Post by DiggerFan on Mar 31, 2010 22:15:53 GMT -5
These trucks are real monsters
The Day (New London, Connecticut)
Vol. 111, No. 47
(page D5)
Saturday, August 17, 1991
BY: Barry Meier
West Lebanon, N.Y. - "Protect these wonderful drivers from danger." As the evening's invocation for the monster trucks faded away, 10,000 raucous fans at the Lebanon Valley Speedway here roared back to life.
Awash in spotlights were 10 men posed gladiator-style atop the six-foot wheels of giant pickup trucks with names like Bearfoot, the Carolina Crusher and UFO. The air smelled of burning oil and soon vibrated with revving engines.
So began another night of monster truck racing, a carnival-like mix of drag racing, demolition derby and stunt driving in which the stars look like overgrown pickups on steroids.
The night's winner's purse of $2,700 is incidental; the real prizes are the lucrative merchandising tie-ins for those whose vehicles become famous.
"There are a lot of people up there looking for blood and guts," said Dennis Anderson of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., the driver of Grave Digger, a black 1950 Chevrolet panel truck decorated with green ghosts and tombstones. "They want to see one of us turn over and crash."
12,000 pounds
As if to prove his point, Anderson soon drove the 12,000-pound Grave Digger up a short ramp at 60 miles an hour and took to the air, trying to leap over a line of 10 junked cars.
But as the vehicle descended, its giant tires hit the last wreck unevenly, sending it into a wild dance that flipped the truck over and sent it skidding on its roof.
As Anderson emerged uninjured from a cloud of dust, his fans wildly chanted, "Digger! Digger! Digger!"
450,000 viewers weekly
Monster trucks are the latest, and perhaps the weirdest, permutation in America's long romance with cars and thrills. An estimated 450,000 homes tune in to televised monster truck races weekly on the ESPN cable network; millions of tiny monster trucks are parked in the pockets of children.
There are live exhibitions every weekend around the country. A recent monster truck race at the Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit attracted more than 40,000 people.
Street versions of the giant pickup trucks are becoming so popular that many states have passed headlight and bumper height laws intended to prevent vehicles from becoming safety hazards.
The problem: As a truck's body gets higher, so does its center of gravity, making it prone to tipping over.
"I like the paint jobs, the big suspensions and the power," said Lesley Parker, a 23-year-old truck driver from Lakeville, Conn. who was at the speedway. Parker said he was turning his 1984 Ford pickup into a street version of a monster truck.
Some car enthusiasts scoff at the monster truck phenomenon as professional wrestling on wheels.
But for the die-hards, it is tapping into the long supressed American urge to tinker and customize vehicles.
The Day (New London, Connecticut)
Vol. 111, No. 47
(page D5)
Saturday, August 17, 1991
BY: Barry Meier
West Lebanon, N.Y. - "Protect these wonderful drivers from danger." As the evening's invocation for the monster trucks faded away, 10,000 raucous fans at the Lebanon Valley Speedway here roared back to life.
Awash in spotlights were 10 men posed gladiator-style atop the six-foot wheels of giant pickup trucks with names like Bearfoot, the Carolina Crusher and UFO. The air smelled of burning oil and soon vibrated with revving engines.
So began another night of monster truck racing, a carnival-like mix of drag racing, demolition derby and stunt driving in which the stars look like overgrown pickups on steroids.
The night's winner's purse of $2,700 is incidental; the real prizes are the lucrative merchandising tie-ins for those whose vehicles become famous.
"There are a lot of people up there looking for blood and guts," said Dennis Anderson of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., the driver of Grave Digger, a black 1950 Chevrolet panel truck decorated with green ghosts and tombstones. "They want to see one of us turn over and crash."
12,000 pounds
As if to prove his point, Anderson soon drove the 12,000-pound Grave Digger up a short ramp at 60 miles an hour and took to the air, trying to leap over a line of 10 junked cars.
But as the vehicle descended, its giant tires hit the last wreck unevenly, sending it into a wild dance that flipped the truck over and sent it skidding on its roof.
As Anderson emerged uninjured from a cloud of dust, his fans wildly chanted, "Digger! Digger! Digger!"
450,000 viewers weekly
Monster trucks are the latest, and perhaps the weirdest, permutation in America's long romance with cars and thrills. An estimated 450,000 homes tune in to televised monster truck races weekly on the ESPN cable network; millions of tiny monster trucks are parked in the pockets of children.
There are live exhibitions every weekend around the country. A recent monster truck race at the Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit attracted more than 40,000 people.
Street versions of the giant pickup trucks are becoming so popular that many states have passed headlight and bumper height laws intended to prevent vehicles from becoming safety hazards.
The problem: As a truck's body gets higher, so does its center of gravity, making it prone to tipping over.
"I like the paint jobs, the big suspensions and the power," said Lesley Parker, a 23-year-old truck driver from Lakeville, Conn. who was at the speedway. Parker said he was turning his 1984 Ford pickup into a street version of a monster truck.
Some car enthusiasts scoff at the monster truck phenomenon as professional wrestling on wheels.
But for the die-hards, it is tapping into the long supressed American urge to tinker and customize vehicles.