Tuner Trucks: Bigfoot, Ford Super Duty-based

[BMWDave]

Tuner Trucks: Bigfoot, Ford Super Duty-based
The latest Bigfoot monster truck is also big business
MARK VAUGHN
Published Date: 8/15/05
BASE PRICE: $250,000 (est.)
POWERTRAIN: 9.4-liter, 1500-hp, 2200-lb-ft V8; 4wd, three-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 10,000 lbs
0 TO 60 MPH: 4.0 seconds (mfr.) :o :o :o
bigfoot4x4.com

Dave Harkey never gave us a business card, but if he had it probably would read:

Name, Dave Harkey.

Occupation, Man.

That?s not ?man? in the modern, touchy-feely, I?m-here-for-you, show-me-the-tears-behind-the-smile, Alan-Alda-psycho- therapist sense of the word, either.

Harkey, who has raced on circle tracks, drives a monster truck. And not just any monster truck, or one welded together in the backyard. No, Harkey drives Bigfoot. Yes, that Bigfoot. Or at least one of the 18 or 19 official Bigfoots out there.

But Harkey?s job description goes beyond driving it. Anyone with no fear, expert timing, and a desire to make a 10,000-pound welding project fly could drive a monster truck. Harkey also has to drive the 18-wheel rig that carries his Bigfoot cross-country while doing PR on the CB radio. He has to fix both trucks when they break, sometimes changing engines alone in the middle of nowhere with farmers? kids looking on offering useless advice. He signs autographs, roars the truck into those wheel-standing crowd-pleasers you may have seen on a T-shirt, then packs it all up and drives to the next show. As many as 35 weekends a year.


?I?d hate to imagine anything different,? said Harkey.

It?s worth it, because Bigfoot is the granddaddy of monster trucks. The franchise started 30 years ago with a Ford F-250 4x4, the personal truck of Bob and Marilyn Chandler, who used it to support their 4x4 parts business in St. Louis. The Chandlers now own, license and control the Bigfoot trucks and name.

The original truck was more or less stock, except for the big tires and whatever suspension parts were necessary to keep the tires attached to the body. In 1981 Bob Chandler got the idea to drive his truck over some wrecked cars. ?That was fun,? he thought. People liked to see it happen, too??Haw-haw, he done stomped that wreck!? An exhibit turned into a competition when other monster trucks got together and raced.

Now, as we meet up with Harkey and Bigfoot No. 14 at Irwindale Speedway in California, most shows include both racin? and stompin?, all you really need when you think about it. Things have evolved so that monster truckin? is a multimillion-dollar industry, and the Bigfoot you see here is computer-designed.

It has a complex, welded tube-frame chassis, 1200-hp methanol-fueled 572-cid Ford V8, Ford C-6 transmission and ZF tractor axles normally used on 4wd backhoes. The suspension consists of massive links locating the axles controlled by external bypass shocks that carry No. 14 on a cushion of nitrogen gas. The tires are 5.5 feet tall, and measure 66x43x25.


Most of a monster truck?s weight is unsprung?it just flies around under the truck uncontrolled by anything but inertia. In your garden-variety car, having all your weight unsprung would be ride-control suicide. In a monster truck, it?s what makes it jump so high. Whang a berm or parked car, and the nose of the truck pops up into the air; whang it just right, popping the nose up then goosing the throttle a beat later, and the truck launches at just the right attitude so it sails over the parked donor car and lands on all fours on the other side. Do it the way we saw Harkey do it for the audience at Irwindale, and that crowd will roar.

No. 14 has jumped 202 feet?the world record?driven by Harkey?s teammate and fellow man Dan Runte. Harkey himself holds the world record for doing a monster truck wheelie, also in No. 14, at 217 feet?but says he has gone over 400 feet outside the constraints of competition.

Given enough methanol and nitro pressure in the shocks, and a strong enough pair of axles, No. 14 could do anything. But it would always need someone like Harkey to do the driving.

[giant_mtb]

Yeah I love watching monster trucks on TV...it's really interesting.  They always list the trucks with the HP rating...I wish they'd show the torque rating, which is even Bigger.  :o    

[Secret Chimp]

Why is this titled "Super Duty-based"? It never mentions anything about that in the body of the article.

[R33 GT-R]

It did mention something about when they first started they had a F250 I think.

[footoflead]

Monster trucks are cool...I'll watch 'em on tv if theres nothin on