[Music] thank you [Music] monster truck fans get ready to Journey back in time to witness history in the making for the first time in almost 25 years you are about to experience the Thundering action of a bunch of drug Superstars that started it off monster truck shows on Earth these are the battle return and War the monster trucks foreign from the beaches of Malibu into the Superdome stadiums of North America come the biggest most famous trucks at awesome specialty vehicles ever built join film
and television star Claude Akins your host Jan Gabriel and exciting television personality Judy Landers as they take you on a power pack trip around Malaysia and into the Wilds of Canada [Applause] thank you Battle of the monster trucks is a fascinating look at the newest craze crushing its way across America thank you [Applause] hi everybody and welcome to the battle of the monster trucks today you're gonna see the biggest meanest monster trucks and Specialty vehicles ever created I'm Jan Gabr
iel and joining me is our special guest today the star of stage screen and television Mr Claude Akins thank you Jen these big monster trucks you see here are just a sample of some of the most exciting rigs ever built for professional exhibition and competition and today you'll see all the big names you're going to see Bigfoot the world's most famous truck there's USA one and even a brand new monster Corvette car and a whole lot more truck and tractor pulling in major stadiums like the Pontiac si
lver Dome the Houston Astrodome Seattle Kingdome and others have given the monster trucks a real showcase well Claude that's true and literally millions of people are turning out at these giant Arenas to see these awesome and powerful monster trucks but the real story began much earlier when World War II loomed on the horizon the Willy's Overland motor company started building a four-wheel military vehicle commonly known as the Jeep it was followed by four-wheel drive troop carriers ambulances a
nd amphibious trucks and it's from these early four-wheel drive vehicles that these very Showbiz like four-wheel drive monster trucks have developed today on Battle of the monster trucks we're going to take you to all parts of the country to show you the most unusual and four-wheel vehicles and more you'll see drag through tractors funny cars and we've even found the biggest most humongous truck in the world and joining us will be a host of experts and we're very delighted and fortunate to have
with us that good looking Judy Landers now there is an exciting lady all right so let's get ready to feel the horsepower as we travel first to the big Pontiac Silverdome where Gary Lee and Larry Newber are going to introduce us to Bigfoot and USA one gentlemen thank you Jan Gabriel and Claude Akins well Larry what's the old saying about men and boys and the price of their toys did you ever get in trouble as a youngster for playing in the mud yeah I think I have but uh the guy's here tonight and
a few ladies are not here just for fun but they're actually here for profit uh we're going to see rigs that may be worth up to maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars certainly one hundred thousand dollars Gary we're in the Pontiac Silverdome just north of Detroit On Any Given Sunday during the fall 60 000 folks are here to cheer for the Detroit Lions football team we also have the basketball floor here with Kelly tripucka Isaiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons but today the concrete floor is
filled with mud well that's right Gary later on we're going to see some mud bogging but first Everett Jasmine is very popular Monster Truck USA one we're going to see some heavy duty car crushing Crossovers and he's joining the most famous monster truck in the world Bob Chandler's Bigfoot this is what the crowd has come to see first they line up on opposite sides of the park cars and attempt to crossover facing each other well there's near 60 000 people here to watch this and I'll tell you it's
not nearly as easy as it looks as you can see the drivers have to be very careful in just exactly where they position oh way up in the air we'll stand for sure ever jasmer Jasmine by the way is from Spring Lake Park Minnesota he's a real engineer when it comes to building these monster trucks well the king of the monster trucks Bob Chandler hails from the St Louis area and has literally written the book on monster trucks in fact he built Bigfoot as an advertisement for his four-wheel drive busin
ess back in the midwest oh just look at these two look the power of horsepower involved there Bigfoot one is actually the first of the monster trucks it's a 74 modified Ford pickup it is using the 460 cubic inch Ford engine that windshield just went Gary or I guess it was a rear window and both of these trucks are over 11 feet in height and Bigfoot one is utilizing 14 shock absorbers that help cushion to ride over these guards we talk about four by four by four well that simply means that it's f
our-wheel drive with four-wheel steering you know Gary just the tires alone the heavy duty excavation type tires are 66 inches tall 11 feet you know I think that's even higher than isaia can jump there goes some more glass and I had the chance once to ride with Bob Chandler and it's quite a thrill to be strapped inside this monster vehicle and as I mentioned earlier it's a lot more dangerous than what it appears it's very slippery up there on top of the painted roofs of these cars [Applause] the
