BIGFOOT CAR CRUSH

@ COMMUNITY TIRE!!

APRIL 14-15TH, 2006 - PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ

When you're retired, sometimes you just have to get out and find something to do!!  With my wife Lynette and her family going away for the weekend, I really wasn't looking forward to staying around the house, seeing as how that is what I did all week.  So when Ross told me that Bigfoot would be doing a display and car crush down in Prescott Valley, AZ, I was more than happy to drive the 3+ hours to cover the event for the Blog.  Would everyone drive three hours for a little car crush?  Probably not, but again, the benefits of the retired life!!

 

Upon arriving at Community Tire on Friday afternoon, I introduced myself to the manager and was hoping to run into rookie driver Keith Sturgeon.  The first person I see is wearing a T-shirt with Bigfoot team on it, and sure enough, there he was.  I told Keith who I was and that I was with the Monster Blog.  Keith immediately knew who I was and stated the guys at the shop visit The Monster Blog often.  Keith said another thing that made me very happy when he said that lots of people visit the site to get the latest Monster Truck news & coverage.
 


Keith introduced me to Mike Downer, manager of the Community Tire and Automotive store.  Mike was very friendly and happy to hear a member of The Monster Blog was on hand to cover the event.  It was easy to see Mike had coordinated these events in the past as everything was in place and going as planned.  Mike explained the car crush would take place in the mini-mall parking lot tomorrow afternoon around 2:00PM.
 

 


Keith and I had a few more minutes to visit before I had to leave to find my hotel.  He explained that he had been working with Bigfoot for a few years, moving up the chain as he continues training.  He gave Dan Runte credit for his employment with the Bigfoot team.  From speaking with Keith just in those first few moments, it was clear as to what Dan Runte had seen in this young man.  He is very respectful of his peers, loyal to ownership and Team Bigfoot, very proud of the rig he drives, and very proud to climb in Bigfoot #10 and put on a pretty impressive performance.

You could also hear the excitement and nervousness in Keith Sturgeon's voice as he explained this is his first time out by himself representing Team Bigfoot.  He will be on the road about four weeks with this being his first stop.  I am very proud to be here for pictures, video, and coverage of this young man’s first lone performance.

The next morning I arrived at Community Tire about 07:30 AM to find that there was already lots of work going on.  Mike had a very good portion of the parking lot taped off, and there were already customers ready to do business.  Tents and grills were set up for serving hotdogs and soda, and local Radio Station KVRD arrived and started setting up.  Rob Zimmerman of Carquest Auto parts was on hand drumming up business and doing some charity work, even though he was missing his daughter’s birthday party at home.  The solution to that was to bring the party to Community Tire for the car crush and that’s just what they did.
 


Regional Manager and part owner of the Community Tire chain, Kim Sigman, arrived and started chipping in doing what he could to help Mike out.  He soon found that Mike had everything under control, and that is when I saw a very unusual act of kindness by Kim.  There was an Iraq veteran broke down with an over-heating problem.  The young man needed to get to an ATM and was from out of town.  Kim had the young man jump in his personal truck and took him where he needed to go.  Way to treat our military personnel with the respect they deserve, great job Kim!!
 


In the mean time, Keith can not stand the fact that his Bigfoot Monster Truck has a little dust on it from the winds on Friday.  So he gave it a bath, charged the battery, and prepared it for the crush.  After it was clean and sparkling, he stood back, looked at it and said to me, now it is Bigfoot!!
 

 

 

 


The morning had been pretty busy with lots of people coming and going, all in anticipation of the upcoming car crush.  Finally, 2:30PM arrives and its time.  Everyone that inquired must have returned as Bigfoot has once again drawn a large crowd for a car crush, just as they did when we were at Rich Ford last month.
 

 

 

 

 


From here, I will once again let the pictures and video describe the excitement and action.  My wife was not with me this time to take the video, but I ran into a Monster Blog fan and after talking to him, he was delighted to help out.  Cruz Lopez Jr. from Duey, AZ. took some great video with our camera and the Blog thanks him for his help!!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play The Video!!

 

  Bigfoot 30th Anniversary Car Crush!!

  **  Video by Cruz Lopez Jr.  **

512 kbps 11.2 MB

 


I would like to thank Keith Sturgeon of the Bigfoot team, Kim Sigman, Mike Downer and the whole Community Tire and Automotive team for their time and efforts it took to put on this exciting event.  Also, for the down home hospitality shown to me, and for the respect shown for our Military veterans, thank you.  Another big thank you goes out to Cruz Lopez Jr. for helping us out by videoing the crush!!  As always, thanks to all of our readers, hope you enjoyed this latest coverage, and keep coming back, because not only will be seeing Keith Sturgeon perform another car crush next weekend, but also another WGAS Motorsports event!!  Stay tuned!!

 

- LAUREN Z. BONAR

 

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