Bigfoot

Every monster truck show, every Grave Digger, every Monster Jam — they all trace back to one guy and his Ford F-250. Bob Chandler was a construction contractor in St. Louis who kept breaking parts on his truck and replacing them with bigger, stronger components. By 1979, the truck had 48-inch tires and the Bigfoot name. In 1981, a promoter asked if the truck could drive over some junk cars. It could. The crowd went insane. Chandler realized he'd stumbled onto something. Within years, monster truck shows were selling out arenas across America. Bigfoot didn't just create a vehicle — it created a spectator sport. And the name? Absolutely perfect. 'Bigfoot' captures everything: the massive tires, the legendary mystique, the sense that you're witnessing something that shouldn't exist. Chandler wasn't just a fabricator — he was a marketer who understood that a truck crushing cars needed a name that lived in the imagination. Sasquatch-level branding for a sasquatch-level machine.

The original Bigfoot (Bigfoot 1) is preserved and still makes occasional appearances. It's not for sale — it's a piece of American motorsport history. Later Bigfoot trucks (numbered 2-21+) are purpose-built show vehicles. If you want a monster truck, you build one or buy a retired show vehicle. You don't buy 'a Bigfoot.'

You don't own a Bigfoot. You can build a monster truck using similar principles — start with a solid-axle truck, add a massive suspension lift, swap to agricultural or construction tires, reinforce everything. But the original Bigfoot trucks belong to Bigfoot 4×4, Inc. Monster truck ownership is an obsession: custom fabrication, constant maintenance, transportation logistics, and a yard that can handle a 10,000-lb vehicle with 66-inch tires.