Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Armstrong to enter Monster Truck Hall of Fame

4/24/2008
Announcer from Owensboro will be part of first class
By Jake JenningsMessenger-Inquirer
"Longtime Owensboro motorsports announcer Army Armstrong will be part of the inaugural class inducted later this year into the Monster Truck Hall of Fame.The Hall of Fame, a part of the American Monster Truck Museum in Ogden, Utah, will induct five members in its first class.Armstrong, who began calling monster truck races in the early 1980s, is still active in the sport and will call a monster truck event this weekend in Phoenix, then a monster truck jamboree May 5-6 in Springfield, Mo."You talk about ground floor, I guess I was there," Armstrong said. "I was doing shows on TNN and ESPN and going into people's homes and telling them about monster trucks."Armstrong got his start with the fledgling monster trucks in the early '80s, calling an event at the Astrodome in Houston. He then moved with the sport when the trucks made their TV debut at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville.
Over the seasons, he called events on ESPN and TNN, in addition to his work with the truck and tractor pullers and swamp buggy racing.He's still calling National Tractor Puller Association events broadcast on RFD-TV.Joining Armstrong are Bob Chandler, who is credited with starting the monster truck craze when he built the Bigfoot, a Ford pickup, in 1975 and which made its first paid appearance in 1979 in Denver.Armstrong stayed with monster trucks throughout their evolution.They moved from car-crushing curiosities into full-fledged racing, and Bigfoot and USA-1 built up a rivalry based on their connections with Ford and Chevrolet.Armstrong said he is surprised by the reactions of fans he meets, many of whom started following the sport as kids."They'll say 'I used to watch you growing up, and I wanted to meet you,' " Armstrong said.Bigfoot driver Jim Kramer is also on the list of honorees, as is Everett Jasmer, who built USA-1 on a Chevrolet platform, and Fred Shafer, who created the Bearfoot Dodge."I've always had the opportunity to do other things, but I've always tried to stay with my people, for lack of a better term," Armstrong said. "To be recognized by my peers like this, you could've knocked me over with a feather."

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