Susan E. Goodman - Monster Trucks!

Acknowledgments: Our thanks to all the wonderful owners and drivers who helped us win our own monster truck racethe people at Bigfoot 44, Inc., especially Bob Chandler, Sr., Bob Chandler, Jr., Dale Runte, and Larry Swim; Mark and Tim Hall of Hall Brothers Racing; Doug and Brenda Noelke and Dale Gerding of Big Dawg 44; Jim Koehler, Chris Bergeron, and Stephanie Cotnoir of Avenger Racing; Pat Summa of Thrasher Motorsports; and Michael and Denise Vaters of Black Stallion 44. We also appreciate Russ Richey and the team at Family Events for their help in Lima, and Ross Bonar of TheMonsterBlog.com for his support. Finally, thanks to Heidi Kilgras, Chelsea Eberly, and Marianna Smirnova of Random House, who brought us over the finish line.
Text copyright 2010 by Susan E. Goodman
Cover photograph copyright 2010 by Michael J. Doolittle
Interior photographs, except where otherwise credited, copyright 2010 by Michael J. Doolittle All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Step into Reading, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
BIGFOOT and Snake Bite are registered trademarks of BIGFOOT 44, Inc., Hazelwood, MO 63042 USA, 2009.

All rights reserved. Bigfoot44.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goodman, Susan E.
Monster trucks! / by Susan E. Goodman; photographs taken and selected by Michael J. Doolittle.
p. cm.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37467-5
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-375-86208-3
1. I. I.

Doolittle, Michael J. II. Title.
TL230.5.M58 G66 2010 796.7dc22 2009031852
Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. v3.1 To Heidi Kilgrasso smart, so fun,
so enthusiastic, and always a pleasure
S.E.G. and M.J.D.

Bob Chandler loved his pickup truck. He liked driving it over rocks and mud.

Bob got bigger tires so he could do that. Then Bob thought the truck needed more power. He added a bigger engine. Bob kept making his truck bigger and stronger. Thats how the first monster truck was born! Bob named it Bigfoot. He took Bigfoot to car shows.

Fans loved this super-sized machine. Soon other people began building monster trucks of their own. Then Bob had a new idea. He drove his truck over some old cars. Bigfoot flattened them into a car pancake! The crowds loved it! Monster trucks had a new trick. Before long, people started to race monster trucks.

The trucks were already strong. Now they had to be fast, too. Some trucks have crazy names, like Nitemare, The Crash Master, and Towasaurus Wrex. Some are painted to look like wild creatures. But they all roar like monsters!

Monster trucks are amazing. They are very heavy.

Yet they can jump more than twenty feet in the air. Huge motors help them fly. These motors can be six times more powerful than a car engine. They make a lot of noise, too. Monster trucks can go fast. They use a lot of fuel when they race.

They burn almost one gallon of fuel each second! Monster trucks spin. They plow through mud. They roll over cars and crush them like bugs. They usually ride on four wheels. At times they use just two. Sometimes a truck comes down from a jump too hard.

This one lost a wheel! Dont worry! The crew can fix almost anything.

A monster truck IS a monster. It is huge. It weighs about 10,000 pounds. That is as heavy as an elephant. Its tires are huge, too.

They are at least sixty-six inches high. Each one can weigh 900 pounds.

Monster trucks make many jumps. They go over lots of bumps. Cars and trucks have parts called shocks. The shocks soften the ride.

Monster trucks need super shocks! A special gas pedal keeps the drivers foot in place during bumpy rides.