re's the pride and joy of Chevrolet the Pearl painted USA number one and Bigfoot truck I talked with Bob there it is the biggest the baddest the most famous 4x4 monster pickup truck a movie star a television personality this is Bigfoot one here is the Creator and the Builder Bob Chandler indeed the license plate reads Bigfoot one this is the original this is original this is 1974 Ford always the motivation why'd you build it 11 years ago I just I had no intention of doing this but it just got a
little bigger a little more ridiculous every year we kept breaking parts so we put something heavier and we wanted to run stronger so we put a bigger motor in it just uh kept it getting more ridiculous every year is all I can say I'd love to watch you parallel park it and crab it because it stares from both ends let's talk about the drivetrain and the steering capabilities okay it's got two five-ton military axles uh two fronts by the way the front steer is like a regular truck with a steering w
heel the rear is hydraulic and what it does is it gives it a lot more Mobility when you're this big it's awkward in places where the rear steering helps you out good luck thank you very much Everett earlier we saw you Car Crushing now we're going to see some mud bogging do you have a preference the car crashing primarily because it's uh cleaner and there's a lot less work getting it ready for the next weekend of course what about mud bogging now it's really obviously an important part of every c
ompetition is there a secret or it's just a matter of luck there's a lot of factors I don't know if it's luck or if there's a secret to it but there's a lot of factors and the biggest factor is how the given pit is built you one weekend you'll have a pit that's real loose maybe shallower than another weekend sometimes they're deeper sometimes the mud is heavier thicker uh you never know until you've seen a few Vehicles go through it and then you have to try and plan your strategy from there so i
t's there's no there's no luck about it I don't believe as Bigfoot and USA one get ready for their mud bog runs we'd like to show you some of the mud racing that went on here at the Pontiac silver Dome earlier today yeah this strange looking vehicle looked like it came out of World War II or maybe the nearest junkyard or some poor combination of both of them they called it sod rusting as you can see it was a real Oddity and I learned the object of this competition is to go the greatest distance
but I'm not sure how they measured I don't think I'm going to walk out there in the mud with a tape maker yeah it's a little messy down there and sodbuster didn't quite make the distance I don't think another one of the trucks out earlier today was this red hot number named strictly Wicked to be driven by a woman I love putting the grinding away and firing away and kept digging deeper and deeper and even still more deeper I think she's out there digging for oil now my question is does she have a
crew member that cleans up this rig well I don't know Gary they say a woman's work is never done well anyway now this guy I think out engineered himself he built a mud Runner that was basically all framework and I'm guessing his theory probably was the lighter the better well I think it's time to go back on board because not only did the Run not go so well but he's going to be picking mud out of his teeth the next few days there's always got to be some guy out there who out guns the field and t
his driver had the quickest trigger of them all this day now there was no stopping his aged Camaro and he took the mud bath with a winning run [Applause] well Larry that was earlier today now with the mud pit deeper and muddier here come the two stars of the show USA one and Bigfoot to take their punishment in the thick Oozy slimy what would you call it Larry uh Gary I think I'd call it yuck these guys really want to be called stars who are going through all of this I really wonder what makes th
e fans love to watch these monster trucks and the mud to take such abuse well I don't think anybody's quite figured out yet it must be vicarious in some way or another but I think the real answer is they don't have to clean these trucks up afterwards Gary well Jasmine Tilton weaves his way through the mod flinging it all over the Pontiac Silverdome and eventually USA one bogs down in about four feet of mud you just can't believe all the time and effort man hours went into making this truck shiny
before all this began well Jasmine is pulled out after blocking down by a cable attached to a tractor at the starting line now a lot of work that goes into getting these trucks in here and sometimes a lot of work goes into getting them out of this mess Gary time now for a hose or pressurized water and a chamois here's the king of the monster trucks once again and we asked Bob Chandler hey Bob what do you think about just before your next mud run take a nice clean shiny truck and you hit that mu
d and all you can do is put your foot to the floor and hope you're going straight to the pit you've got you know you've got 30 or 40 hours of cleaning once you get out of the mud and you give it all you got [Applause] I think Bob Chandler is about to give it all he has he's been flagged away he puts 460 cubic inches of work it's a simple matter of locking the rear end in place and putting the pedal to the metal Bulgarian activity that once was nothing more than backyard grins has become a profes
