as "Truck-O-Rama" in the late 1970s by Bob George, Ed Thayer, and Tony Vaccaro. By the early 1980s, the company became known as SRO Motorsports, and began promoting events under the USHRA banner. The early events focused on truck and tractor pulling and mud bogging, and were primarily held in stadiums and arenas. Often, specialty vehicles were booked for events as intermission entertainment between competitions. In 1982, one such vehicle, Bob Chandler's Bigfoot, was booked for an event at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was that event, during which Bigfoot drove over a pair of cars in its first stadium car crush, that launched the phenomenon of monster trucks.

In 1985, USHRA held their first monster truck racing event, The Battle of the Monster Trucks, at the Louisiana Superdome. Up to this point, monster trucks had only performed freestyle exhibitions, and although for several years exhibitions would be a part of smaller arena shows, racing became used in all events by the early 1990s.

Although monster trucks grew in popularity throughout the 1980s, the pulling and mud bogging (subsequently known as "mud racing") remained marquee events. Popular pullers included Art Arfons, who competed with the "Green Monster" unlimited tractor, David Willoughby, who pulled with his reputable "Back in Time" modified four-wheel-drive truck, Kenneth and Paula Geuin's Black Gold and Oklahoman four-wheel-drive trucks, Allen Gaines, who had an entire fleet of "Orange Blossom Special" truck pullers, and Gary Collins and his "Budweiser Boss" semi-truck. In mud racing, Tom Martin's "Mud Patrol" and "Super Trooper" police-themed vehicles dominated for several years, while a young Tom Meents began his rise to fame in the "Shake Me" machine.

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