9781422277102

Toughest Trucks Streets to Showtime from the OF A U T O M O B I L E S

OF A U T O M O B I L E S

The World of Automobiles

Written by Norm Geddis

Carmakers from Around the Globe Concept Cars: Past and Future Customizing Your Ride Hop Inside the Most Exotic Cars Toughest Trucks from the Streets to Showtime

mason crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll free)

Chapter 1 Trucks: Hard Work and Wild Fun...........................................................7 Chapter 2 Toughest Pickup Trucks ......................................................................19 Chapter 3 Semitrucks ..........................................................................................27 Chapter 4 Monster Trucks ...................................................................................39 Chapter 5 Stunts...................................................................................................53 Chapter 6 Great Drivers........................................................................................63 Series Glossary of Key Terms.................................................................................72 Further Reading......................................................................................................74 Internet Resources and Educational Videos........................................................... 75 Photo Credits..........................................................................................................76 Index.......................................................................................................................77 Author’s Biography.................................................................................................80

Copyright © 2019 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

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ISBN (hardback) 978-1-4222-4091-5 ISBN (series) 978-1-4222-4086-1 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4222-7710-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Geddis, Norm, author. Title: Toughest trucks : from the streets to showtime / Norm Geddis. Description: Broomall, Pennsylvania : Mason Crest, [2019] | Series: The world of automobiles | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018018049 (print) | LCCN 2018019231 (ebook) | ISBN 9781422277102 (eBook) | ISBN 9781422240915 (hardback) | ISBN 9781422240861 (series) Subjects: LCSH: Trucks--Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC TL230.15 (ebook) | LCC TL230.15 .G45 2019 (print) | DDC 629.224--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018018049 Developed and Produced by National Highlights Inc. Editor: Andrew Luke Interior and cover design: Annalisa Gumbrecht, Studio Gumbrecht Production: Michelle Luke

Words to understand: These words with their easy-to-understand de nitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills.

Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more!

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Trucks: Hard Work and Wild Fun

trucks vehicles of various sizes and configurations meant for the transportation of cargo pickup truck a vehicle with a small cargo bed and low sides meant for light-duty personal or small business transport monster truck a pickup truck or other vehicle modified with extra large tires and suspension meant for racing and exhibition entertainment semitruck a large industrial truck consisting of a cab and semitrailer intended for hauling large quantities of goods over long distances

What are people without their stuff? They are people who will quickly be looking for stuff to replace the stuff they used to have. If an average household from 1900 and one from 2000 were compared in a bar graph, the amount of stuff piled on the 2000 side would be several magnitudes larger than the one on the 1900 side. Even if the stuff inside the garages was all that was measured . . . wait . . . garages didn’t exist in 1900. Well, there you have it.

Trucks revolutionized ground transportation in the twentieth century, making it possible to move large quantities of goods over long distances relatively quickly.

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Without trucks , a lot of that stuff would be largely unavailable. While cars moved individuals over distances never before imagined, it was trucks that moved everything else. Perhaps even more than cars, trucks revolutionized ground transportation in the twentieth century. Trucks also have been growing in popularity as a style statement. Semitruck owners decorate their trucks with logos and colorful stripes. Pickup truck owners deck out their vehicles with all sorts of accessories. Trucks have become fun things to own, as well as important tools in the economy that most people take for granted every day. Not only is the saying true that around every turn in the road awaits a new adventure, but with a truck, the driver can bring along lots and lots of stuff for the ride. A truck is bigger, taller, and more physically impressive than a car, but a little tougher to handle. Drivers of trucks of any size get an enhanced view of the landscape.

