TMB TV: Original Series 6.5 – 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals – Springfield, MO 2013

TMB TV's Original Series Presented By E3 Spark Plugs

Episode Information

Episode: Original Series 6.5
Event: 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals
Venue: Missouri Events & Entertainment Center
Location: Springfield, Missouri
Date: June 22nd-23rd, 2013
Host: Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers: Ross Z. Bonar, Shane Skinner

Featured Monster Trucks

Firestone Bigfoot #14 – Kyle Doyle
General Tire – Joe Nichter
Heavy Hitter – Derick Anson
Hotsy – Mike Miller
Lucas Oil Stabilizer – Bobby Holman
Raminator – Mark Hall
Rammunition – Mat Dishman
River Rat – Steven Snellen
XDP – Dave Radzierez

Featured Links

www.4WheelJamboree.com
www.BIGFOOT4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.FamilyEvents.com
www.HeavyHitterMonsterTruck.com
www.Raminator.com
www.SmokinMonster.com

[Read more…]

The Allen Report: Stadium Super Trucks – Los Angeles, CA 2013

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we follow Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks series to the venue where Mickey Thompson first created stadium off road racing: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Monster trucks had not been here since the dusk of the 1990s. In addition, stadium off road racing had not happened at the Coliseum for almost 20 years. So history was being made all night long. The mechanical gladiators of the night included not one, not two, but four Bigfoot trucks. Counterattacking the Bigfoot invasion were Darren Migues and Trent Montgomery in Bounty Hunter Blue and Iron Outlaw. The father and son Swanson team of Rick and Eric ran their new trophy truck bodies to wrap up the starting grid. Rick’s was purple and Eric’s was his signature blue.

The monsters had to race roundy-round “Chicago Style” on a half-blacktop, half dirt figure 8 track with a crossover jump in the middle with the winner first back to his starting jump. Once each lap, the drivers had to climb towards, drive through and around and free fall back down from the venue’s world famous arches. Getting a 12 foot wide monster truck through a 13 foot wide arch twice proved a formidable task.

Bigfoot trucks are always tough on long courses, as evidenced by every spot in the semi finals occupied by a team Bigfoot truck. The end of the night came a little sooner for Phoenix Champion Darren Migues, who saw his chances at repeating slip away when he had to back up to avoid cutting a turn beyond the arches too sharp. With two Bigfoot relative newcomers in one semi-final and two veterans of the same team in the other, the original monster truck team’s domination was unstoppable. The world’s only cow-themed monster continued to tame the tough track with a win over Kyle Doyle and Firestone #14 in the first semi-final race. Larry Swim and SPEED Energy #19 bested Dan Runte and Summit #18 to meet “Bessie” in the finals.

In the feature, Darron Schnell finally fired a blank as Larry Swim went on to victory for his truck’s sponsor, SPEED Energy, which made it an all orange night for eventual SST main event winner Robby Gordon. In other action, a former competitor in the Mickey Thompson Off Road Series named Jerry Whelchel was shown the money with a win in the Super Buggies main event.

Next up for us at “The Allen Report” is a monster marathon of three back to back days at the San Diego County Fair and the annual 4th of July Pomona, California, KaBoom event, all put together by our friends at WGAS Motorsports. That being said, thanks for reading, we wish much success to SST, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

Photo Gallery

All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2013.

The Allen Report: Stadium Super Trucks – Glendale, AZ 2013

(Coverage By Christopher Allen, Photos By Jim Allen)

Weekend Recap

This time on “The Allen Report”, we cover NASCAR and off road favorite Robby Gordon’s effort to revive Mickey Thompson style stadium off road racing. The inaugural event of Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks featured eight of the best monster trucks in the west and it was just down the road from us at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. No less than five Bigfoot trucks were in the house. The rest of the competition was Darren Migues and Bounty Hunter along with the father and son team of Rick and Eric Swanson running special bodies on their Obsessed and Obsession chassis.

The first ever SST race featured a rare occurrence in that racing would be the only competition for the monster trucks. It was fascinating to watch the monsters battle each other side by side on an off road style track, with over-under jumps, hairpin turns and mid-race lane choice. Without a single true finish line, the winner would be first back to his starting line jump.

Once the quarter finals were complete, only Dan Runte and Larry Swim were still alive for Team Bigfoot with Bounty Hunter and Eric Swanson taking the other two spots in the semis. Darren was just too fast for Dan’s new Autism Speaks Bigfoot #18, but Larry Swim in the SPEED Energy Bigfoot machine downed Eric’s bright purple trophy truck to set up a classic Bounty Hunter/Bigfoot 2-lap finale.

