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TNT Motorsports

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TNT Motorsports was a popular promoter of monster truck races, tractor pulls and mud racing in the 1980's. Events were shown on Powertrax on ESPN, Trucks and Tractor Power on TNN and the syndicated Tuff Trax. In late 1990, TNT was bought out by SRO/Pace, the promoter who at the time owned the competitor United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) and all former TNT events became USHRA events. Most vehicles continued to compete in the USHRA, however some monster truck owners, notable Everett Jasmer of USA-1, did not as they wished to only compete in open-qualifying races (as TNT was) rather than invitation-only events.

Renegades Monster Truck Challenge[]

Pinkerton Tobacco Company long sponsored TNT events with their Redman brand of chewing tobacco. The sponsorship would last well into the USHRA ownership and take over the ending Budweiser sponsorship of the truck and tractor pulls. In 1988, Pinkerton made their brand of dipping tobacco Renegades sponsor of the new Monster Truck Challenge series, which became the first ever monster truck racing championship in 1988. Bigfoot, USA-1, Awesome Kong®, Equalizer, Carolina Crusher, Night Life, and King Krunch were among the most competitive trucks, while Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger became the most popular truck on the circuit, sending them to eventual superstardom.

1987[]

While there was no points championship in 1987, this was the start of monster trucks becoming the main attraction of TNT events and also doing races as opposed to exhibition car crushes. The 1987 Houston TNT Super National was the first event to feature side-by-side monster truck racing in TNT Motorsports. This would be followed up with events in Hamburg, NY; Cleveland, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Charlotte, NC; and Louisville, KY. The last three events all featured monster truck rollovers causing changes in track design and safety features for the trucks. The trucks also saw an increase in the thrashing the trucks would take as rounds go on heading into the 1988 points season.

1988 - Rod Litzau (USA-1)[]

Rod Litzau and USA-1 take the championship in the last event of the year over Bigfoot in Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY after a back and forth battle throughout the summer of 1988. During the pre-season, Bigfoot 4, King Kong III and the third Awesome Kong® proved to be potential champions. However, USA-1 when it debuted in April proved to be the real threat to Bigfoot. While racing Bigfoot 4 in the semi-final to decide the TNT champion, USA-1 flipped and broke off its front axle. The truck would flip again many times over the next 2 years. Awesome Kong® became a threat with a new skinny chassis made towards the end of the season, after taking a break due to a rule change.

1989 - David Morris (Equalizer)[]

Rookie David Morris and Equalizer beat out Gary Porter's Carolina Crusher for the championship. This was the biggest points victory in the 3 years the series ran, as the championship basically wrapped up for Equalizer entering the final event at Freedom Hall. Equalizer was the first truck on the series to use coilover shocks as opposed to the leaf-spring suspension systems used on other trucks at the time. The new suspension system gave each wheel more independence and the truck was able to minimize bouncing as a result. Several new trucks debuted in 1989 or debuted new chassis including Buffalo Tremor II, Clydesdale II, Grave Digger 2, and King Krunch III. USA-1 was still the fastest truck in the series in 1989, and was nearly unbeatable on long straight courses- the exception being when the truck blew transmissions, or crashed. USA-1 started the regular season crashed into the walls of the Chicago International Amphitheatre twice on the first weekend of the 1989 point season and would flip multiple times during the 1989 season and a driver change due to injury putting Steve Wilke behind the wheel, which kept the truck out of the points race as it had to take many races off for repairs and see a new driver get used to racing. Equalizer and Carolina Crusher on the other hand were more consistent trucks in 1989, almost always making it to the semi-finals or finals. Awesome Kong® who finished 1988 strong, did not finish the 1989 season and instead drove with smaller shows.

1990 - Andy Brass (Bigfoot)[]

After taking most of 1989 off to develop a new truck, Team Bigfoot came out for 1990 in controversial fashion in Bigfoot 8. The new tube frame truck (a first in monster truck racing) featured a suspension system that gave it roughly 2 feet of suspension travel and was the lightest (10,000 lbs.) truck on the circuit (although Jack Willman's Taurus ran for a couple races on the 1989 circuit at 9,000 lbs.) Due to its dominance on the circuit, it was banned for a period of time (between Dallas, TX in late April to Flemington, NJ in July) to give the other trucks a chance to catch up. During this ban, Bigfoot 4 (built in 1984) returned to TNT in its place. It was a two-truck points race for most of the year between Bigfoot and Equalizer, although Carolina Crusher and Scott Stephens' King Krunch pulled somewhat close at times midway through the season.

Television programs[]

Powertrax[]

Monster Truck Challenge, originally known as Powertrax, was a half-hour weekly television show on ESPN, which featured primarily tractor pulling and monster truck racing.

