Photo Credited to TheMonsterBlog.com
With all the hype surrounding the beginning of the 2012 Monster Jam season, and the 30th Anniversary tour of Grave Digger, one of the other stories that seemed to be just as hyped, if not more, was occuring down in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The Monster X Tour had one of it's debut events in Florida on Friday and Saturday night, and the weekend's events were capped off with the debut of an entirely new truck from the team that started the entire phenomenon.
The Bigfoot team spent all of 2011 working on the brand new Bigfoot 18, and last month finished the truck, showing off an entirely new look, and entirely new setup. The event in Florida marked the competitive debut of the new truck, driven by the 2011 Monster Truck Thunder Drags champion, Dan Runte.
To say the weekend was a success was quite an understatement.
The team loaded up the hauler with the buffed tires for the front, with the small digging cleats on the rear to compete on the concrete surface at Daytona's Ocean Center. The combination has worked with Dan in his previous truck, and despite the truck not seeing any race track until Friday night, the choice proved to be the right combination.
The shocks were set up well, and Runte powered his way to the truck's first official victory, winning Friday's racing competition. But, the night was not done, as freestyle was yet to come.
Runte wanted to debut the truck right, and put the truck through it's paces with great success, hitting a smoky set of donuts.
But, when the run ended, he tried it one more time, and the truck caught an edge, and in it's first official freestyle, Runte rolled over the brand new Bigfoot 18, putting the first official scratches and cracks in the 2011 desert race truck body.
It was enough to secure the win, and gave the crew it's first official duty of the weekend...repairing the body for the next day's event.
Minor scratches and some cracks in the radical body were evident, but the mechanics of the truck were still running exactly as the team had hoped, meaning Runte and crew were ready for one more show before heading back home to Missouri.
Just like the night before, Runte and the crew were up to the task, and once again took a racing victory, making it a sweep of the side-by-side events for the debut weekend.
Now, the team loads up to head back to the shop, analyze the truck after the race, and then make repairs to the new body for the next show. Don't expect to see a lot of bondo and zip ties holding the body together for the truck's next show in Mississippi. The team will be ready to make a full repair, as if the truck had never rolled over.
For all the information on Team Bigfoot, including a schedule of events and info on all the trucks and drivers, visit Bigfoot4x4.com.
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