In the main event, Bounty Hunter had the inside lane at his starting point and took full advantage of the route’s benefits. Despite Larry’s best efforts, the first ever Stadium Super Trucks Monster Truck Division Champion was Darren Migues and Bounty Hunter.

In front of a modest crowd, the first ever win of the Stadium Super Trucks main event, the “big show” of the series, went to Rob MacCachren. Rob is a former champion of SST’s predecessor, the Mickey Thompson Off Road Championship Gran Prix and was clearly thrilled to receive the first ever main event trophy. So, until you hear from us at “The Allen Report” again, thanks to University of Phoenix Stadium for their hospitality, thank you for reading, enjoy the photos and cheer on!

Photo Gallery

All content copyright TheMonsterBlog.com 2013.

TMB TV: MT Unlimited 4.1 – Monster X Tour – Stockton, CA 2013

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Episode Information

Episode: MT Unlimited 4.1
Event: Monster X Tour
Venue: Stockton Arena
Location: Stockton, California
Date: January 11th-12th, 2013
Videographer: Colby Marshall
[/column] [column size=”1-3″]

Featured Monster Trucks

Bucked Up – Travis Ybarra
California Kid – Kevin Post
Captain USA – Travis Groth
Firestone Bigfoot #14 – Kyle Doyle
Rock Star – Bill Payne
[/column] [column size=”1-3″ last=”1″]

Featured Links

www.BIGFOOT4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.MonsterXTour.com
www.StraightUpRacing.com
[/column] [Read more…]

Monster Truck Radio 04/02/12 – Kyle Doyle

Monster Truck Radio With Host Ross Z. Bonar
Date: Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Guest #1: Kyle Doyle, driver of Firestone Bigfoot #14
Guest #2: N/A [Read more…]

The Insider: TMB Leaderboard Update – March 2012

(Article By Ross Z. Bonar) – The second edition of the TMB Leaderboard for 2012 is out following the last weekend of competition in first quarter! Based on all of the information gathered through the TMB Results Tracker, we are able to statistically see who the top performing drivers have been so far in 2012. A total of 201 drivers have competed in monster truck events this year with an incredible 137 different drivers scoring a competition win.

The Grave Digger team celebrated their 30th Anniversary in style during 1st Quarter as Dennis Anderson, Pablo Huffaker and Gary Porter combined to lead 6 of our 9 statistical categories on the TMB Leaderboard.

See below for the top 10 drivers in each of our statistical categories:

[column size=”1-3″]

Total Racing Wins

1) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 20
2) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 16
3) Larry Swim – Bigfoot Bad Boy #16 – 13
4) Dan Runte – Summit Bigfoot #18 – 12
5) Rick Long – E3 Spark Plugs Bigfoot #15 – 11
6) Norm Miller – Batman – 10
7) Bari Musawwir – Spiderman – 9
— Alex Blackwell – Wolverine – 9
— BJ Johnson – California Kid – 9
— Kyle Doyle – Firestone Bigfoot #14 – 9

Total Freestyle Wins

1) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 25
2) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 24
3) Randy Brown – Grave Digger – 22
4) Bill Payne – Rock Star – 16
5) Jerry Perry – Brute Force – 13.5
6) Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 12
— Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 12
— Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 12
— Joe Miller – Monster Mutt – 12
— Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 12

Total Combined Racing/Freestyle Wins

1) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 44
2) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 41
3) Randy Brown – Grave Digger – 29
4) Larry Swim – Bigfoot Bad Boy #16 – 23.5
5) Bill Payne – Rock Star – 23
6) Chad Tingler – Grave Digger – 20
7) Dan Runte – Summit Bigfoot #18 – 19
— Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 19
— Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 19
10) Joe Miller – Monster Mutt – 18

Total Wheelie Competition Wins

1) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 16
2) Greg Winchenbach – Crushstation – 15
— Jerry Perry – Brute Force – 15
4) Bill Payne – Rock Star – 14
5) Larry Swim – Bigfoot Bad Boy #14 – 13
6) Dan Runte – Summit Bigfoot #18 – 12.5
7) Joe Miller – Monster Mutt – 12
— Cam McQueen – Northern Nightmare – 12
9) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 11
10) Larry Quick – Ghost Ryder – 10

Total Donut Competition Wins

1) Jocelyn Perrin – High Maintenance – 15
2) Randy Brown – Grave Digger – 10
— Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 10
4) Joe Miller – Monster Mutt – 6
5) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 5
— Chris Ryan – Ground Pounder – 5
— Bobby Holman – Lucas Oil Stabilizer – 5
8) Jerry Perry – Brute Force – 4
— Dave Radzierez – Star Marshal – 4
10) Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 3
— Marc MacDonald – El Toro Loco – 3
[/column] [column size=”2-3″ last=”1″]

