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!!
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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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