With a heavy heart the MTRA must announce the loss of one of its founding members, George Carpenter. George will always be remembered as a true icon within the monster truck industry. With his cheerful manner, George had the ability to captivate ones attention with endless recounts of monster truck history. This is a true loss for anyone who was ever fortunate enough to have met him. Our condolences go out to his wife Kathleen and his entire family.

George A. Carpenter Obituary

For nearly a quarter century, the Hall Bros have long been surviving crashes on land, and in that same amount of time Livorsi Marine has been crashing through the open waters. Finally, in 2012 these two proven forces will come together and provide yet another tidal wave of presence and dominance to the monster truck scene. Livorsi Automotive, a recent spawn of Livorsi Marine, is excited to outfit the RAMINATOR and RAMMUNITION monster trucks with tachometers, gauges, switches, and other accessories that have stood the rigors and test of time on both performance off-shore powerboats boats and military vessels globally for the past 25 years. With a solid background in knowing one of the harshest environments in the world, Livorsi has been the instrument of choice for every top boat builder for the past 20 years, and was an easy decision for the folks at Hall Brothers Racing. There, they will be put into an equally demanding situation aboard two of the fastest monster trucks roaming the planet. Mike Livorsi, president of Livorsi Marine is proud to say, “We recognize that our customers and fans of monster trucks have a lot in common, so we are confident that partnering with the RAMINATOR and RAMMUNITION truck teams is the winning combination that will bring an elevated awareness to the lineup of standard and custom instrumentation and accessories that we have to offer, which is certain to crush the competition!”

Visit the Livorsi Automotive website:

http://www.livorsi.com/auto/

and Livorsi Marine website:

http://www.livorsi.com/

In accordance with the current aims and ambitions of the MTRA to become a truly international organization, the MTRAE (Europe) which has for the last 9 years represented the MTRA within Europe, has now closed. The MTRA International to give the organization its full title is looking to actively gain members on a global basis. With monster trucks now being in use in so many countries, this is a vital expansion.

The MTRAE has seen its membership dwindle since the end of the EMTRC racing series in 2009, and the remaining truck owner members along with any previous and or new members will receive a warm welcome from the international membership team in the USA home office. Nigel Morris (a director of the MTRAE from day one) said “whilst it might bee seen as sad that the MTRAE is gone, it is clear that with the global reach of monster trucks reverting to central control in the USA rally is the only way forward”.

(The Board of Directors of the MTRA would like to offer sincere thanks to Nigel Morris for his years of dedication to the MTRAE and his promotion of safety within the monster truck industry. We look forward to his continued contribution to our efforts.)

(Hazelwood, MO) Team BIGFOOT members Dan Runte and John Peterson were awarded the 2011 Driver of the Year and Mechanic of the Year awards, respectively, this past weekend at the Monster Truck Racing Association’s 25th Annual Awards Banquet in St. Louis, the seventh such award for Runte and the second of its kind for Peterson!

Dan Runte grabs his 7th MTRA Driver of the Year Award. Photo Courtesy of TheMonsterBlog.com

Runte, who has been the team’s lead driver since the mid-1990′s, captured his first of seven MTRA Driver of the Year awards in 1993, behind the wheel of BIGFOOT #8. Since then, he has claimed the same honor as the pilot of BIGFOOT #14 (1994, 1995, 1998, and 1999) and BIGFOOT #16 (2008 and 2011). Notable highlights in Runte’s year included his 2011 Lucas Oil 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals championship, his domination of the Rocky Mountain Raceway Clash of the Titans figure-8 race invitational, and his Thanksgiving-time visit to US troops stationed in Germany.

“I’m definitely flattered, and very grateful to win Driver of the Year honors again,” said Runte. “There’s no respect quite like that of your peers, so it means a lot coming from a group of people who really know what the monster truck business is all about and what it takes to be competitive day in and day out. It’s a great morale boost heading into January, for sure!”

Runte’s teammate and long-time on-track crew chief John Peterson snagged his second career “Mechanic of the Year” title, an award that recognizes many of the un-sung heroes that work behind the scenes to keep the industry’s top trucks and drivers running. While at the shop in St. Louis, Peterson oversees the engine and transmission maintenance and tuning for the entire fleet of eight BIGFOOT trucks, in addition to assisting with chassis, drivetrain, and electrical maintenance on the trucks. On the road, Peterson frequently can be found serving as the crew chief for Runte at many major national events, in addition to assisting other team drivers at various events including 1/8th mile drag race exhibitions, where Peterson relies on his strong interest and background in drag racing.

“I definitely appreciate the honor,” said Peterson. “There are a lot of very talented wrenches out there, both at BIGFOOT and throughout the industry. So it’s a pretty good feeling when you see your name nominated alongside some other very capable people, and it’s an even better feeling when you receive top honors!”

Peterson and Runte will now put their combined skills to the test yet again this week along with the rest of the team, as they work to break-in Runte’s new ride, the all-new BIGFOOT #18 race truck. The team is scheduled to test the new beast later this week at an undisclosed private location, in hopes of dialing the truck in perfectly for the upcoming 2011 race season.

“John and everyone else down in the shop have done a great job of getting #18 together and running strong,” said Runte. “I’m confident that with a couple of solid days of testing and the brainpower of guys like John, Bryan [Bertoletti], and Jim [Kramer], we should be able to get this thing right where we want it.”

For more information visit: http://bigfoot4x4.com/

Congratulations to all our recipients.