Best Racing Win Percentage

1) Kyle Doyle – Firestone Bigfoot #10 – 64%
2) Dan Runte – Summit Bigfoot #18 – 63%
3) Larry Swim – Bigfoot Bad Boy #16 – 59%
4) Rick Long – E3 Spark Plugs Bigfoot #15 – 58%
5) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 57%
6) Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 50%
7) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 48%
8) Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 44%
9) Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 39%
10) BJ Johnson – California Kid – 38%

(A driver must have competed in 15 racing competitions to be listed in this category)

Best Freestyle Win Percentage

1) Jerry Perry – Brute Force – 90%
2) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 76%
3) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 69%
4) Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 67%
— Randy Brown – Grave Digger – 67%
6) Bill Payne – Rock Star – 64%
7) Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 63%
8) Bobby Holman – Lucas Oil Stabilizer – 60%
9) Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 56%
10) Larry Quick – Ghost Ryder – 52%
— Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 52%

(A driver must have competed in 15 freestyle competitions to be listed in this category)

Best Combined Racing/Freestyle Win Percentage

1) Gary Porter – Grave Digger – 63%
2) Pablo Huffaker – Grave Digger – 62%
3) Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 53%
— Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 53%
— Larry Swim – Bigfoot Bad Boy #16 – 53%
6) Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 50%
— Dan Runte – Summit Bigfoot #18 – 50%
8) Bill Payne – Rock Star – 44%
— Randy Brown – Grave Digger – 44%
10) Bobby Holman – Lucas Oil Stabilizer – 43%

(A driver must have competed in a combination of 30 racing and/or freestyle competitions to be listed in this category)

Most Wins In Fields of 10+ Trucks

1) Dennis Anderson – Grave Digger – 12
2) Tom Meents – Maximum Destruction – 8
— Neil Elliott – Maximum Destruction – 8
4) Ryan Anderson – Son Uva Digger – 7
5) Charlie Pauken – Grave Digger – 6
6) Carl Van Horn – Grave Digger – 5
7) Adam Anderson – Grave Digger The Legend – 4
8) Jim Koehler – Avenger – 3
— Alex Blackwell – Wolverine – 3
— Linsey Weenk – Lucas Oil Crusader – 3
— Damon Bradshaw – Monster Energy – 3
— Jimmy Creten – Bounty Hunter – 3
[/column]

Great job to all of the drivers on their outstanding performances thus far in 2012. Stay tuned to the TMB Results Tracker to find out what went down at events all around the country and watch for another Leaderboard update later this season!

(Photo By Chris Parrish)

Monster Photos: Monster X Tour – Bakersfield, CA 2012

Event: Monster X Tour
Venue: Rabobank Arena
Location: Bakersfield, California
Date: January 20th-21st, 2012
Photographer: Debbie Torgerson

Lineup: Bucked Up (Ed Miller), California Kid (BJ Johnson), El Perro Loco (Rod Wood), Firestone Bigfoot #10 (Kyle Doyle), Play’n 4 Keeps (Tony Canedo), Rock Star (Bill Payne) [Read more…]

TMB TV: Original Series 5.3 – Monster X Tour – Bakersfield, CA 2012

TMB TV's Original Series Presented By E3 Spark Plugs
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Episode Information

Episode: Original Series 5.3
Event: Monster X Tour
Venue: Rabobank Arena
Location: Bakersfield, California
Date: January 20th-21st, 2011
Host: Ross Z. Bonar
Videographers: Ross Z. Bonar
[/column] [column size=”1-3″]

Featured Monster Trucks

Bucked Up – Ed Miller
California Kid – BJ Johnson
El Perro Loco – Rod Wood
Firestone Bigfoot #10 – Kyle Doyle
Play’n 4 Keeps – Tony Canedo
Rock Star – Bill Payne
[/column] [column size=”1-3″ last=”1″]

Featured Links

www.BIGFOOT4x4.com
www.BuckedUpApparel.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.MonsterXTour.com
www.StraightUpRacing.com
[/column] [Read more…]

TMB TV: ActionTracks 3.1 – Monster X Tour – Lubbock, TX 2012

TMB TV's Original Series Presented By E3 Spark Plugs
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Episode Information

Episode: ActionTracks 3.1
Event: Monster X Tour
Venue: City Bank Coliseum
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Date: January 13th-14th, 2011
Host: Chris Parrish
Videographer: Chris Parrish
[/column] [column size=”1-3″]

