Pontiac, MI USHRA (Fall Show)

[dave3ba]

Date:

Track: Indoors, a set of 6 cars. The finish line is 50 ft. after the cars.

Lineup: Jim Kramer (Bigfoot VII), Michael Vaters (Black Stallion), Larry Tura (Hercules), Don Maples (Samson I), Alan Tura (Goliath), Ray Piorkowski (Big Tow), Jerry Richmond (Lethal Weapon), Steve Bivens (Bearfoot Trax), George Cole (Gator)

Results:

World Record Jump:
Kramer 42 ft.
Kramer 70 ft. (sets new world record)
Kramer 58 ft.

Round 1:
Vaters (10.38) def. L. Tura (inc.)
Maples (11.40) def. A. Tura (11.75)
Piorkowski (14.46) def. Richmond (inc.)
Bivens (7.16) def. Cole (10.53)

Semifinals:
Vaters (10.12) def. Maples (10.29)
Bivens (bye)

Finals:
Bivens (8.81) def. Vaters (31.71)

Notes: Jim Kramer, in Bigfoot, was trying to beat his previous record of 10 cars, set at Anaheim, CA earlier in the year. Kramer would break the record with a jump of 70 ft. This would be the only televised appearance for Jerry Richmond's Lethal Weapon, though his first truck, Terminator, was televised a few times. Richmond would eventually sell the truck to Seth Doulton, who turned it into a Skoal Crusher truck. Lethal Weapon was stopped dead in its tracks during this event by a stalled motor. This event also marked the debut of Steve Bivens' Bearfoot Trax, Fred Shafer's attempt to cash in on the tank truck craze of the time.

[brianv]

CORRECTION: Lethal Weapon was also televised during the Worcester, MA freestyle event with Lil' Bearfoot, Goliath, and Showtime.

[dave3ba]

Wow, I don't have that show. Please e-mail me at [e-mail]. I'd like to see what you've got.

[brianv]

It's very poor quality and not that special. 4-truck freestyle with mud bogs (um . . . cut class and tractor tires, I believe) in Worcester, MA. Larry Huffman and Margo King.

Lethal Weapon - Jerry Richmond (3rd place)
Showtime - Brian Shell (4th place . . . I think he actually got booed)
Lil' Bearfoot - Barry Packard (1st place, one of his first events, and one of the first televised freestyle donuts)
Goliath - Alan Tura (2nd place)

For the record, I have no way of copying tapes right now, and if that's what you're looking for, you're already way down on the list of people who've asked me I don't have anything others don't have, though. Sorry.

[dave3ba]

This is the first I've heard of this show. And yes, I remember that you don't copy tapes. I believe I'd asked you a couple years ago or something. Thanks for the info none-the-less.

[tim]

Couple things. Kramer was driving #6 in this one.

I'm almost certain that Jerry Richmond's lethal weapon became the ford Skoal Crusher and the Weapon 1 was a different truck all together.

I never saw any part of this show other than the jump. I miss those jump competitions.

Tim

[dave3ba]

Tim,
Kramer was in #7, if I'm not mistaken, he even says so in the interview. Don't know about the Skoal Crusher thing for sure, but I thought that truck was a highly modified Skoal Bandit frame. The one that used to run the Jaguar engine with the pipes coming out of the hood.

[tntfan]

I believe this show was early in 1988. Possibly March-April.

[kouvre]

I can confirm that Jerry Richmond sold Lethal Weapon to Seth Doulton in mid-1988, and that it indeed ended up becoming a new Skoal Crusher in 1990. This was the truck that was eventually rebodied for the Beverly Hillbillies movie.