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History of . . .30 years after a young couple began to nurture a dream, the reality that is the BIGFOOT monster trucks continues to surprise its creators. Bob and Marilyn Chandler's BIGFOOT is a true American success story, known and loved across the country and around the world!
It all began in the mid-1970s, when Bob Chandler, then a St. Louis, MO. construction contractor, owned an F-250 4x4 pickup truck. Chandler used his truck on the job and for off-road family fun on the weekends. But he found ways to break even the toughest of trucks, and that led to the discovery that there was no place in the Midwest to get 4x4 parts and service. Recognizing a potential market, Bob, Marilyn, and Jim Kramer started Midwest Four Wheel Drive & Performance Center.
The first monster truck to ever use rear steeringThey still used their 4x4 as a work truck, and partly as a promotional tool for their business. They tried out new parts on the truck, and kept making it bigger and better, always a step (or two) ahead of everyone else. Soon the truck itself became an attraction. In 1979, it did its first paid event, a Denver car show. Truck pulls in arenas and stadiums soon followed.
Then, in 1981, Chandler tried something that forever changed the monster truck concept. It fueled an explosion of fan interest and led to a legion of imitators. He decided, just for fun, to see if he could drive BIGFOOT over a couple of junk cars.
The first car crush ever in 1981A few months later, he duplicated the stunt in a stadium show. The rest is history. In 1983, BIGFOOT began a sponsorship association with Ford Motor Company. In that time, the BIGFOOT fleet has had 16 monster machines and the F-Series pickup has become the world's best selling vehicle.
BIGFOOT from the movie "Take This Job & Shove It"Inspired by the success of BIGFOOT, numerous imitators came forth in the middle 1980s. Car crushing became a staple of major truck pulling and mud racing events. But by 1987, car crushing was no longer the hot new thing. Given the strong audience appeal of monster trucks, the logical move was to start racing them. Racing quickly replaced exhibition car crushing.
Chandler immediately leaped to the forefront of monster truck racing by using computer aided design technology to create a new generation of race trucks. These trucks featured radical new tubular chassis and patented cantilever-based suspensions that represent the current state of the art in race truck design. The first of these trucks was BIGFOOT #8, which became the 1990 World Champion. In 1992, Chandler became the first in the field to utilize the team approach to racing, and saw BIGFOOT #10 and Snake Bite (BIGFOOT #8) race to a one-two finish. Between 1993 and 2006, BIGFOOT won 16 titles. 2007 marked yet another banner year for Team BIGFOOT, winning another 3. To date, Team BIGFOOT has racked up 23 championships!
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