sion for all these people oh look at the fire well Gary not only fire but on the flip side of the coin rust believe it or not is one of the biggest problems in maintaining these vehicles because they're in wet mud so often that's true Bob Chandler says the the major problem is replacing all the body panels during the season well as you can see the crowd loves Bob Chandler and Bob Chandler loves the crowd oh foreign [Music] [Applause] vehicle here in the Pontiac Silverdome now is this 37 Ford pic
kup Larry nuber a most unusual Motorsports display with Car Crushing the mud bog and I think I'd like to try that sometime yeah Gary you may maybe would like to try what we saw here today but now it comes the really hard part cleaning up all these vehicles after all this activity incidentally most of these will be driven home and then the real hard work cleaning them up begins that's what the crew's for now back to Jen Gabriel and Claude Akins Bigfoot in USA one really are spectacular monster tr
ucks and you'll see some more coming up in just a little while also more mud bog racing will be splashing its way out of the program along with some of the most incredible Vehicles you have ever seen so don't you dare go away we'll be right back after I go for a ride with Gabriel Montez in the Texas armadillo [Music] all right here's our co-host Claude Akins with Rich Johnson vice president of four-wheeler magazine Rich we've just seen Bigfoot and USA one two of the most popular monster trucks i
n hard and heavy action they have certainly come a long way from the four-wheel drive military vehicles that fought in World War II Claude the monster trucks are really just the latest in a series of crowd-pleasing exhibitions that date all the way back to 19th century Rural America the farmers back then did all their heavy duty work using teams of horses and on Sundays they'd all get together at some local clearing and see which team of animals could pull the most weight well then I guess I can
safely assume that the natural progression was to tractors next that's right by the time the tractors came along the local pulling events had evolved into serious competitions at the county fair level at first just about everybody entered but then the more popular pulling became and the more money that was offered well naturally they began to modify and soup up the tractors to gain more horsepower and as you know today there are tractors with multiple engines and some that are just uncommonly u
nique now it's these powerful pulling tractors we see today that lead us up to the four-wheel drive trucks that have become so popular four-wheel drive pulling trucks are really the first cousins of the dragster tractors they have tremendous power and the fact that the trucks were four-wheel drive made them really appealing to competitors and Spectators alike the trucks try to get all the horsepower down to the ground to all four wheels utilizing power to weight ratios and if you can hit the rig
ht combination on any given night you can be the winner at a four-wheel drive truck pull [Music] Rich we want to thank you and four wheeler magazine for all your help in helping us to pull this one hour special together it's been our pleasure Claude ah here's John Gabriel the fun in helping put this battle of the monster trucks together was looking for the world's largest truck well Flora McIntyre has found it for us well Jen the biggest truck in the whole world is listed right here in the Guinn
ess Book of World Records and it's parked just a few feet from where I'm standing here in Sparwood British Columbia this is the terrex Titan hauler and it's the king of all the working monster trucks where Bigfoot is great at crushing cars this Bruiser can move mountains as you can see everything about it is gigantic the terrex is as big as a house just over 66 feet long and over 25 feet wide from the top of the cab guard to the ground measures 22 feet the tires alone stand 12 feet high and only
last about six months the terrex Titan never stops it's in operation 24 hours a day and a fuel up takes 960 gallons of diesel fuel this incredible truck was built 11 years ago and designed to be the ultimate earth mover for the strip mining industry Terex is the Mainstay in a massive Fleet of 68 monster trucks all weighing between 100 and 350 tons these huge rigs Hall and Mall mountains of rock to get to the coal bed of the Westar open pit mine the 16 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine deliver
s horsepower which is transformed into electricity and sent to several electric motors that drive both front and rear wheels independently at a speed of up to 23 miles per hour now you might think it takes either Superman or the Incredible Hulk to drive this baby not so the terrex operates as easily as any Street or Highway truck it has a regular steering wheel that controls both front and rear wheels at the same time to turn it around takes the space the size of an eight-lane highway now how mu
ch Earth or in this case rocks and boulders can the terrex Titan move at one time fully loaded over 410 tons now of course you're never going to see a truck this size barreling down any highway but if you do watch out it's the ultimate car crusher as an elder Statesman should any of the terrex Titan's major parts fail say a drive shaft or any other serious internal damage ever occur the Titan would be retired forever the cost of a new engine would be well over eight hundred thousand dollars maki
