So, before the third race, I asked Rod (Litzau) to drive. I couldn't just concentrate on driving, I had everything from building to maintainence to promoting on my mind. The business had grown so big and I had so many other responsibilities, when I got behind the wheel, as much as I loved it, and loved the new truck, I recognized I wasn't being a good driver. The truck was extremely good and responsive, but after two races I discovered after all those years of waiting, I was no longer the driver I thought I was going to be. You made the choice to step out of the driving duties, which I know was tough for you to do.ĮJ: I came from a drag racing background, and I was always a motorsports fan, and of course I wanted a racing series, so this was all a dream come true. It was about mid-summer we found ourselves winning so much we were in second place chasing Bigfoot.ĭP: If I remember right, the first event you entered in was Hampton, Virginia, and was the debut of the new USA-1 truck. I entered the truck immediately with the objective to just go out and do as well as I could and shoot for the next season. Much to my dismay, the season was probably a fourth or a fifth of the way over with. I fulfilled my commitment to Chevrolet, which took us through the first quarter, and I think it was early April when I was able to jump on board with the racing series and TNT. ![]() I was in utter shock as my dream had come true and I couldn't take part. Then, shortly after I signed the contract with Chevrolet, the TNT series was announced. Without an announced racing series, I was willing to accept that. As I got into December and was completing the truck, there still was no announced racing series.Ĭhevrolet approached me about hiring me to do the auto shows in January, February and March across the country. I had been working on the new truck during the summer and fall of 1987 to complete the truck for Chevrolet, hoping there was a racing series. You got into the racing a bit later into the season.ĮJ: That was the ultimate irony. The promoter just took a sampling of what we did up to that point and made it into one competition.ĭP: Soon after, that led into the first official points series, the Monster Truck Challenge, in 1988. I came from a racing background and I pushed really hard for anything competitive for monster trucks since early on. ![]() ![]() ![]() I looked at it as a movement in the right direction. It was a chance, on a one shot basis, to compete, and it was exciting. But, it was the first time they would let us compete, so to say. What do you think that meant to the monster truck industry at the time?Įverett Jasmer: Well, keep in mind at the time it was still a promoter-run exhibition event. We discussed the beginning of monster truck racing, the championship in 1988, the struggles that followed, and his view of the industry today.ĭustin Parks: Let's go back to the first ever side-by-side monster truck competition at the Louisiana Superdome in 1985. Jasmer was kind enough to recently take some time out of his schedule to sit down and do an interview. Jasmer still does display and exhibition work in his home state of Minnesota, but has not raced since the early 1990s. That lack of exposure has put him in a bind financially he may look to selling all or part of the business.
0 Comments
|