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Herald Sun
August 23, 1991 Friday
Monster attractions
BYLINE: PEART K
LENGTH: 579 words
BIGFOOT is back in town and nothing is going to stand in its way.
The Grandaddy of monster trucks is one of eight machines which will grind up the mud and crunch metal tonight and tomorrow night in the 1991 Monster Truck Challenge at the National Tennis Centre.
Driven by Dan Runte from St Louis, Missouri, America's top truck will "drag race," "wheel-stand" and "split cars" with rivals like the ominous Grave Digger, New Zealand's Kiwi Thunder, and Australia's Flying Falcon.
The 27-year-old Runte, one of nine drivers in Bob Chandler's 12-strong Bigfoot fleet, has been competing in the sport for three years and said there is nothing like the thrill of racing monster trucks.
"It's a huge adrenalin rush and a pick-up . . . I just love the competitiveness of it," he said.
Runte said the machines are capable of speeds of up to 100kmh but that tactics and brute strength are more important in a race.
"When we race side by side outdoors you can get hurt," he said.
"You can get a bad hit (crossing a line of wrecked cars) if the truck lands wrongly." To protect themselves the drivers wear neck braces, shoulder supports, helmets and fire-proof suits.
Last year, 10 million spectators watched live monster truck action in the US and Runte, who competes every weekend, estimates it costs more than $100,000 to race a monster truck every year.
He said that the trucks use methanol or aviation gas and need about 15 litres for a two-hour show.
Bigfoot 1 was the original monster built in 1974.
Subsequent versions have featured in movies such as "Police Academy 11," "Roadhouse" and "Tango and Cash." Other highlights of the Monster Truck Challenge include the world's only monster train, the Orange Blossom Special Express; Dynamite Lady (Allison Bly) who explodes from a small plastic box loaded with dynamite; and Beastron the larger-than-life transforming robot that shoots flames, fires rockets and delivers messages to the crowd.
Tickets are $27.90 for adults and $14.90 for children. Tonight's show starts at 7.30pm.
A Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) hearing in Brisbane next week could finally determine the outcome of the Australian Rally Championship, a month after the final round in Queensland.
Subaru Liberty driver Rob Herridge was declared provisional winner of the national title after the Brisbane round in July but must survive an appeal from Toyota Celica driver Neil Bates.
Herridge had only to finish fifth or better in the last race but appeared to have blow his chances when he was pe-nalised one-hour for arriving late at a stage finish.
The extra hour on his overall time dropped him to 24th place but when the West Australian protested against the penalty, claiming he had been held up at a control point by a rally official, he was reinstated to third place, enough to take the national crown by 10 points.
Bates appealed against the decision to reinstate Herridge and earlier this month a CAMS tribunal took evidence from them.
However the key official involved in the dispute over the Subaru driver's late arrival at the rally check point was unavailable at the time.
Despite the controversy, Subaru was quick to take advantage of Herridge's efforts with newspaper ads featuring his Liberty 4WD.
No such controversy surrounded the Group N championship with Daihatsu's Bob Nicoli taking the title for stan-dard showroom cars in his turbo-charged Charade.
END OF STORY
LOAD-DATE: September 25, 2003
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: MONSTER TRUCK "GRAVE DIGGER" GETS SOWN TO BUSINESS
JOURNAL-CODE: DHS
Copyright 1991 Nationwide News Pty Limited
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