ng it too costly to replace when ready to unload the dump bed is extended full up the height of the Terex increases to 56 feet and that's higher than a five-story building neither frequent snowstorms nor cold weather have ever stopped the Titan from continuing its daily chores in these rough Rocky Mountains it stands alone in size and strength from Sparwood British Columbia I'm Flora McIntyre back to Jan Gabriel and Claude Akins on Malibu Beach well Claude you're going to have to admit that that
Terex Titan is quite a big truck how would you like to see that baby Crush some cars you know I think that truck could crush a whole city there just might be a movie story in that here's a truck that belongs in the movies this is Taurus Taurus is driven by Jack Willman and last weekend he took this big Bruiser down to Dallas Texas and actually drove up and over two buses watch this bear with the crystal immigration over I think [Music] [Applause] I am ready okay [Applause] thank you [Applause]
[Music] we're gonna meet another Superstar Judy Landers the lovely Judy Landers coming up in just a few minutes but right now we're going to show you some exciting wheelie trucks and for our show today we sent a camera crew back to Chicago the city of the big shoulders where we found three of the most colorful wheelie trucks in the country the first was a Sleek flip top truck driven by Butch Schultz from band 12 Ohio the truck is named Magnum JR this is a real fancy piece of equipment the engine
is huge it has a 600 cubic inch supercharged engine that puts out 3 000 horsepower and that's a lot and incidentally these trucks are steered by independent braking on the back wheels so you can bet the driver is going to be real busy wheelie trucks are powered only by the rear wheels and just like other pulling Vehicles the object is to hook up and pull the weighted sled as far as you can now watch carefully at home as the weight of this entire truck will be carried on the back wheels watching
now there you go Michael Jr trying to drag the weight pulling sled all the way down to the end of the 175 foot pulling track well it came up a little short of the 175 foot Mark as he drifted off to the left side of the course here was the next truck to roll out this is probably the most popular wheelie truck in the nation well that's right Jen this is Alan Gaines Orange Blossom Special it's a 1937 Chevrolet and it's a masterpiece Allen is from Georgetown Kentucky and the Orange Blossom Special
is powered by a supercharged 454 cubic inch alcohol burning Chevrolet engine he's got the front and up and a real power play and he's got the line I bet he's going to get some good distance out of this that's for sure he's really got it as we watch him bring it down and it looks almost as though he's trying to park it in the first balcony and as you can tell these fans really turn on to the excitement of these wheelie trucks now watch this truck open it up you know most Trick Trucks can raise th
e body up from the front but this truck psycho does it from the back this is another one of the most sought after of all the wheelie trucks it's driven by George stennett from Grand Blanc Michigan it's a 1965-40 Kano line they don't even make those anymore and even when they were turning them out I don't think any of them ever had a 464 cubic inch experimental engine in them like this one does I doubt it that's a pretty hefty engine well if the strobe light inside the cab doesn't bother his visi
on you might wonder how psycho sees where he's going once the cab is up in the air well there's a small window on the floorboard that lets him see the track in front of them by the way as George said it now gets a good start but he's level off a little bit a little too soon and drifting onto the right side of the track he sure likes to keep trying I never thought he was going to give up well I hope you enjoyed the wheelie trucks but right now we're going to go to Detroit Michigan's Joe Lewis Are
na waiting for us in Detroit is Jacka root and the exciting Judy Lander they're going to show us funny cars funny cars I wonder where that term came from well gentlemen the term funny car was coined right here in the Detroit area when the funny cars first began to race but my co-host will tell us more about that in a moment let's meet her right now she's the star of VJ and the bear Madam's place and now the million dollar Body Challenge the lovely Judy Landers thank 1960s right here in the Motor
City of Detroit but now drag racing funny cars has taken on a whole new turn it's certainly a lot different from the last time I saw funny cars run in Pomona California indeed they are and today we're going to see six of the top nationally ranked funny car pullers competing for distance they'll be carrying a 50 000 pound sled across 175 foot track by now most of you realize that this truck and tractor pulling and this funny car competition have swept the country in terms of a national phenomena
one of the men that was instrumental in making it what it is today is the president of the United States Hot Rod Association Mr Bob George Bob what is it that is drawing these people into these indoor Arenas hundreds of thousands of people week in and week out well we anticipate over 5 million people this year and I think to answer your questions a little bit tough except we've taken drag racing as you mentioned earlier and we put it inside Arenas and stadiums you know the object in Drag Racing
