BigfootFanTV

I just saw this video with Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter where the right front wheel breaks off and goes literally into the stands. I'm pretty much disgusted at the people in the background who were laughing at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv-ogKHqVAc

Just found this out from the Monster Mayhem website and then went to the Monster Jam website to confirm it. BJ Johnson (former driver of California Kid) has now got himself a seat in one of FELD's company monster trucks. He will be driving the 2nd Mohawk Warrior and will be teaming with Morgan Kane in Maximum Destruction during 1st quarter. This makes me extremely happy because ever since BJ Johnson began working for FELD at the beginning of this year 2013 I was hoping he would get a shot at driving a FELD company monster truck. When I watched him perform in California Kid in 2012 he was an excellent driver, definitely crazy in freestyle. He deserves this opportunity no doubt in my opinion. Here's BJ Johnson's 1st Quarter Schedule: January 3 - 4: Des Moines, IA January 11: Detroit, MI January 18: Houston, TX January 25: Orlando, FL January 31 - February 1: Peoria, IL February 7 - 9: Denver, CO February 14 - 16: Cleveland, OH

It definitely is sad to see Joe Sylvester not drive a monster truck anymore. I saw him perform in person only once, at Wildwood, NJ back in 2010 and he was brilliant the whole weekend. All I will say is good luck to Joe Sylvester in his future endeavors, he will be missed driving a monster truck for sure. Also, forget about holding my final judgment and my previous view about the body color. I hope Adam Anderson destroys that body each weekend to prove a point on how FELD completely changed the historical aspect of Grave Digger The Legend with replacing blue and grey with purple.

I like the idea of the ghost skull on the side but the purple might be the deal breaker for me until I see the real version of this body. I will hold my final judgment until then.

