Last month, monster trucks roared into St. Louis’ Dome at America’s Center. They had gathered for Monster Jam, an event featuring massive vehicles tearing along a dirt track, and even taking flight.
The region has a distinct connection to the culture of monster trucks. It’s not just that Bigfoot, which essentially created the phenomenon of monster trucks in the 1980s, hails from St. Louis. About 55 miles south of St. Louis along the Mississippi River, at Concussion Motorsports in Ellis Grove, Illinois, owner Rich Inman has spent two decades honing his craft — as a master builder of monster trucks.
“Every weekend, these things will go 20, 30 feet in the air and come crashing down doing backflips,” he said during a recent visit to his shop. “They've got to be built extremely strong.”
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Butch Hartman, 46, of Perryville makes measurements on a monster truck chassis on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports' headquarters in Ellis Grove.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Rich Inman, 49, President and CEO of Concussion Motorsports, welds a monster truck chassis together on Tuesday at the company’s headquarters in Ellis Grove. Inman and his team build monster truck parts that ship around the world.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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“Concussion” is written on a monster truck chassis on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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A crucifix made out of wrenches is displayed on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Rich Inman, 49, President and CEO of Concussion Motorsports, looks over part renderings on Tuesday at the company’s headquarters in Ellis Grove. Inman and his team build monster truck parts that ship around the world.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Rich Inman, 49, President and CEO of Concussion Motorsports, holds up two 3D printed models of monster truck cages he designed in Solidworks before building them out with his team on Tuesday at the company’s headquarters in Ellis Grove — about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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A door is wrapped with BIGFOOT, a monster truck that has previously been manufactured at Concussion Motorsports on Tuesday in Ellis Grove.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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A windbreaker originally belonging to Robert Chandler, the first owner of and creator of the “BIGFOOT” monster truck, is displayed on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports. Chandler is noted as the creator of monster truck racing.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Decorative signage and historic truck parts line Concussion Motorsports’ headquarters on Tuesday in Ellis Grove.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Rich Inman, 49, President and CEO of Concussion Motorsports, left, and Butch Hartman, 46, of Perryville, Mo., look at a photo of "Wild Thang" and other monster trucks they’ve worked with on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports’ headquarters in Ellis Grove.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
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Butch Hartman, 46, of Perryville, lower center, and Tom Hoelscher, of Ellis Grove, work on monster truck chases on Tuesday at Concussion Motorsports’ headquarters in Ellis Grove.
Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
Inman isn’t laboring alone. Also in the workshop is Butch Hartman, who has been part of the team at Concussion Motorsports for 13 years. He has no illusions about the fate of the trucks he works on. Everything he touches is destined for smashing and flying.
"It's amazing just watching what people put them through,” he said. “If you don't have a good driver, no matter how good the machine is, the machine isn't going to perform. But at the same time, if you don't have an extremely well-designed and put-together piece of equipment underneath, the driver can't perform to their full potential either."
To hear more from Rich Inman, including how he fell in love with monster trucks as a child watching the legendary Bigfoot, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or by clicking the play button below.
Concussion Motorsports owner Rich Inman on "St. Louis on the Air"
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
