Following in Bigfoot’s steps

February 12, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

When it comes to monster trucks, the public pretty much knows one name: Bigfoot.

Driving the behemoth vehicle for nearly a quarter of a century is Dan Runte, who can still remember what he felt seeing Bigfoot in action in the ’70s as a teenager growing up in Illinois.

“For any truck enthusiast, and I was, it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen in my life,” said Runte, calling from St. Louis. “Then I started looking into what it was all about and where it was going.”

At that time, Bigfoot was driven by Bob Chandler, who a few years prior decided to modify a vehicle with oversized tires to promote his four-wheel-drive truck shop. From there, as a joke, Chandler took the truck out into a cornfield to demolish cars with its 48-inch tires.

That’s when a truck- and tractor-pull promoter found out about this crazy guy from Missouri and his truck, Bigfoot. Soon after, Runte moved to St. Louis and started working for Chandler. At first he was a mechanic, but soon he started driving Bigfoot and never stopped.

“I did my first Bigfoot drive in late ’91,” Runte said. “But the trucks have changed so much since then. When Bob started, it was a steel body truck on a lifted chassis with big stacks of leaf springs and 4 inches of suspension travel. The truck then weighed 15,500 pounds, and the trucks now are 10,000 to 11,000 pounds. It’s an all-tube chassis.

“It would be like a race car, but it’s a race truck with 30 inches of suspension travel in the back and 26 inches of suspension travel in the front. Now, we’re running on alcohol.”

While the trucks got bigger over the years, Runte said they’re actually safer today considering every piece of the truck that could fly into the audience is actually encased or tethered. Something else that adds safety for not only the drivers but also fans is the fact the monster trucks no longer bounce out of control.

Speaking of being in control, Runte is amazed he’s still driving Bigfoot, which is on the road for 30 to 35 weekends a year. This includes a return to Northeast Ohio as part of the Toughest Monster Trucks event taking place Feb. 20 and 21 at the Covelli Centre.

The lineup includes, naturally, Bigfoot, as well as monster trucks Over Bored, Quad Chaos, Stinger, Heavy Hitter and River Rat. In addition, there will be freestyle motocross and the transforming space robot, Transtormer.

So what is it about monster trucks that keeps generation after generation of families coming back to see cars demolished and gravity defied?

“A lot of it is because of what we’re doing as far as jumping and the obstacles we’re running over,” Runte said. “A monster truck never does the same thing twice. It’s not like going to a drag race, not that I’m knocking drag racing. But it’s not like watching cars go down a racetrack. Every time you bring a monster truck out with a different driver, that truck does something different. Every time it’s a new show, pretty much.”

Runte said he’s looking forward to returning to Youngstown where two years ago he pretty much swept the entire Toughest Monster Trucks event. When asked if he thinks lightning can strike twice at the Covelli Centre, Runte said, laughing, “I’m not going to jinx myself.”