The show began in the 1980's as Powertrax, originally with hosts Dave Grim and Army Armstrong as a part of Victory Films and Bill Lineberger Productions. In 1988 when the Monster Truck Challenge started as a point series, TNT took production in house with Richard Leek joining Army Armstrong as host. Note: Victory Films would still produce different monster truck and pulling shows under Challenge of Power, but not with TNT Motorsports. Like before, the show would alternate between the two main forms of competition of TNT Motorsports: the Red Man Pulling Series and the Renegades Monster Truck Challenge Series, or a combination of both. By 1989, Powertrax was more of the Renegades Monster Truck Challenge Series events than Red Man Pulling Series events.

In 1990, Powertrax became known as Monster Truck Challenge for ESPN broadcasts. The ESPN broadcasts would be shortened versions of the hour-long Tuff Trax shows without the pulling portion and often several earlier races removed from the broadcast. Now Tuff Trax host Scott Douglass would replace Richard as the lead announcer and Kris Chapman would do pit interviews while Army handled post-race interviews and trackside commentary. The 1990 season was controversial as the show was shortened Tuff Trax episodes, often cutting qualifying and several first and second round races to for the broadcast.

In 1991, the United States Hot Rod Association bought out TNT and decided to continue to use the half-hour format instead of their two previous shows. The show was renamed 1991 Monster Truck Challenge and used USHRA's Bret Kepner and TNT's Kris Chapman as host and pit reporter respectively (though Chapman often commentated truck pulling segments.) This format focused primarily on monster trucks, yet commonly showed mud racing highlights and tractor pulling. It was a condensed version of Super Trax, which was an hour in length.

The format was changed again in 1992, with Ken Broo as host and Joe Lowe providing voiceover for the races. Mud racing was often shown in highlight form at the end of each episode.

In 1993, USHRA decided to focus on the syndicated show Monster Wars, and Monster Truck Challenge was canceled.

Trucks and Tractor Power[]

Trucks and Tractor Power was a weekly television show on TNN featuring mud bogging, tractor pulling and monster trucks. The show's original hosts were Stan Rhoads and former Bigfoot driver Rich Hooser, along with pit reporter Mike Goss. Gary Lee replaced Stan Rhoads while Army Armstrong replaced Goss as a pit reporter, and later, when Hooser left the show, became color commentator. The show initially began in 1989 as a vehicle for TNT Motorsports events, complementing their ESPN show Powertrax and syndicated show Tuff Trax, and would typically alternate between truck and tractor pulls and monster trucks, with National Mud Racing Organization (NMRO) mud races intermittently. The initial 1989 broadcasts were often different events from the Powertrax shows. By 1990, when they brought on Gary Lee and Army, they would be the same events as Tuff Trax and Monster Truck Challenge. After TNT was bought out by the USHRA in 1991, the show began primarily airing the Special Events Pendaliner Monster Truck Series and NMRO mud races held at Special Events' 4-Wheel and Off-Road Jamborees. A frequent feature of these shows was a highlight segment of "Tough Truck" amateur off-road races near the end of the monster truck episodes. The final season of Trucks and Tractor Power had Gary Lee as the host at the Monster Truck Thunder Drags, with Dave Rief, and later Tom Rivers, for the Jamborees. At the end of the 1996 season, the Pendaliner cancelled their sponsorship of the monster truck series, causing the show to be subsequently cancelled.

Tuff Trax[]

Tuff Trax was a syndicated television show featuring monster trucks and tractor pulling. The show first aired in 1989 and was one hour long (compared to Powertrax and Truck and Tractor Power running a half hour each) split between TNT Motorsports' pulling and monsters. The shows often featured full qualifying. The original hosts were Army and Richard Leak. By the start of the 1989 regular season, Scott Douglass, would replace Leak with Kris Chapman later added as a pit reporter. In 1990, Tuff Trax ran the same shows that were seen on the other two programs with Tuff Trax not being shortened. On a few episodes namely the 1990 Stafford Springs and Freedom Hall shows, TNT television producer (and former pit reporter on Trucks and Tractor Power) Mike Goss would also do interviews. The show began focusing on the monster trucks by the end of the 1990 TNT season and would use the entire hour to do so. There were a few weekly segments on each episode:

  • Crunch of the Week - a crash from either a previously aired event, the event televised, or a non-televised event.
  • Power Play - sponsored by Nintendo, a wild moment from the current event, later renamed Power Drive in 1991.
  • Monster Smash - the final round of racing, preceded by ominous Jaws-like music and special effects. This part appeared on the TNT version only.

When the United States Hot Rod Association bought TNT and merged the two promotions, they decided to keep the show, but replaced Douglass and Armstrong with their announcer Bret Kepner. The USHRA edition of Tuff Trax aired four shows in 1991, then later renamed Super Trax. Scott Douglass went on to replace Kepner as the main host in late 1991. For the 1992 season, the host was Tom Baldrick, but Douglass remained as the play-by-play commentator. Monster Wars was to replace it in 1993 with Joe Lowe taking over for Douglass as announcer.

Notable competitors[]

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