Jalopnik: monster trucks

Best Sumo Wrestler/Monster Truck T-Shirt Ever

Sam Smith — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Because one of them is going to win, and it sure as hell ain't gonna be the fat guy in the diaper.

What can we say about TeeFury that hasn't already been said? That it's the single best one-day-only T-shirt site on the 'net? (True.) That it consistently gives us stuff we didn't know we needed, stuff like the awesome R2-D2 Haynes manual t-shirt? (Also true.) Or that it's a font of creativity and limited-run goodness that makes our skin go all tingly? (Again, true.)

You know you want it. You know you need it. Buy it now, and quickly, because it's only available for twenty-four hours. Nine bucks plus shipping. You're welcome.

[TeeFury]

Monster Truck Nationals Promoter Killed At Monster Truck Show, Second Death In Two Weeks

Ray Wert — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:30:00 EST

George Eisenhart Jr., promoter and announcer of the Monster Truck Nationals, was injured and died Saturday night at his Monster Truck show in Wisconsin — the second death in a week involving monster trucks.

Eisenhart, 41, of Chardon, Ohio, was president and owner of Image Productions, the Ohio company that's been staging the Monster Nationals around the country since 1993. He also was the show's promoter and announcer.

Eisenhart was hit by one of the giant-wheeled vehicles when he stepped into its path near the end of the performance. He was pronounced dead two hours later at Univeristy of Wisconsin Hospital of major, "crushing" internal injuries, Coroner John Stanley claimed in a news conference Sunday that:

Our preliminary investigation shows neither Eisenhart nor the truck driver saw each other before the collision."

A statement on the International Monster Truck Racing Association website, an organization Eisenhart became president of this month states:

This is a general workplace accident in which the extraordinary happened under what would previously have been considered ordinary conditions,"

What wasn't an "ordinary condition" was what happened just eight days ago, when a 6-year-old boy was killed by flying debris at a monster truck show in Tacoma, Wash. We do want to be clear the two incidents are not related, and the shows were staged by different companies.

Ironically, Eisenhart commented on the Washington death Friday to a local Wisconsin TV station. He was quoted as saying:

"This is our 16th year and I wish I had a big piece of wood to knock on right now, but we have not had an incident besides a gal slipping in the aisle at another location. That's been all. We think our venue is very safe and all the shows we do are very safe."

[via ABC News, WKOW 27]

Amazing Tilt-Shift Video From Monster Truck Rally

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST

Tilt-shift photography can be used for many things, but one of the more interesting is a technique used to trick the mind into thinking very large things are very small. Tilt-shift takes advantage of our familiarity with very close up images of small things, where the object of interest is in focus, but everything else is progressively blurred. Keith Loutit has applied this technique in video form to an indoor monster truck rally and demolition derby event with stunning and awesome results. The full video below in huge format for your viewing pleasure.

(Thanks for the tip Mark) [Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo via The Atlantic]

Biggest El Camino Ever? Aces High Monster Truck-Car

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:40:00 EDT

Woo hooo! 11,000 lbs, supercharged, alcohol injected 383 cubic inch V8 good for 1250 horsepower, two and a half ton Rockwell transfer case, and 66" Goodyears. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Aces High. An all steel bodied 1972 El Camino SS which has been transformed in a wheel standing, car crushing, fire breathing (no really, it shoots fire) monster. It holds the record for the longest monster truck freestanding wheelie at 700 feet going 45 miles per hour. While an all fiberglass, higher performance version was recently completed and dubbed Shell Camino, the original version is way more in keeping with Maximum El Camino Day in our opinion. Oh, did we mention there's awesome 80's quality video of the beast in action set to the Iron Maiden riff of the same name after the jump?

[Aces High Homepage]

Arctic Trucks Make Us Want to Play in Snow

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST

It's one thing to play with a giant Suburban in the Icelandic wilds, another to go Vannin' in the Russian countryside. But when you're tooling around in the Arctic, a purpose-built truck is in order. That's were Arctic Trucks comes in. They're in the business of modifying vehicles to take the abuse of the far north. They offer modified Toyota's as part of a standard lineup, but they'll trick out whatever truck you bring them. In fact, these are the same trucks Top Gear drove to the North Pole. Super best truck from the land of no rising sun!

Monster Trucks and Motorcycles Stage Hard Rock Aerial Ballet

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:15:00 EST

Okay, enough pussy-footing around with these bastardized Corvettes. Let's slide some proper monster trucks into the day. Nitro Circus provides what may be the most well- choreographed extreme stunts and general displays of insanity. To make things even better, they set their work to excellent soundtracks. This is a massive multi-level, multi-discipline super stunt, which makes you wince at a few points. We counted four different levels of stunt drivers stacked over each other—five if you include the helicopter. Add AC/DC, throw in The Man trying to disrupt the filming, shake well and that's some seriously spectacular hoonage. Hoonage is performance art, it's a fact. FUll video below the jump.

Kid Car Design Contest: Get Ready for Dinosaur Jet Sleds and Convertibles Fit for Fairy Princesses

Matthew DeBord — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:15:00 EST

"We want to ignite a passion for design among American children and also raise money to help families cope with serious illnesses." Thus spake Carroll Shelby, announcing his partnership with Road & Track and the Automotive Fine Arts Society to sponsor the sixth annual Kids Automotive Art Contest, which has been on hiatus since 2002. A modest $5 entry fee will fund Shelby's foundation, which combats children's illnesses worldwide. So, got an aspiring little Chris Bangle or J Mays frolicking about the house? Get them to stop scribbling their budding "form vocabularies" on the living room wall and put 'em to work dreaming up the car or truck they'd drive "when they grow up." The grand prize ain't chump change: a $5000 savings bond.

A variety of competitive categories, from K-12, means an almost incomprehensible range of possible submissions. What, for example, would the judges gathered at L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum on April 19 make of my five-year-old's "flaming monster truck," depicted above? Bring on the motorized My Little Pony rollers, the jet-assisted coupes decked out with Spider Man's color scheme, and, if they're worth their salt at the upper end, lots of rigs suitable for Harry, Ron and Hermione. If I put my daughter on it, I'll likely see a Winnebago of sparkling pink with wheels shaped from cotton candy. Check out all the details here.

It's a Love Affair...Mainly Jesus, And My Hotrod

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:15:00 EDT

Why we didn't get around to posting this particular clip sooner is beyond us. "Jesus Built My Hotrod" was seminal just-turned-sixteen, got-an-El Camino-and-questionable-hair cruising music for us. Plus, y'know, Gibby Haynes! Sometimes we feel old. Realizing that this single came out nearly sixteen years ago is one of those times.

Related:
The Horrors of Nitro: Bakersfield March Meet [Internal]

Bigfoot Waves Farewell to His Twenties

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:43:48 EDT

Quote the Wrestleman: "Strong Bad doesn't sell out to anybody, man. No matter how monstrous their truck show may or may not be." And neither did Bob Chandler: even our Playskool toy Bigfoot was admirably torquey. Hard to believe but it's been 30 years since Bigfoot's genesis. St. Louis-based Chandler got the bug for making his F-250 4x4 badder than anyone within sight of the Gateway Arch; through him, the modern monster truck was born. Also, we get the feeling Strong Bad would give in if Chandler stopped by and plied him with a few Cold Ones.

Bigfoot