BIGFOOT’s Jersey County Connection
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Photo courtesy of BIGFOOT 4×4 Inc.
BIGFOOT at the Jersey County Fair in 1987.
BIGFOOT, the original monster truck, will be on display at Sinclair Foods in Jerseyville from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 19, to help Sinclair Foods celebrate its 85th anniversary.
Accompanying the truck will be Kellen Williams. A 2019 graduate of Jersey Community High School, Kellen joined BIGFOOT 4×4 in April last year. He’s since visited 43 states and traveled over 50,000 miles. That’s the equivalent of crossing the country about 3.5 times each month.
The job is fast-paced and challenging, but for Kellen, it’s also a dream come true.
“I grew up hearing BIGFOOT stories and watching monster truck tapes,” Kellen said, “Some guys wanted to grow up and play professional football or baseball. Not me. I wanted to drive a monster truck.”
That’s not surprising considering that Kellen’s boyhood experience with BIGFOOT was a lot more personal than T-shirts and toy trucks.
Kellen’s great uncle Don Breitweiser worked for BIGFOOT from 1983 to 1989, driving BIGFOOT 2. Like Kellen, he traveled extensively throughout the country and crushed cars at some of the nation’s best-known sporting venues.
Don joined the company as BIGFOOT’s popularity was skyrocketing.
BIGFOOT is the creation of Bob Chandler, who opened Midwest Four Wheel Drive in 1975 in North St. Louis County after struggling to find a local source for Ford parts and service. Bob used his Ford F-250 for advertising and as a company truck. Bob raced the truck at off-road events on weekends.
To become more competitive, Bob continually upgraded and modified the F-250. By 1980, it sported 48-inch wheels, 2-wheel steering, and panels from a 1979 Ford. He and his truck, dubbed BIGFOOT, became a crowd-pleaser at local truck and tractor pulls.
In 1981, BIGFOOT made its first film appearance. The movie was Take This Job and Shove It.
A year later, Bob Chandler set the stage for the future of the monster truck industry by using his truck to crush cars. The demand for BIGFOOT was so great that BIGFOOT 2 was built with 66-inch tires and 4-wheel steering. Later that year, Jim Kramer of Brighton, IL, became the first BIGFOOT driver outside the Chandler family. Don joined the company not long after.
Don has lots of great BIGFOOT stories to share. One of the more memorable ones occurred when BIGFOOT 5 was scheduled to follow the Presidential Limousine in a parade. When Don started the truck, the MSD ignition jammed the Secret Service’s communication system, causing the agents’ earpieces to roar. They immediately jerked their earpieces out and then ordered Don to shut off the truck and not start it again until cleared to do so. That clearance didn’t come until the parade was over.
Ross Breitweiser, another of Kellen’s great uncles, worked as a BIGFOOT crew member for a short time in the mid-1980s. One of his most memorable experiences occurred at the Illinois State Fair in Du Quoin.
Not long before BIGFOOT’s appearance at Du Quoin, it was discovered that, thanks to their enormous tires, BIGFOOT trucks could float and propel themselves across water. With its very own moat, Du Quoin was an ideal place to showcase this feat.
It was a wonderful plan – at least, it would have been if any other BIGFOOT had been there that night. But that evening, BIGFOOT 4 was the truck in question. It was Chandler’s first monster truck built on a flat tube frame. The frame and additional planetary axles, which made this bad boy heavier than previous trucks. No one stopped to consider how the extra weight would affect the truck’s buoyancy.
Continues below
Photo courtesy of BIGFOOT 4×4 Inc.
Testing BIGFOOT 2, 3 and 6 at the Scheffel farm in Jersey County in 1987.
As the driver backed into the moat, the truck’s rear end popped right up. Unfortunately, the front end did not. Instead, it started slowly sinking.
The audience that night was treated to what was surely one of the most unusual BIGFOOT performances in history.
A frantic rescue ensued. Ross grabbed a rope and dove into what he describes as murky, snake-infested waters. He swam to the truck and tied the rope to the front bumper so it could be pulled from the water. BIGFOOT 4 was spared a watery grave in Davy Jones Locker – or at least the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds moat.
Roger Scheffel, another Jersey County native, joined BIGFOOT in 1986. In the ‘80s, BIGFOOT trucks were hauled up to his dad’s farm, as well as a couple of other local farms, where the drivers practice crushing cars and racing.
During his BIGFOOT career, Roger visited all 48 lower states, as well as Canada and Mexico. He met numerous celebrities and famous sports figures, took part in the filming of commercials in Hollywood, and crushed cars at dealerships. He was also part of the BIGFOOT crew that ran over Super Dave Osborne in Toronto for one of his stunts.
Roger says, “I’m one lucky farm boy to be able to say I’ve been able to do all that. We all left BIGFOOT on good terms and still keep in touch with the gang.”
In terms of the local with the longest BIGFOOT career, that honor goes to Ron Bachmann, who worked for the company from 1984 until 2018. Although Ron grew up in St. Louis County, he moved to Jerseyville in the 1990s and married a local girl, Michele Beatty.
Standing a bit over 7 foot in his boots with a linebacker’s physique (he played collegiate football before injuring a knee), Ron stood out in a crowd. Around the BIGFOOT shop, Ron was called Lurch. But around here, he was known as Puppy. Even his license plate identified him as “1 LRG PUP.” The name was courtesy of a friend who once described Ron as “a big ole pup.”
Although several BIGFOOT trucks were introduced during Puppy’s career, he was most often associated with BIGFOOT 12, which debuted at the 1993 Super Bowl in Los Angeles. The truck (and Puppy) made appearances at the Indy 500, the CMA/CMT Awards, and in Alan Jackson’s video Who’s Cheatin’ Who.
Puppy also brought BIGFOOT to Jersey County on several occasions, including the fair and the Jersey County Historical Society’s Apple Festival.
When Puppy passed away in 2018, BIGFOOT 12 was parked at his visitation and hauled to Oak Grove Cemetery where Puppy was laid to rest. BIGFOOT’s appearance at Sinclair Foods on July 19 will be BIGFOOT’s first appearance in Jerseyville since that day.
When Kellen heard BIGFOOT was headed back to Jersey County, he asked if he could be the one to make that happen.
He said, “I am living my dream and continuing the legacy of my uncles and Puppy and Roger. There are lots of BIGFOOT fans in Jersey County thanks to them, and I can’t wait to bring BIGFOOT back to Jerseyville.”
