High Roller II is a 1979 Ford F-350 monster truck owned and driven by Jeff Krekeler out of Farmington, Missouri since 2015. Originally built by David Mattingly out of Fordsville, Kentucky in 1985, High Roller has enjoyed many appearances since 2016, notably performing yearly at Bigfoot's Open House for thousands of fans. The current drivers include Jeff Krekeler, Robert Maize and Rodman Hobbs.
History[]
1985[]
High Roller was built by David Mattingly, being heavily influenced by Bigfoot 1.
1986[]
The truck was sold to Greg Coston who, along with his best friend Rodman Hobbs, did many regional car crushes.
1988[]
Lewis Ford of Fayetteville, Arkansas purchased the truck. After some time, they sold the 48s and aluminum wheels and put High Roller on 66-inch Goodyears.
1994[]
Lewis sold it to John Friend with Blackstar Performance in Oklahoma. John and his wife enjoyed taking High Roller to car shows and driving on their property.
2000[]
John sold the truck to Michael Pelley with Tire Town in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Michael added 18 inches of lift, replaced a number of body panels and gave it a new livery of red paint and large chrome letters. After years at Tire Town, it ended up with a church youth group and was renamed Higher Power.
2015[]
Jeff Krekeler purchased Higher Power in 2015 with the intention of building a "Take This Job and Shove It" clone on 44s with his kids. Rodman Hobbs contacted Jeff not long after the transaction and convinced Jeff that the truck was worth restoring as High Roller. That same year, original owner David Mattingly passed away.
2016[]
After a couple of stalled attempts at finding a shop to facilitate the restoration, Alan Fenstermaker stepped up and completed the bulk on the restoration in less than six months, just in time for Jeff and Robert Maize to haul High Roller to the 2016 Indy Jamboree, exactly 30 years after its last appearance at the Jamboree.
2018[]
Further restoration was undertaken by Michael Drake to return High Roller closer to the original build.
2019[]
Jeff rolled High Roller at the 2019 Open House, necessitating a return trip to Alan's shop for a cab swap and paint work.
2025[]
The truck celebrates it's 40th Anniversary, and a race truck version is set to debut on American Scout and will be driven by Colton Kiser. A die-cast is also set to be released by Monster Machines.
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