is how quick can you run a quarter mile dash an acceleration test for 1320 feet well hot rod truck pull funny car pulling is just like that it's not how quick you can run the length of the track however it's can you run the link to the track because the 50 000 pound weight transfer machine is the handicap it's The Equalizer and that's what makes the competition hard tough and fierce all over the nation wherever we go well Bob thanks so much for stopping by we know you've got a busy schedule ton
ight and we're getting ready now looks like they're going to fire these motors up these monster machines so let's go up to Judy Landers while we're waiting for Jack let me tell you that funny cars got started in the early 1960s when a group of young men from the Motor City area formed an organization called The Ram Chargers they were quick to develop new ideas thus beginning the evolution of the funny cars and leading up to the radical funny cars of today you're back Jack that's right Judy today
the cars that we'll be seeing pulling they'll be pulling a 50 000 pound sled that transfers the weight from the back to the front thus making it heavier and heavier as they go down the track and it looks like we've got our first puller on the line right now cars the Avenger the owner and driver is Gary Collins from El Dorado Springs Missouri 's first event pulling funny cars was January 1st 1985 so I guess you could say he's a real rookie Shane is all hooked up now you can see he starts to put
it into gear and I think we're about ready for our first run with these funny car pullers they're just incredible throttle look at the wheels they just look at those big tires just tearing up the dirt there well that was a beautiful run there by the Avenger Collins but we'll have to wait for the time here well Judy here's the pull on that first one 165 and three and one quarter inches that's a pretty good Benchmark on 175 175 foot track everybody have to shoot at that one it's gonna be a hard sc
ore to beat and look we've got the next one out that'll be Dan Patrick in the Red Baron at Mark of 165 plus is really going to be tough for Patrick to break here today but he's on the pole and see how he comes up through the throttle not too much nose lifting there but he's zigzagging back and forth across the track we're gonna dig up the dirt the rush could be a problem for other drivers but he's made his pull can you believe this with all that zigzag and back and forth across the track he's th
e new leader 168 and a half feet that's incredible [Applause] here's Tennessee Thunder it's owned and driven by Mike Hollingsworth he's 29 years old and he's from Springfield Tennessee Tennessee Thunder is a 1980 Plymouth Arrow fiberglass body looks like they're hooking right up you know we're talking about the front tires being 14 inches but look at how high those back tires stand no second funny car ever built for pulling it seems for the first time in Nashville well he's in the throttle right
now check this but he's not raising that nose up off too far but he's generating a lot of power I want to see you there you go well that's a good run that's an incredible run that could be the best run thus far Tennessee Thunder [Applause] 172 feet nine inches that is the best Slip today and it's only 175 foot track he almost had a full run okay you saw him earlier today this is Dan Patrick who was driving the Red Baron well now he's in the warlord the warlord is a 1983 Trans Am Pontiac Firebir
d the warlord looks lean and mean to me it does look me two dollars is put into this car there's a lot on the line tonight and he's got the nose of it right up in the air and he's just as big as he comes down to play look at that good run that's a real good run for the warlord [Applause] 173 feet two and three quarters Judy he's our new leader well Judy you got your wish here it comes the green monster Tim arfons is driving the green monster he's from Akron Ohio and his father is the famous art
arfons of the Legendary Green Monster Fame look at the fire just come out of this you want to roast some marshmallows it looks like the Fourth of July the green monster Tim arfonso ready to make his pull the pull that he has to beat is over 173 feet so it's going to be tough here he goes he's got it up in the air but not by much well he's got a practically do a full pull in order to win wouldn't it be great to see a full pole with this jet-powered machine we may just have it here look at it he's
still going awfully close to a full pull Judy that was a good run hear the noise from the jet sounds like we're Landing here in Detroit [Applause] 174.5 feet I just can't believe it we haven't had a full pole yet [Applause] okay here's the famous shy Town Hustler driven by Mike Huff who's 35 years old and he's from Westminster Massachusetts where he could put the crowd on his feet right now if he can beat that 174 and a half that's the magic mark for the shy Town Hustler um there it is he's hig
h Town Hustler is just getting it on down the road The Roots don't look too bad right now there he veers over a little bit you get out of the throttle for a second that could smell trouble but he's back into it still not enough I guess it's just a bad day for the shy Town Hustler but it's gotta be a good day for Tim arfons and his green monster I am really excited for Tim AR finds he put on a great show he did a fantastic job and my congratulations [Applause] well some final thoughts from our co