Don’t forget, trucks go off-road too. Sure, some cars and SUVs have four-wheel drive and can go off-road . . . sort of. But they aren’t trucks. Off-road trucks flying over boulders are better equipped than cars, SUVs, or anything else. That’s the distinction. Trucks look their best kicking dirt and conquering rocks. The word itself—truck—sounds like something big and dangerous, like the roar that might be made by a large beast coming down a hill at a trampling pace. The word “truck” goes back hundreds of years. It once had a very different meaning than the one associated with the pickups and semitrucks on the road today. The word was originally associated with a type of small wheel. In early colonial America, around 1610, a “truck” or “truckle” described small wheels like those on a wheelbarrow or cannon. So how did a word describing something small become used to describe something big? It’s all about scale and context. As motorized vehicles, trucks actually go back a decade or so before cars. Steam-powered trucks started popping up in cities around 1870. They were slow, ugly, uncomfortable, and filled the air with hot steam, but they got raw materials from the train to the factory and finished products going back the opposite way. When compared to the enormity of a train and the number of goods transported over great distances in the nineteenth century, the vehicle that got a particular company’s goods from a train to the factory would appear small in comparison. So, the word “truck” distinguishes the much smaller vehicle used in conjunction with much larger trains during the Industrial Revolution.

NASCAR legend Smokey Yunick raced a modified Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck at the Daytona Speed Trials. His run set a class record. The supercharged Cameo went a quarter of a mile in 17.6 seconds with a 0-to-60-mph (0-to-97-km/hr) start of 8.6 seconds, a better showing than any other tested pickup of its era.

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In 1911, a Chicago area newspaper, the Inter Ocean , reported on a truck show at the Chicago Auditorium Building which was occurring the week after a popular car show. The writer compared the two by saying, “The most impressive feature of this week’s exhibitions is its bigness. Where last week stood dainty runabouts, and what even appeared then as huge touring and enclosed cars are gigantic trucks, capable seemingly of carrying the Coliseum and making nothing of it.” World War II changed everything. Before the war, the average person rarely traveled beyond twenty-five miles of the place where he or she was born. If someone was fortunate enough to have access to a vehicle, it was likely for strictly utilitarian purposes. Trucks got goods from the factory and the farm to the train. Cars got businessmen around the city. Out of necessity, lots of men and women learned how to drive during World War II, and lots more who knew how to

Soldiers used to driving Jeeps in WWII found pickup trucks easy to adapt to when they returned to civilian life.

drive got a lot more experienced at it. They also learned how to drive over many different types of terrain. In the United States military, the jeep was the primary mode of personal transport during World War II. When American soldiers returned to civilian life after the war, getting something to drive was on the forefront of their minds. Pickup trucks offered an increased level of freedom. Large pieces of furniture could be hauled home from the store. Driving dirt roads and off-road was easier. With each decade after the 1940s, pickup trucks became more and more popular. Pickup Trucks The first model pickup truck was the Ford Model TT in 1917. As its name suggests, the vehicle was a modified Ford Model T with a heavy-duty chassis and larger rear axle. In today’s pickup truck rating scheme, the Model TT would qualify as a one-ton pickup.

Before WWII, trucks like this 1930 Model A were mostly used for moving goods out of factories and farms.

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As early as 1908, companies were modifying Fords and other cars, converting them into hauling vehicles by extending the body, creating a cargo area, or strengthening the chassis and axles. Semitrucks Did you ever wonder why such a large truck is called a “semi”? That sounds like it should be half of something. Where’s the other half? Well, the other half is the trailer. The “semi” refers to the trailer having no front axle and therefore needing a tractor, which is the cab and engine, to hitch onto. It’s a “semi” part of a larger whole. The first semitruck was invented to solve a very serious problem. In 1899, a carmaker in Ohio received twenty orders for its new horseless carriage. The was problem was that instead of coming from around the Cleveland, OH, area, the twenty orders came from all over the country. Alexander Winton was the owner of the newly successful Ohio-based Winton Motor Carriage Company. He didn’t want his new cars driven to their new owners. That would put more wear and tear on them than they would likely see in several years of around town use. At the time, cars and roads were not made for long-distance travel. So, Winton came up with the idea of building a heavy-duty use vehicle that could pull a trailer through various paved and unpaved road conditions. In fact, few roads outside of cities were paved at the time. The cab portion of his truck was made from an existing touring car, with the trailer sitting on top a rear mounted engine. The cars were loaded onto the ramp of the trailer and then lifted in a similar way to today’s flatbed trailers, though the lifting was done by hand and not hydraulics.