It appears Kyle Doyle might be done with monster trucks. I just read this lengthy statement from Kyle on the Monster Mayhem website about his departure from Bigfoot 4x4 Inc. and other things. Here's the link to the actual page where it was written: http://www.monstermayhem.org/forums/showthread.php?148612-Bigfoot-Driver&p=416901#post416901 Here is what Kyle Doyle has written: It is correct that I am no longer with BIGFOOT. Although I am troubled and perhaps even a bit offended with the how and given why(s) of my departure at their hands, I feel I know the deeper reasoning behind it and I cannot say I was entirely surprised or caught off guard. A lot of my friends are upset and even appalled that they would release a guy who had literally just got back in from a company-authorized vacation and who was (and is) still learning to be a husband and a father (I got married a year ago and my wife and I delivered a 8-week premature baby under emergency conditions in August), especially just before the holidays. But I can't say I'm surprised, and honestly from their point of view it probably made good business sense at the time. In any case, 2013 has been both a momentous and greatly frustrating year for me with BIGFOOT. I got the year off to a decent start and really picked up some momentum down the stretch, won a good handful of events, and found some of BF14's limits, sometimes in particularly painful ways. As I started to develop a style of my own finally, especially after running those SST shows (which basically force you to give up absolute conservatism), I started realizing some of the current limitations of a truck like BF14, but I didn't want to back down and not try to win. Well, in June and July I started experiencing very bad, persistent (2-3 days long) headaches after shows, along with a frequently sore neck and back. This came to a head right before my daughter was born at shows in Middletown, NY and Little Valley, NY where I literally was seeing stars during my runs and was exceptionally sore afterwards. To their credit, BF management sent me off to get checked out once I got home and I ended up doing about 2.5 weeks of physical therapy and didn't drive a whole lot for a good long while, which honestly suited me fine since that meant I wasn't getting my feeble brain smacked around and I could spend more time with my baby girl, who spent the first month of her life in the hospital. Shortly after all this I had the chance to drive BF19 at a couple exhibition car-crush gigs, and honestly my jaw hit the floor each time. The guys in the shop at Bigfoot, and even on back to the CRD people, really did a phenomenal job with that truck. It is hands down the nicest and probably best-riding monster truck I had ever driven. On jumps that I knew 14 would punish me, 19 soaked it up and asked for "more please". I mean no ill towards BIGFOOT when I say this, but driving 19 kind of broke my spirit with regards to driving for BIGFOOT anymore. Driving 19, and the apparent lack of intent to upgrade 14's shock package really did me a number morale-wise. I was and always had been well aware that I usually rubbed against the grain within the company and that I was light-years and a couple more crappy presidencies away from ever getting out of a BF14/15 type ride and into something like 19. And that's if luck stayed on my side and I was a good boy. So truthfully with that realization I figured my time at BF was limited and the clock was ticking fast. As a lifelong BF fan and a concerned (and yes, opinionated) employee, I was frustrated (and even still, I am still frustrated) about where the brand might be heading. I know management there doesn't share my thoughts and obviously didn't like me expressing mine when they differed. I can't help but be vocal when I care so much about something and the inner die-hard fan inside me is crying out in panic, but I also respect the fact that it is their company and they can do what they want with it. I've never expected them to cater or answer to me nor should I have. I guess at the end of the day I'd have rather gone out the way I did than just keeping my yap shut and not standing up for what I felt was right. All I wanted was to see and help BF return to its status and core ethos of the 85-92ish era. As we entered the fall I felt it was in my best interest to investigate some other sort of gainful employment options, and although I had far from settled on anything, I made up my mind right away that the monster truck world was not going to be my home any longer. My desire to be a family man and not an absentee father compelled me to get off the road. My hope was that once I could figure something out career-wise, I could approach BF management and either help them get through a busy 1Q of 2014 as a driver, or help train a new(er) guy to carry the torch since I know 14 and it's quirks pretty well, eventually parting on good terms and thanking them for the awesome opportunities they've provided me with and hopefully getting a small amount of acknowledgement from them for my 4+ years of effort. My fear was, however, that I would just get canned if I expressed my desire to leave before I actually had another gig lined up, which would be bad considering I'm the sole provider for a family of 3 including a baby with a mountain of medical bills. Well, however it came to be, that's basically what happened. So now here I sit, back home in Wyoming, on the cusp of breaking into my next big adventure in my professional life, pursuing my grown-up life's passion for craft beer and brewing science. I'm excited and I hope it works out well for me. I know with so many awesome friends and family members supporting me that I'm bound to figure something out lol. When I was 3, I fell in love with BIGFOOT and Jim Kramer became my idol. It was then I decided I was going to be a BIGFOOT driver when I grew up. And guess what? I did it. So while my inner 3-yr old's heart might be a little bit broken up over what's happened, as an adult I feel a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can now move on with life, knowing I've accomplished EXACTLY what I set out to do. As irony would have it, Kramer was the only member of management with the intestinal fortitude to host my "release party". I guess you've really made it when your former idol gives you the axe! Lol. If you've made it this far, I'm pretty impressed and you're probably bored. I think I typed all this out as an organizational catharsis more than anything. I'm a nobody to this sport now, but that's all I've really ever been so I'm not too worried about that. I've never won a huge Monster Jam show, never did a backflip or broke a wheel off, never had a huge fan following or really ever impressed anyone all that much. I doubt I ever made a promoter's A-List and I was never destined to be an A-team driver anywhere I've worked. My autograph hasn't ever and never will be worth anything. And you know what, that's ok by me. I didn't invest over 12 years of my life into this business for notoriety or fame or appreciation or to sign autographs or to have dramatic pictures taken of me with my arms crossed and sunglasses on while scowling. Selfish as it sounds, I did it for me and me alone; specifically my inner 3-yr old. So do I hold a grudge against Bigfoot? **** no. I still love the trucks, past and present; not just Foots, but all trucks in general. I have some choice opinions about the management there, as I'm sure they do about me, but here's not the place and now's not the time for that. I should clarify that Mr. Chandler himself really doesn't have much of anything to do with this issue directly; he may've installed the current regime but he did not personally have a hand in this issue insofar as I can discern. I'm very thankful for the opportunities Foot provided me with...they really gave me the chance to bust my driving career wide open, and I'll always be proud that the first time I ever raced a monster truck, it was behind the wheel of a Bigfoot truck; and I won. I owe a thanks to the Hall Bros, Greg Adams, George Eisenhart (RIP old friend), Dan Runte, Larry Swim, and bunches of other kick *** people for their help over the years. There's a lot of really quality people still at Foot, and I truly wish all those guys good luck. It's been a (mostly) fun ride, but I'm ready to get off and ride a different one now. Hope that helps clarify everything before the rumor & gossip mill spins up. I don't need and don't want any condolences or sorries or any of that. I made my bed and I'm gonna lay in it however things work out. And by all means, to all the haters, please keep hating. The hate keeps me warm :-) Respectfully, KD

Superman now looks normal. The name on the bed panels is from the latest Superman movie that was made.

Brilliant to see Lupe Soza back in the monster truck he made famous. Now does this mean there will now be 2 main El Toro Loco drivers, Lupe Soza and Marc McDonald? I'm guessing at the World Finals just like 'Advance Auto Parts' Grinder, El Toro Loco will have Marc McDonald in racing and Lupe Soza in freestyle. I am just guessing here.

I honestly don't get why FELD took a "normal truck body" and turned it into this? That's the main reason why I am not a fan of this new body at all. But to me all that matters is looking past this body and focusing on JP performing better than he did his rookie year last year. That what I try to do with the Monster Mutt's, super hero monster trucks, Scooby-Doo, Zombie, and now El Diablo. But I will still give my 2 cents about new monster trucks and their body styles.

I must say this looks really nice, it kind of reminds me of a futuristic Wild Thang. Norm Miller seems to be the perfect fit for this monster truck since he is a real police officer.

Well that mystery is now solved. Now one more question remains, will the show be exactly the same as it was on SPEED, or will the show have a completely new and better setup and programming? In my honest opinion the show should have a brand new setup because the show at the very end of SPEED's run on TV in my opinion was not up to par as it was back in 2004 and 2005.

Here's a picture of Zane Rettew's new chassis for Stinger. Still needs to be painted but it is coming along very well.

