Post by DiggerFan on Mar 31, 2010 21:18:20 GMT -5
These 'monsters' love a good mash
The Lakeland Ledger (Lakeland, Florida)
(page 1D - continued on 5D)
Saturday, December 29, 1984
BY: Diane Lacey Allen
LAKELAND - It's not unusual for beauty queens to stand more than 6-foot tall. But Miss All American towers to 11 feet with a body that won't quit.
Don't expect her to play the piano during the talent competition, though. Her specialty is crushing cars and challenging others in a foot race of the Big Foots.
She's the third of three Spiker's All American monster trucks. They are part of a hefty breed of off-road vehicles sometimes called Big Foots after the first and best known megatruck.
Miss All American is fashioned from a Chevy S-10 body and is supported by 5-ton military axles, the kind you'll find on trucks carrying troops around.
The Miss All American, a cover girl for 4-Wheeler magazine, started as an $11,000 truck from sponsor Ray Durdin Chevrolet. She was stripped to the frame, then reinforced and beefed up by substituting a V-6 engine for a big-block Chevy 454 bored-out to a 459.
After about three months of work, Miss American stood on 66-inch tires and her price tag had jumped to $150,000.
The transformation gave her enough power to climb straight up a wall, providing the building doesn't cave in first. She floats and can roll across water.
Still, what do you do with a truck with tires that cost $3,800 apiece?
You'd have no trouble seeing what traffic is ahead on South Florida Avenue, but you can't drive it down the street because the tires are too big and too wide for state specifications.
So you take it on the road. You show off your stuff at truck exhibitions across the country, where people pay to see the behemoths drive over and crush six cars at a time.
Miss All American, the All American and the Eagle also race equally large trucks. Their track is the roof tops of about 30 cars, where they merrily mash their way to victory.
"It's a pretty rough ride," explains Miss All American driver Donna Lisa Spiker, the only woman in monster truck competition. "I'm still not used to the crowds. There're thousands of people watching, waiting to see if you mess up."
The Eagle and Miss All American were booked before they were completed. All three trucks hit Pennsylvania last week and Miss All American will visit Detroit, Chicago, Georgia and Fort Lauderdale before returning to Lakeland. The Eagle will travel to Alaska for a show and will compete in tractor pulls in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, and then go to Bakersville, Calif.
But the pressure is on to make the stunts as daring as possible. Sheer size and the opportunity for a picture beside a 6-foot tire is not enough to keep fans coming.
"Just running over cars goes in and out," said Mrs. Spiker. "We put way too much money into these trucks (for it to become a passing fad)."
Mrs. Spiker sees even more competition between the big trucks. A meeting of the phenoms, perhaps. "Like a special Monster Mash," she adds.
Big Foot has led the marketing march of the 4x4 beasts with names such as Mud Lord, Frankenstein and Godzilla. The truck even has its own line of toys, including a ride-on 'Lil Big Foot replica for tots.
"We'll come out with our line in February," explains Mike Spiker, who steers the Eagle. "It'll be a Tonka-toy like truck."
"They'll be remote controlled," said Steve Spiker, Donna's husband and the force behind the All American. "And they'll come complete with their own cars to crush."
The All American trucks also have rights to a movie with Chuck Norris. That deal is still in the works, though.
Unlike Big Foot, which has four identical trucks circulating around the country, the All American trucks strive for their own identity.
Miss All American is the more feminine version of the huge trucks which can cost up to 20 times more than street-legal versions.
Don't let her trendy gull-wing doors and shiny chrome exterior fool you. She has gears in both the front and rear ends, giving her the ability to move sideways.
And with a gear reduction of 180-to-1 (the average truck is about 1-to-1), she puts fear into her creators.
"These trucks are powerful ... awesome," explains Steve Spiker, one of three brothers who run the All American 4x4 enterprise. "They're mean as hell."
The All American is 12 feet tall and is driven by a big-block Chevy 488. It was Spiker's first model and took about a year to build.
The Eagle followed and got its name from NASA's catchy "The Eagle has landed." It took 24 days to complete at a cost of $210,000. The Eagle features customized gimmicks such as 24-karat gold eagle heads in the doors.
You need a ladder to work on the chrome-filled engines which blink thanks to neon lights attached to the spark plug wires.
It's also a good idea to have a special set of steps - chromed, of course - or a big push to get behind the wheel. And it doesn't hurt to have Kareem Abdul-Jab-ber around if you want to put gas in the tank.
Monster truck competition is not your everyday auto race. First of all, Richard Petty doesn't drive Big Foot. And you won't find him behind the wheel of cars called Monster Vette, Flash Gordan, Mud Lord, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla or the newest and biggest truck in the world - Samson.
But that's all part of the larger-than-life truck phenomenon. Half the fun is coming up with a name that's as unusual as the vehicle.
Spiker's monster trucks have their own theme, too. They're as All-American as the American and rebel flags which fly from the truck beds.
The colors are red, white and blue. The bodies are by American companies such as Ford and Chevrolet. And you won't find any Toyota parts in their muscle-bound Chevrolet engines.
