Some people may scoff at hardcore monster truck fans but we don’t. While we love looking back at the history of these trucks we don’t have the knowledge and wherewithal to build kick ass videos like the one below. What you are about to watch is easily one of the neatest compilation monster truck videos we have showed you in some time. Why? It is called Battle of the Monster Tanks and that’s exactly what it is all about. You are going to see tank treaded trucks destroying cars, running into each other, and proving why they provided a neat, if not a little bizarre off-shoot to the world of traditional monster truck competition in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The footage in this video was captured long before monster trucks were corporatized. Yes, there were big names back then but the scene was far more like drag racing was back in the day. Why? Those days were the 1980s equivalent to the 1970s funny car match racing renaissance in drag racing. The big names would book shows and gather other trucks. There were hugely popular trucks nationally, tons of regional heroes, and people who were making a living never leaving their home state with trucks back then. Crazy to think about these days when virtually one company has sole control over the entire enterprise. Yes there are still smaller shows and “match races” out there but the high profile stuff is all corporately controlled.
These guys were mavericks and they had some serious huevos. Just watch the flights and the landings, the drifting the crashing into each other and the packed stands. We’re not sure if fan popularity or rules ended up doing the tank rigs in but they were fun to watch as a kid. I do distinctly remember rooting for tubber tired machines when they were matched up against a tank truck.
One 9 year old’s opinion may have mirrored a whole lot more of them out there, we bet!
I was a small kid in the 80’s and these were the best thing i’d ever seen at the time. I was in awe of them. My favorite was the VA Beach Beast mainly because it was local and at every show we went to. They would jump these things over a couple cars and when they landed, I swear they would knock the building off its foundation. The whole arena would shake. Man, those were great memories.