I was just looking at some of the event lineups for the Monster Jam shows next year and I noticed something. Derick Anson in Heavy Hitter and River Rat have a good bit of stadium show this first quarter. The way Derick Anson runs his monster truck I could see him giving the FELD trucks and drivers a run for their money when it comes to freestyle. Here's their stadium show lineup: January 11, 2014 - Atlanta, GA January 18, 2014 - Houston, TX January 25, 2014 - Indianapolis, IN February 1, 2014 - St. Louis. MO February 22, 2014 - Jacksonville, FL

Paul told me in Wildwood, NJ that he was planning on building a new chassis for Instigator for 2015. Now that Paul apparently bought the newest Backdraft from the Slifko's I think Paul should use the Backdraft chassis and use that as a new chassis for Instigator. The only think Paul would have to do is build a new cab to fit the Ford F-150 body.

This is a photo of a brand new Wilman Chassis at SEMA 2013 (Tom Meents mentioned on his Facebook account that this is a brand new chassis). Now by the way that it has sway bars, it doesn't have a half coil spring half nitrogen shock setup, and the front of the chassis is sticking out further than the rest of the chassis, this new chassis looks like Chuck Werner's current El Toro Loco chassis. This make me wonder if Chuck Werner is getting this new chassis to replace his current El Toro Loco chassis?

Even though I don't care at all for the Monster Mutt's I thought I would share this with everyone. Monster Mutt Rottweiler is getting a new design for 2014. If I had to give an opinion about it I would say it looks like a complete 3D version of the normal body.

Actually, FELD had nothing to do with this. This was Madusa's own personal thing she came up with and worked on.

I never really want to write 2 posts back to back in the same thread, but I was just on the Motorsports Divas (a.k.a Monster Truck Girls Calendar) Facebook account and saw something rather interested that was posted on their account page. "We are getting a few questions for the girls to do a personal appearance/signing for the calendar. We are trying to coordinate that with the next calendar shoot.... there will be a winner to come out and spend the day with the girls while they shoot for the calendar." One can only wonder what thoughts would be going through every man's head if they read this.

He drove for Sudden Impact Racing 1st quarter of this year driving 'Amsoil' Shock Therapy. I believe the reason why he drives different monster trucks during 1st quarter is because most of your monster truck shows during 1st quarter are indoors. Having XDP being driven indoors is not a good idea. So after 1st quarter Dave will be back driving XDP outdoors.

Here's my current project, the Instigator body from this year 2013. This is what I currently have painted thus far. If anyone has any good photo shots of the flames and skulls on the sides and top of the body I would really like to have them please to finish this body.

I just saw this video just a few minutes, and it is from Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. It shows a new member of Team Scream by the name of Cory (I don't know his last name) driving Jim Koehler's Avenger in freestyle. Let me first remind everyone that this was his 1st ever freestyle. All I will say is that Cory is going to be a star if he keeps performing like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JavXW06tvYg

Adam Anderson told me at 'Advance Auto Parts' Monster Jam here in Philadelphia, PA a few weeks ago that he will be running his new shock setup similar to Carl Van Horn's Grave Digger #23 shock setup.

I am not sure how long it takes to get from here in Philadelphia, PA to Sydney, Australia but I think Adam Anderson and Ryan Anderson's chassis could have been shipped over to Sydney, Australia by boat in those 2 weeks in time.

There is a reason why Madusa is in the World Finals every year, that is because she has won 2 world championships in the past (2005 Racing World Champion, and 1 of 3 2004 Freestyle World Champion *this championship in my opinion she didn't deserve*). I think the way it goes is that if you have won a championship you are automatically in the World Finals. Also, what do you mean by George Balhan?

I will be going to Monster Jam World Finals 15 next year. Since the lineup is now 32 trucks I believe the Young Guns Shootout will probably now be 16 trucks. The thing about last year's main lineup of 28 trucks, 4 more trucks were added to the lineup but it was mainly the new trucks that debuted last year for 2013 (Zombie, Scooby-Doo, etc.), so people like Nicole Johnson were in the World Finals when they didn't deserve to be in the lineup. The thing I like about this year's main lineup being 32 trucks is that it means much more deserving drivers have a shot at getting into the lineup (Donald Epidendio, Neil Elliot, and Carl Van Horn are 3 that come to mind). I do like the fact that racing and freestyle are on different days back to back from each other. It gives the drivers and crew a better idea on how they want set up the truck for each competition. Instead of trying to set the truck up for each competition in about an hour to an hour and a half, they have just about a whole day to try and set up the truck for each competition. For some strange reason I see the racing track to be very empty without all the freestyle obstacles, I have an idea but I will tell you all about it in the next paragraph. Freestyle can go in any direction for me when it comes to track design. Now 1 other thing I actually thought about. Since the main encore will more than likely be on Saturday after freestyle, that now makes me wonder, will there also be an encore on Friday after racing? My idea for an encore after racing on Friday would be having medium sized obstacles on the track for the 15 other Young Guns Shootout competitors to mini freestyle on to gives us a preview of what to expect on Saturday for freestyle. Well that's some of my opinions for Monster Jam World Finals 15, hopefully more to come from me as the even draws closer.

I did that actually, but it doesn't do anything.