"If you don't like these All-American trucks, you're either Communist or jealous," said Steve Spiker.
The Lakeland Ledger (Lakeland, Florida)
(page 1D - continued on 5D)
Saturday, December 29, 1984
BY: Diane Lacey Allen
LAKELAND - It's not unusual for beauty queens to stand more than 6-foot tall. But Miss All American towers to 11 feet with a body that won't quit.
Don't expect her to play the piano during the talent competition, though. Her specialty is crushing cars and challenging others in a foot race of the Big Foots.
She's the third of three Spiker's All American monster trucks. They are part of a hefty breed of off-road vehicles sometimes called Big Foots after the first and best known megatruck.
Miss All American is fashioned from a Chevy S-10 body and is supported by 5-ton military axles, the kind you'll find on trucks carrying troops around.
The Miss All American, a cover girl for 4-Wheeler magazine, started as an $11,000 truck from sponsor Ray Durdin Chevrolet. She was stripped to the frame, then reinforced and beefed up by substituting a V-6 engine for a big-block Chevy 454 bored-out to a 459.
After about three months of work, Miss American stood on 66-inch tires and her price tag had jumped to $150,000.
The transformation gave her enough power to climb straight up a wall, providing the building doesn't cave in first. She floats and can roll across water.
Still, what do you do with a truck with tires that cost $3,800 apiece?
You'd have no trouble seeing what traffic is ahead on South Florida Avenue, but you can't drive it down the street because the tires are too big and too wide for state specifications.
So you take it on the road. You show off your stuff at truck exhibitions across the country, where people pay to see the behemoths drive over and crush six cars at a time.
Miss All American, the All American and the Eagle also race equally large trucks. Their track is the roof tops of about 30 cars, where they merrily mash their way to victory.
"It's a pretty rough ride," explains Miss All American driver Donna Lisa Spiker, the only woman in monster truck competition. "I'm still not used to the crowds. There're thousands of people watching, waiting to see if you mess up."
The Eagle and Miss All American were booked before they were completed. All three trucks hit Pennsylvania last week and Miss All American will visit Detroit, Chicago, Georgia and Fort Lauderdale before returning to Lakeland. The Eagle will travel to Alaska for a show and will compete in tractor pulls in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, and then go to Bakersville, Calif.
But the pressure is on to make the stunts as daring as possible. Sheer size and the opportunity for a picture beside a 6-foot tire is not enough to keep fans coming.
"Just running over cars goes in and out," said Mrs. Spiker. "We put way too much money into these trucks (for it to become a passing fad)."
Mrs. Spiker sees even more competition between the big trucks. A meeting of the phenoms, perhaps. "Like a special Monster Mash," she adds.
Big Foot has led the marketing march of the 4x4 beasts with names such as Mud Lord, Frankenstein and Godzilla. The truck even has its own line of toys, including a ride-on 'Lil Big Foot replica for tots.
"We'll come out with our line in February," explains Mike Spiker, who steers the Eagle. "It'll be a Tonka-toy like truck."
"They'll be remote controlled," said Steve Spiker, Donna's husband and the force behind the All American. "And they'll come complete with their own cars to crush."
The All American trucks also have rights to a movie with Chuck Norris. That deal is still in the works, though.
Unlike Big Foot, which has four identical trucks circulating around the country, the All American trucks strive for their own identity.
Miss All American is the more feminine version of the huge trucks which can cost up to 20 times more than street-legal versions.
Don't let her trendy gull-wing doors and shiny chrome exterior fool you. She has gears in both the front and rear ends, giving her the ability to move sideways.
And with a gear reduction of 180-to-1 (the average truck is about 1-to-1), she puts fear into her creators.
"These trucks are powerful ... awesome," explains Steve Spiker, one of three brothers who run the All American 4x4 enterprise. "They're mean as hell."
The All American is 12 feet tall and is driven by a big-block Chevy 488. It was Spiker's first model and took about a year to build.
The Eagle followed and got its name from NASA's catchy "The Eagle has landed." It took 24 days to complete at a cost of $210,000. The Eagle features customized gimmicks such as 24-karat gold eagle heads in the doors.
You need a ladder to work on the chrome-filled engines which blink thanks to neon lights attached to the spark plug wires.
It's also a good idea to have a special set of steps - chromed, of course - or a big push to get behind the wheel. And it doesn't hurt to have Kareem Abdul-Jab-ber around if you want to put gas in the tank.
Monster truck competition is not your everyday auto race. First of all, Richard Petty doesn't drive Big Foot. And you won't find him behind the wheel of cars called Monster Vette, Flash Gordan, Mud Lord, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla or the newest and biggest truck in the world - Samson.
But that's all part of the larger-than-life truck phenomenon. Half the fun is coming up with a name that's as unusual as the vehicle.
Spiker's monster trucks have their own theme, too. They're as All-American as the American and rebel flags which fly from the truck beds.
The colors are red, white and blue. The bodies are by American companies such as Ford and Chevrolet. And you won't find any Toyota parts in their muscle-bound Chevrolet engines.
"If you don't like these All-American trucks, you're either Communist or jealous," said Steve Spiker.