How Bigfoot Became the First Monster Truck

Bigfoot is widely called the first monster truck, and it started as a family Ford pickup that its owner could not stop breaking. Bob Chandler, a St. Louis-area off-roader, solved that problem by opening a parts shop, and ended up building a sport.

A Pickup That Kept Breaking

Chandler began racing in 1975 with the family's 1974 Ford F-250 four-wheel-drive pickup. Shops in the Midwest generally did not carry the parts he needed to repair the damage.

So Chandler, his wife Marilyn and friend Jim Kramer opened Midwest Four Wheel Drive, a shop that sold the parts nobody else stocked.

The truck kept growing. "I kept putting bigger and bigger tires on it, and I broke axles," Chandler said. "So, then I put bigger axles under the truck, then I didn't have enough power, so I put bigger engines in the truck."

People around the shop began calling Chandler "Bigfoot" for the way he drove, and the name passed to the truck.

A Joke in a Field

In 1981, Chandler drove the truck over junk cars in a field and filmed it, as a joke. The tape showed the truck rolling over the cars without trouble.

A promoter saw the videotape and asked for a live show. Wikipedia dates the first public car crush to April 1982.

72,000 People and a New Name

In March 1983, Bigfoot played the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit. Counts differ. Wikipedia and Bigfoot 4x4's own site put the crowd at more than 72,000, which Wikipedia calls the largest single-day monster truck event, while History.com and Mental Floss say about 68,000.

Two accounts credit a Silverdome show with the first use of the words "monster truck" for Bigfoot. History.com says a promoter said it, and The Hundreds credits announcer Bob George.

Mental Floss reports that the crowd swarmed so close that Chandler stopped the demonstration early, worried that the truck would be damaged.

Bigfoot 4x4 has posted footage of Bigfoot #1 racing in May 1987.

Still on the Road

Chandler co-founded the Monster Truck Racing Association in 1987, an organization created to promote safety in the sport. Bigfoot has since grown into a fleet of trucks, and Bigfoot trucks are still part of 2026 arena tours, including the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live shows.

The original Bigfoot #1 no longer competes. It is kept as a display vehicle at the Bigfoot 4x4 headquarters in Pacific, Missouri, about 100 feet from Route 66, according to KY3's April 2026 report.