Monster Truck Perched on Boulders

About this drawing

A monster truck on rocks is a pickup pushed to the extreme. It all started in the United States in the late 1970s, when fans began bolting bigger and bigger tires and taller suspensions onto their trucks to show them off at fairs.

They soon found out crowds loved watching those trucks roll over old cars and flatten them. That led to monster truck shows, which pack stadiums with jumps, spins and races on dirt tracks full of ramps. Today there are also freestyle events, where drivers pull off stunts and judges or fans score them.

They may look like pickups, but underneath they are race machines. They have custom tube frames, lightweight fiberglass bodies, very powerful engines and huge shocks that can soak up drops from several feet in the air.

Safety comes first. The driver sits in the middle, strapped into a harness inside a steel cage, wearing a helmet and fire suit. Each truck also carries a remote kill switch, so officials can shut off the engine if something goes wrong. Shows tour arenas across the country all year long.

• monster truck
• trucks
• off-road
• motorsports
• mountains