This past Saturday, Bigfoot hosted its annual open house in Pacific, Missouri. This annual event gives kids and adults alike to see Bigfoot at their headquarters performing freestyle, watching remote control monster trucks, and watching old-school monster truck car crushing.
This event in particular was special. It marked the final time that Jim Kramer drove a modern-day Bigfoot monster truck. Jim Kramer has been with Bigfoot since 1982. He just about won every race in the 80s that Bigfoot participated in from the Pontiac Silverdome to Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium, and many more.
In addition to monster truck racing, Jim Kramer drove Bigfoot in four movies in Road House, Tango & Cash, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, and Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.
Kramer became the first driver in monster truck history to hit the cars from the side and get the front tires in the air. As the racing evolved, Kramer was flying over stacks of cars. In 1988, Kramer broke a world record for a monster truck jump.
Later in his career, Kramer drove Bigfoot 9, the second tubular chassis Bigfoot. When he stopped racing, Kramer became a teacher and trained every driver out of the Bigfoot camp. He later got back behind the wheel of the world’s first battery-powered Bigfoot #20. Kramer got back into the driver’s seat, part-time, to campaign this one-of-a-kind and technologically advanced monster truck until his retirement in 2017.
Jim Kramer is a legendary name in monster trucks. Without him and Bob Chandler, monster trucks would not be where they are today.
