TNT Motorsports was a popular promoter of

monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock p ...

races, tractor pulls, and occasionally

mud racing Mud bogging (also known as mud racing, mud running, mud drags, or mudding) is a form of off-road motorsport popular in Canada and the United States in which the goal is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud or a track of a set length. Winn ...

in the 1980s. TNT was an acronym for “Trucks n Tractors” founded by the late Billy Joe Miles of

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. Events were shown on Powertrax on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Trucks and Tractor Power Trucks and Tractor Power was a weekly television show on TNN featuring mud bogging, tractor pulling and monster trucks. The show's original hosts were Stan Rhoads and former Bigfoot driver Rich Hooser, along with pit reporter Mike Goss. Gary L ...

on TNN, and the syndicated

Tuff Trax Tuff Trax was a popular syndicated television show featuring monster trucks and tractor pulling. The show first aired in 1989 and was one hour long, split between TNT Motorsports' pulling and monsters. The original hosts were Army Armstrong an ...

. In 1988, TNT produced 77 shows that it estimated drew 1 million fans. In 1989, the company had $12 million in revenue.

Series

TNT's truck and tractor pulling championship was sponsored by Red Man

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. Champions were crowned in the four-wheel drive truck, two-wheel drive truck, unlimited tractor, super stock tractor, and pro stock tractor divisions. Notable pullers were "The Professor" Dr. Wayne Rausch with his "Yellow Model T" and "Little Red Truck" two-wheel drives, "Full Pull" Pat Freels' "Cheers" t-bucket two wheel drive and "Dollar Devil" modified tractor, the Banter Brothers' several unlimited tractors, Tim Engler's "Mission Impossible" unlimited tractor, and the "Stitches" team of trucks owned by Jim Lyons. Renegades tobacco sponsored the Monster Truck Challenge series, which became a championship (the first monster truck racing championship ever) in 1988.

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

, USA-1,

Awesome Kong Kia Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American actress and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)/Impact Wrestling under the ring name Awesome Kong. She also worked with Ri ...

, Equalizer, Carolina Crusher,

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, and King Krunch were among the most competitive trucks, while

Dennis Anderson Dennis Montague Anderson (born October 24, 1960) is an American former professional monster truck driver. He is the creator, team owner, and former driver of "Grave Digger" on the USHRA Monster Jam circuit. Anderson is from Kill Devil Hills, N ...

and

Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...

became the most popular truck on the circuit, sending them to eventual superstardom. Only a handful of events would feature Pro Modified Mud Bog Racing.

Buyout

In late 1990, TNT was bought out by SRO/Pace, the promoter who at the time owned the competitor

United States Hot Rod Association The United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) is an organization that sanctions various motorsports. These included the Monster Jam monster truck series as well as motocross, quad racing and others. Having passed through multiple owners, the righ ...

sanctioning body, and all former TNT events became USHRA events. Most vehicles continued to compete in the USHRA, however some monster truck owners, notably Everett Jasmer of USA-1, did not as they wished to only compete in open-qualifying races (as TNT was) rather than invitation-only events.

References

{{reflist Monster truck promoters and sanctioning bodies