BIGFOOT Sighting
Behind the Scenes of the Most Massive Show in Motorsports
For most American gearheads, the months-long winter off-season offers little more than time for bench racing and dreaming of spring. But in the wild world of monster truck competition—where racing can continue in indoor arenas almost year-round—the off-season lasts just from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. It’s during this time that BIGFOOT headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri is at its busiest.
When the so-called “off-season” arrives, drivers like Summit Racing/BIGFOOT pilot Dan Runte bring their monster trucks—and the 18-wheelers that haul them—to the big garage for a few weeks of intensive maintenance. And when we say big, we mean that six BIGFOOT trucks can fit inside and there’s still room to park a semi or two and a trailer.
To top it all off, in December BIGFOOT headquarters also hosts the annual tech inspector’s school for the Monster Truck Racing Association (MTRA), the safety organization that BIGFOOT creator Bob Chandler helped found. Dozens of drivers, mechanics, owners, and even fans come for several grueling hours of tech education led by Bob Chandler (chairman of the MTRA), and Tim Hall, owner of Team Ramminator and MTRA President.
Once the inspector candidates are ready, they venture out to the big garage for a test inspection. The night before, BIGFOOT’s mechanics diabolically sabotage a monster truck in at least one sneaky way, and the inspectors have to find what’s wrong.
The garage is also home to any number of research and development projects, like testing new engine configurations or shock designs. The best monster trucks borrow ideas from drag racing, tractor pulling, Baja, and any other extreme machine they can find. December becomes a great time for the drivers to compare notes and work with the shop crew on improvements.
But as huge as the garage is, it represents just a fraction of the BIGFOOT operation. They have their own machine shop, a design and painting studio, offices, and an impressive museum detailing decades of BIGFOOT’s accomplishments. You can also see BIGFOOT #1, Bob Chandler’s original car-crushing Ford pickup.
During the year, Summit Racing/BIGFOOT driver Dan Runte and the other BIGFOOT drivers (there are currently up to eight BIGFOOTs competing or appearing on any given weekend) will spend up to six weeks at a time on the road, traveling from one weekend event to the next. Each driver is a one-man operation: he drives the semi to the show, unloads and maintains the monster truck, drives in competition, signs autographs, and then loads the truck back up to haul it to the next show.
In a given year, the entire BIGFOOT team will put in up to 800 show days a year. The success and performance of the teams can be directly attributed to all the hard work done back at the cutting-edge BIGFOOT headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.
Established in 1968, Summit Racing Equipment is the leading high performance parts and accessories company. Summit Racing offers the largest selection, lowest prices, and best customer service in the high performance industry via catalogs, Internet, and Retail Super Stores. The company is headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio with retail locations in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia.
