SMETHPORT – Two world champions were featured Friday in the Paul
Shafer Motorsports Monster Truck Show at the McKean County
Fair.
“Bear Foot,” a 2005 Dodge, won the freestyle competition at the
national championships at Daytona Beach, Florida, and the 2003
Chevy co-sponsored by Kevin Harvick and Kid Rock, won the racing
title, edging out the world-famous “Big Foot,” by .02 of a
second.
On Friday, Jim Tigue of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, drove “Bear
Foot,” the four-time world champion, and Charlie Miller of Dupont,
Indiana, was behind the wheel of the Kevin Harvick/Kid Rock
truck.
The other trucks, “Monster Patrol”, a 2005 Chevy, and the
“Rampage,” were driven by Doug Charles of Anna, Ill., and J. R.
Adams of Madison, Ind., respectively.
“We brought back ‘Rampage’ this year after it was retired for
several years because fans kept asking, ‘Where’s ‘Rampage?'” said
Bobby Paul, the show’s announcer and executive director of Paul
Shafer Motorsports Monster Truck Racing.
These monster trucks run on 66x43x25 tires, which are filled
with 14 pounds of air. “They all weigh within a few hundred pounds
of 10,000 pounds,” Paul said.
“Monster Patrol” is powered by a 540-cubic-inch Donovon engine
capable of turning out 1,850 horsepower.
The “Carolina Crusher,” is a ride truck, which Paul said, means
that this 2002 Chevy is used for taking fans for rides so they can
experience what it’s like to ride in a “Monster Truck.”
A race truck, “Shock Therapy,” was on display at the south end
of the fairgrounds. According to Paul, “This truck would be used as
a substitute in case one of the trucks was unable to finish the
show.”
Paul said that one of their shows usually lasts about 90
minutes. There are time trials when the trucks race over the cars
in a timed event to determine the side-by-side pairings for the
finals.
A freestyle section of the program, the drivers have the chance
to get creative in showing their trucks’ capabilities – doughnuts
and verticals are just two of the choices.
Super-modified lawn mowers are featured in another part of the
show, Paul said. “These John Deere machines can reach speeds of
60-70 miles per hour down the front stretch.”
The drivers are members of the American Racing Mowers
Association, an entity of Paul Shafer Motorsports and the second
largest mower racing association in the United States.
Shafer, 52, is a former late model stock car driver from
Indiana, who took “Monster Patrol” to fame about 12 years ago. When
he moved on to mud racing, he drove “The Mud Patrol” entry to the
National Mud Racing Organization’s championship.
Today, his company owns 21 Monster Trucks, making Shafer the
world’s largest individual-owned motorsports group in the
world.
Paul said that Shafer makes appearances at select shows since
during the summer he competes in off-shore boat racing.
During the 2004 season, all the trucks in Shafer Motorsports
units made 503 appearances at shows, exhibitions and displays.
Bobby Paul, a former rodeo rider and clown, who in 1973 turned
down a $200 a week offer from Joie Chitwood Sr., to join his thrill
show as a clown, said that the July 2005 schedule was just as
hectic. “In that month, we played 34 shows in 28 days. One day I
was in Allentown, Pa., and the next day its was Sheridan,
Wyoming.”
Amsoil is the official national sponsor of the Paul Shafer
Motorsports Monster Truck Show.