Soon he was making his trucks for other carmakers, though he did not make them for long. Winton was more interested in engines and gave up the truck business. But by then many other companies were making semitrucks. An invention that predated the early steam, electric, and gasoline engines would rise from obscurity and the diesel engine would make trucks more durable and fuel efficient. Monster Trucks Get in a time machine and go back to the mid 1970s. On a Saturday night at just about any dirt race track in America, the air would be filled with the sounds of bumpers smashing against headlights at the local demolition derby. Dozens of old cars would get slammed into each other to see which one would be the last car left driving on four wheels as drivers tried to smash the competing cars into steaming piles of stalled metal.

Demolition derby events of the 1970s were the precursor for monster truck competitions

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On a wet night at one of these derbies, when some cars became stuck in the infield’s muddy pit, someone got the idea to pull them out using a pickup truck. The crowd cheered, and a new event was born. Soon, truck pulling, or mud bogging was an event at demolition derbies everywhere. The objects the truck would pull out of the mud became heavier and heavier and the truck owners began modifying their trucks to do the heavier lifting. It was out of these pools of mud that the monster truck was born. By the 1980s the demolition derby had disappeared just like pet rocks and whoopie cushions (look them up; both really did exist!), and monster truck competitions were drawing tens of thousands of fans. Monster trucks are good to have around in an emergency. During the floods in east Texas after Hurricane Harvey, monster truck drivers brought their behemoths out to help rescue people stranded by high waters. Being many feet off the ground, with huge tires capable of displacing sufficient water, numerous trucks were greeted with cheers by residents sitting on their rooftops.

To compete on the MTRA circuit, monster trucks must meet certain specifications, including being 12 feet tall and 12 feet wide.

In order to compete on the Monster Truck Racing Association (MTRA) circuit, a monster truck must be 12 feet tall, 12 feet wide, and use specific BKT brand 66-inch-tall and 43-inch- wide off-road tires. The tire grade rule is a new specification. Prior to 2015 any brand could be used. The new rule was part of a promotional deal the MTRA made with BKT tires. Also, if every racer is using the same tire, then the competition is fairer for all. The MTRA is not the only monster truck organization. About a dozen others, of varying sizes, compete against the MTRA. Some of them are the Monster Truck Racing League, Monster Jam, and Monster Truck Throwdown.

Watch as a monster truck rescues Texas flood victims.

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The first monster trucks used tractor tires. No specialty tires were available at the time. Today, Goodyear and Firestone, as well as BKT, make monster truck tires. The average cost of a single tire is between $2,500 and $7,500. In basic terms, a monster truck is a pickup truck fitted with extra-large tires and a super duty suspension. These days there are specific size requirements. As monster truck sporting evolved into a body of racing and exhibition stunt events, the definition of a monster truck became solidified in MTRA rules. A pickup truck isn’t necessary. The body of a monster truck can be anything. Some monster trucks start with a car or SUV body, while others are constructed of fiberglass into original shapes like the famous Scooby-Doo monster truck driven by Nicole Johnson, who said to Vice.com that flying through the air during a monster truck stunt makes her feel like, “superhero in a cartoon.”

1. True or False? A pickup truck is intended to haul a large commercial trailer. 2. What are the size requirements for monster truck tires? 3. Where is the engine on a “forward-engine” semi?

Look up the engine power and towing capabilities of early trucks like the Model TT, as well as those of a modern day pickup truck. Make a chart that compares and contrasts the loads trucks from each era could handle.

Until 1924 the Model TT was sold as a chassis and engine only. The body was extra. Starting with the 1924 model, the TT came with a body, while Ford managed to lower the price to $325.

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