Featured Monster Trucks

Bucked Up – Ed Miller
California Kid – BJ Johnson
Firestone Bigfoot #10 – Kyle Doyle
Rock Star – Bill Payne
War Wizard – Robert Parker
[/column] [column size=”1-3″ last=”1″]

Featured Links

www.BIGFOOT4x4.com
www.BuckedUpApparel.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.StraightUpRacing.com
www.WarWizardRacing.com
[/column] [Read more…]

TMB TV: MT Unlimited 3.1 – Monster X Tour – Stockton, CA 2012

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Episode Information

Episode: MT Unlimited 3.1
Event: Monster X Tour
Venue: Stockton Arena
Location: Stockton, California
Date: January 6th-7th, 2012
Videographer: Colby Marshall
[/column] [column size=”1-3″]

Featured Monster Trucks

California Kid – BJ Johnson
El Bandito – Ed Miller
El Perro Loco – Rod Wood
Firestone Bigfoot #10 – Kyle Doyle
Play’n 4 Keeps – Tony Canedo
Rock Star – Bill Payne
[/column] [column size=”1-3″ last=”1″]

Featured Links

www.BIGFOOT4x4.com
www.E3SparkPlugs.com
www.MonsterXTour.com
www.StraightUpRacing.com
[/column] [Read more…]

Kyle Doyle to Pilot Firestone BIGFOOT in 2012

(Hazelwood, MO – BIGFOOT PR) – BIGFOOT 4×4 Inc. announced this week that team driver Kyle Doyle will take the reigns of the Firestone BIGFOOT® monster truck in 2012, kicking off his rookie season behind the wheel of the team’s red, white, and blue Firestone flagship.

27-year old Doyle, who previously had been a fill-in driver for the team, moved into a full-time slot behind the wheel of BIGFOOT #10 in February of 2011 and immediately set about the task of proving his worth on the team’s roster. After spending the bulk of 2011 performing car-crush exhibitions in BIGFOOT #10 (decked out in 2011 Firestone/MLB All-Star Game colors), Doyle competed in the first two races of his driving career at a pair of FMG/Skyfire Productions monster truck races in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in September.

This caught the industry off-guard, as the Firestone/MLB BIGFOOT currently is the team’s first and only Chevrolet body/engine combination in their 36 year history, and was originally not slated to ever see competition! Needless to say, this surprise was warmly welcomed by fans, and, despite his lack of on-track experience and an unproven engine combination, Doyle was able to quickly find victory lane. Over the course of seven shows between the two events, Doyle took the top qualifying spot all seven nights, won all seven final rounds, and took six out of seven freestyle competitions.

“I can’t even describe how cool it was to compete in a monster truck for the first time, and for it to be a Chevrolet-powered BIGFOOT truck on top of that!” said Doyle. “When you spend your whole childhood fascinated with these things, and then you spend your whole adult life working towards the chance to race one of them, it is very gratifying when a team like BIGFOOT puts their faith in you and gives you a shot at it. That’s huge in my book, and I can’t thank them enough.”

With Darron Schnell moving into the new Vi-cor sponsored Bigfoot for 2012, Kyle Doyle will compete for Rookie of the Year in the Firestone Bigfoot ride.

Jim Kramer, former BIGFOOT driver and current BIGFOOT VP of Research, Technology, & Driver Development, worked with Doyle at his first racing event and was optimistic about the results: “We’re proud that Kyle has become a first-tier driver at BIGFOOT. We increased Kyle’s training opportunities over the last several months and he’s shown us his drive AND his ability to represent our company on and off the track!”

Kramer added that “Kyle’s recent race wins and his attention to truck safety show us that he’s ready to further his monster truck driving career at BIGFOOT. We’re expecting good things from him in the future!”

BIGFOOT VP of Sponsorships and Business Development, Bob Trent, was equally enthusiastic about Doyle’s transition to the Firestone ride: “Kyle came to us a couple years ago with a deep background in the industry. Once we started giving him some seat time, we realized that we really should get him into a truck full-time! His results speak for themselves. Everyone here is looking forward to seeing what he can do in 2012, especially during the indoor season.”

Doyle is extremely excited to be carrying the team’s Firestone colors heading into his rookie racing season. “With Darron [Schnell] picking up the flag for our new Vi-COR sponsorship and moving out of the Firestone ride, I am looking forward to representing Firestone in 2012! They have been with BIGFOOT since 1991, so it’s a BIG responsibility. I’ve got a lot of learning to do, but with a great sponsor and a great team of people behind me, I’m very excited to see what happens!”

For more information about Team BIGFOOT, please visit www.Bigfoot4x4.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A big congratulations to former TMB Staff Member Kyle Doyle on realizing his dream of being a full-time monster truck driver. Best of luck in 2012!