Fred Shafer (No relation to Paul Shafer) (born October 6th, 1947) is a retired monster truck owner and driver out of Pontoon Beach, Illinois. He was the original owner/creator of Bear Foot. He also owned: Dodge Express, Rampage, Lil Bear Foot, Big Jake and Bear Foot Trax.
Career[]
Fred was a championship-winning pro stock drag racer during the 1960's-1970's and is currently building one to compete on a local level. He is also former business partners and good friends with Jack Willman Sr, whom he built the original Bear Foot truck with in the 1979. Fred was known to be an openly fierce competitor, often challenging calls or trying to use certain rules to his advantage. Several instances of this can be seen on old episodes of Truck & Tractor Power and Super Trax.
1990's[]
Fred won three USHRA world championships driving Bear Foot, being in 1990, 1992, and 1993.
World Records[]
In 1996, Fred set 3 world records:
- September 29th, 1996: The fastest time during competition on a 250ft track (4.59 seconds) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- November 15th, 1996: The longest jump outdoors by a monster truck. (141.1 feet) at the Heartland Park Topeka Raceway on November 15, 1996.
- Late November 1996: The longest jump indoors by a Monster Truck (119.2 feet) in the Houston Astrodome.
Retirement[]
In 1997, Fred had decided to retire from monster truck racing and on October 1st of that same year, he sold the Bear Foot operation to Paul Shafer.
Post-career[]
In 2011, he was inducted into the inaugural International Monster Truck Hall of Fame class. Fred currently lives in Florida and owns Fred Shafer Custom Homes, Inc. His old shop is now owned by a construction company. His old house and game farm, however, is not known to have owners. A trailer can be seen abandoned behind one of the buildings near the bear cages on Google Maps. His brother owns an excavation company right outside the former shop site.
Trivia[]
- Fred and his wife owned two American black bears named Sugar and Spice, the former being the inspiration for the name Bear Foot, both of whom have since passed of old age. He has owned other animals over time such as exotic birds and small game.
- He ran a combination of Firestone & Goodyear tires & swapped them from front to back on his truck(s) depending on the track conditions. The truck or trucks that he used this on is not known.
Gallery[]