-host Judy Landers Judy just a great night it was terrific I'm a Believer it was great working with you jack Judy the pleasure was all mine you guys back in California Claude and Jan I hope you've enjoyed the show and let's go back to you right now truck tractor and funny car pulling has really become a phenomenon in this country and continues to grow with new and exciting Vehicles being built all the time well that's right this is a brand new truck behind us right here this is called the Michig
an ice monster now I asked the owner Brett Engelman where the name came from well the answer was simple he said we live in Michigan and it gets mighty cold there in the winter time and right now we're going to put the freeze on everything and when we come back you're going to see Bigfoot four and some exciting mud bog racing from Anaheim Stadium [Music] Claude Higgins got a question for you okay all right let's say that you want one of these big monster trucks parked in your garage but you can't
afford one what do you do you build a mini monster that's absolutely right watch this [Music] thank you [Music] you just watched those many monsters are going to really catch on big right now in contrast we're going to show you the largest touring truck in the world Bigfoot four 120 000 fans were at Anaheim Stadium our cameras were there the first night to watch Bob Chandler's incredible Bigfoot four except a human wave of appreciation from the Sands this awesome monster truck then went to work
crushing cars Bigfoot four is a 1985 Ford which uses a 460 cubic inch blown and highly modified engine the truck stands over 12 and a half feet high on its huge 10 foot tall tires its five-ton military axles are what enable this monster truck to use such big tires and interestingly enough but because of the size of the tires this Bigfoot can actually float on water you know a lot of people ask what Bigfoot is worth in dollars and cents and at this stage of his career I don't think you can reall
y put a price on Bigfoot he's been in several Motion Pictures dozens of television shows made hundreds of personal appearances and who knows maybe someday we'll see him in the Smithsonian Institute Bob Chandler of course literally invented monster trucks and he really enjoys being with the thousands of fans who turn out at these events you can really tell it and of course he's worked with the youngsters all over the country well as Bigfoot finished up and took a well-deserved bow at Anaheim Stad
ium there were a variety of mud bog Racers getting ready to strut their stuff through the thick Rich California mud oh you're gonna love this product watch one of the best mud racers in the country go for it in D mode [Music] [Applause] [Applause] all right foreign [Music] Bigfoot four came back out for an encore unfortunately or maybe fortunately he fed over the mud bog pit rather than in it but still managed to make an exciting run as you watch Bigfoot you'll notice that both the front and rea
r wheels are used for steering fascinating to watch now if you'd like one of these bigfoots parked in your garage I'm sure Bob Chandler would sell you all the parts you need and rumor has it that a new Bigfoot with an all-female crew will be unveiled soon and I hear it's going to be called Ms Bigfoot you've just seen some great mud bog racing but this Bruiser is the king of the mud racing machines this is the one-eyed giant Cyclops owned by Gary Gardner with over a hundred thousand dollars in th
is beauty now it seems a shame to run it through the mud but that's what this baby does the best so we watch it in action and when we return you will see monster truck drag racing on the tops of automobiles [Music] do you have a feeling we're being followed well I thought something perhaps well we certainly showed you a lot of strange and spectacular Vehicles today on Battle of the monster trucks so what could possibly be left drag racing only in America would they think of something like this m
onster trucks drag racing over the tops of automobiles let's go to Oklahoma City and Bruce Flanders all right keep your eye on this one [Music] well Jan and Claude you're right I'm in Oklahoma City Oklahoma I'm sitting in a truck called Frankenstein's monster and it is a monster it's one of four that have made it to the finals in a crush off you'll see what that's all about in a little while it's going to be run drag racing style as we go over the tops of some dozens of cars that are sitting her
e on the floor there's a lot to this whole weekend a lot of money at stake a lot of excitement but more to it than that it's kind of like a doubleheader weekend along with the crush off that we'll be seeing in just a little while next door to us there's a dynamic car show full of all kinds of glitter and chrome and excitement we'll come back to the [Music] well we hope you enjoyed that look at the car show now we're getting ready for the first round of semi-finals and in the far Lane you've got
Frankenstein's monster a Ford pickup truck and in the close Lanes it is Monster Mash another Ford pickup truck the winner of this one goes on up into the finals final screen they're going for it the one who gets Arcus is the one called Monster Mash driven by Mike Welch out of Bellingham Washington he's the smoothest over the first pair of cars now the end result it's over when the rear wheels hit the ground front wheels down over Monster Mash and there it is Mike Welch who said he wanted to win
