Monster Truck Madness – Can’t Catch the Bandit!

Hello everyone and Happy Thursday!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks around here! Outdoor racing season kicked off, I got my hands on the new Traxxas TRX-4MT Monster Truck, and, last weekend, I got married!

I’m catching up from the whirlwind that’s been the last few days, and thus don’t have much new r/c stuff to discuss.

However, I do have something fantastic to share with the old school monster truck fanatics that may read this blog.

Kyle Doyle, a friend of mine and used-to-be-coworker back when we both worked for BIGFOOT around a decade ago, has written a wonderful longform article in which he discusses the history of Golden State Promotions (GSP). Some of you may not necessarily know the GSP name, but you probably will remember several of the trucks that they owned and campaigned during the golden age of monster trucking – Skoal Bandit, Ecology Eliminator, the AM/PM Boss- a murderer’s row of vintage iron.

Kyle bases much of this piece on an interview he conducted with GSP founder and International Monster Truck Hall of Famer Seth Doulton back in 2013, but he’s also added nuggets of information that’ve come out since then via interviews and internet finds, all mixed with some wonderful photos that have been shared of the trucks.

I was lucky enough to see some of the Golden State monsters in person several times as a kid, and as a BIGFOOT fan they terrified me- especially Ecology Eliminator. This is a photo of mine from a final round race I saw at St. Louis Arena in 1990 where the Eliminator battled BIGFOOT #4. Good times, man.

I implore you to read this excellent story detailing the history of the team. Go check it out here. For an old school fan like myself, this was riveting stuff!

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!