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St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
February 21, 1987, Saturday, City Edition
Monster truck crushes the competition
BYLINE: RICK STROUD
SECTION: PASCO TIMES; OUTDOORS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 694 words
DATELINE: HOLIDAY
HOLIDAY - The green monster stands about 12 feet 6, has the power of a small tank and is just what you need to crush that driver with the compass on his dashboard who just switched lanes and cut you off.
Where's this guy driving to anyway, Beirut?
No matter, because Thumper rolls over sedans like they were speed bumps. Earl Dagit says he built the mon-strous pickup to compete in these tractor pulls that are popping up all over the country. But we know better, don't we?
"It helps when you drive on U.S. 19," Dagit says, chuckling. "But really, I've only had it on the road a couple of times, and it took a police escort."
Okay, so Thumper isn't the answer to gridlock - even if it has flattened a few cars over the years. That's the whole idea on the monster truck and tractor pull circuit. People come in droves to marvel at the awesome power and presence of these off-road warriors.
In fact, it was at one of these events at Tampa Stadium a few years back where Dagit, the owner of Holiday 4-by-4 in Southwest Pasco, was inspired to create Thumper.
"I'd go to all the tractor pulls, and I would watch Big Foot," Dagit says of the best-known monster truck in America. "I just fell in love with the monster trucks and decided to build one. I collected enough parts until I finally could put one together."
It took Dagit, his son Clint and several friends 11 months to assemble the hulking Ford pickup, which is ap-praised at around $ 100,000 (labor not included). "If you counted the man hours, that would be worth about another $ 80,000," Dagit says.
But don't think for a minute the work ends there. Not a tractor pull goes by where Thumper doesn't shake, rattle and roll a few bolts loose. Just cranking up the 1,200-horsepower engine can make your cerebrum do the rumba. So imagine what happens when Thumper meets a stack of Volvos in fourth gear.
"I still work on it everyday," Dagit says. "It's a never-ending battle as far as breakage. Something always breaks, and you've got to repair this or that. But I guess it comes with the territory. Besides, we have the four-wheel drive shop, and it does promote business. People see Thumper and they recollect we do all that kind of work here."
Dagit has always tinkered with automobiles. He used to race stock cars and dragsters before he discovered the monster trucks. Now, just about every weekend there's a tractor pull promoter in some town willing to plop down a modest sum of money for Dagit to put Thumper through a series of teeth-rattling contests.
"We do everything," says the 44-year-old Dagit. "Car crushing, hill climbing. Lately, we've gotten to the point where we're drag racing so much over the cars and hills. That's what causes all the breakage.
"The demand is not just to crush cars or climb hills anymore. Now we're hitting cars at 30 and 40 miles per hour, and it's getting to be more hazardous. Whether they wait until someone gets injured or not, I don't know. But it's getting tougher to compete."
Certainly, Thumper is built to handle the abuse. Here are some fun facts to know and tell about Pasco's most renowned monster masher: Dagit's truck sits atop wheels that are 66 inches tall and 43 inches wide.
Extras include a custom interior and a $ 2,000 sound system.
The name Thumper was derived from Dagit's CB handle, which is "Rabbit."
"It's a very popular sport, and it seems like these tractor pulls are growing around the country," Dagit says. "I love the monster trucks. Crushing cars in this thing is the same as running over anything. You barely feel it."
Now if only Dagit could clear a few lanes on U.S. 19 during rush hour. . . .
LOAD-DATE: November 18, 1992
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DISTRIBUTION: PASCO TIMES; CITRUS TIMES; HERNANDO TIMES
GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO, JIM GOFF; Earl Dagit shows off his green monster truck, Thumper, in front of his Holiday 4-by-4 shop
TYPE: COLUMN
Times Publishing Company
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