this one for the superchargers takes the win and moves on into the finals and it looks as though Frankenstein's monster from Mulvane Kansas is history made it to the semifinals but will not come back in the finals it's 21-year-old Mike Welch out of Bellingham Washington in a truck that he's owned since he was 13 years of age taking the whip bring it to life the 1985 Corvette the 454 cubic inch Chevrolet engine and a three-speed automatic this is not what you'd call a monster truck it must be in
a category all by itself the lid comes down getting them lined up for the other semifinal rounds waiting in the other lane rolling the Thunder with Jim olvicker been on the circuit for not quite a year in fact he's the youngest or the least experienced driver on this circuit former motorcycle racer spent a lot of time in the desert in on Motocross circus all right we're about ready with the other half of the semifinals now and in the lane furthest away from you it's a brand new 1985 Corvette wit
h a 454 cubic inch motor at the wheel of 25 years of age Cliff starboard from Mulvane Kansas in the lane nearest to you the only monster van called Rolling Thunder the owner and Driver Jim oldaker out of Redondo Beach California former motorcycle racer with a 1972 Dodge Tradesman van probably the only monster van on the racing circuit this one powered by a 1976-71 Detroit diesel motor so both of them making lots of horsepower is about ready to happen watch it closely Uris Lane oldacre gets it up
quicker but the van is the biggest and heaviest vehicle on the Circuit look at him Mash those cars see boogies down the lane he's way ahead of the fact that was supposed to be tough but it looks as though it's going to be the man the heaviest one gets the rear wheels down first and it's the winner it's Jim oldigger who comes back in the final and the vet owned by Clint starboard does not make it to the final [Applause] thank you did it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] right there that's a
good race all right they're loading them in right now for the finals and it has come down to this these two trucks will face each other in this Crush off drag racing style the first one to the other end is the winner first we've got Monster Mash the bright yellow one that is based out of Bellingham Washington and driven by 21 year old Mike Welch he's about ready to go in the other lane it's going to be roll driven by Jim holdick a 25 year old out of Redondo Beach they're about set for the flag w
atch closely and see who gets up on top of their line of cars first and then gets to the other end the determining Factor at the far end is whose rear wheels clear the last car and hit the ground first it doesn't matter what your front wheels do your rear wheels if you get off to the side you're disqualified look at that can you get it up on top Mike Welch moving real hard with the Monster Mash Thunder can't keep up Monster Mash was devastating just devastating and he is pumped up we're going to
get a chance to try and get down there and talk to Mike Welch the winner here in Oklahoma City as still rolling thunder trying to get to the end of the lane in those crushed cars are just used up Rolling Thunder ended up second place overall and there's a happy young Welch Mike what happened right at the end I mean it was a beautiful run but right at the end you bro well we want to make sure we were going to win hands down and I looked over I had him by a little I just put my foot to the floor
just went for it what broke on the truck if you had a chance to look well it's the steering Hub knuckle there with this much weight bouncing down full throttle like I did they're bound to break we broke them in the past you have put on one heck of a weekend of excitement have you enjoyed yourself you spent money in trash Parts well I loved it I loved working with you guys and it was a lot of fun we come out to do 110 like I've said in the past and I feel that we did that this afternoon congratul
ations thank you [Applause] the convention center in Oklahoma City Oklahoma did not start out as a junkyard it certainly ended up that way today after the battle of the monster trucks our winner our winner today was Mike Welch out of Bellingham Washington our congratulations go out to him it was an exciting run he broke parts right at the end we got Parts you want Parts we're going to be going for more monster truck action in just a little bit with Jan Gabriel and Claude Akins so let's go there
but I have to admit I like that kind of drag racing well it's drag racing and demolition derby all in one you know that gives me a thought I think the United States government ought to subsidize that sport but think about it they take all the junk cars off the American highways you just may have something there [Music] Steve I want to take this opportunity to thank program possible and particularly The Men Who men who own and drive these magnificent monster trucks that you've seen here today it
has been a Monumental project pulling this all together and my hat is off to everyone as well and my personal thanks to Judy Landers and to our astute on the scene reporters and of course Claude Akins thank you very much my friend it has been a monstrous pleasure thank you once again for joining us on Battle of the monster trucks we'll see you next time [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Applause]
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