Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum peristyle

BIGFOOT monster truck driver Jim Kramer once flew his truck through the peristyle at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during an off-road show. Which is a little bit insane. (Image/lacoliseum.com)

NORWALK, OH — Jim Kramer once ramped his BIGFOOT monster truck into the air, and through the That Doesn’t Look Wide Enough! archway of the main peristyle at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It was part of a Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Series event. One of those moments we motorsports fans might take a little bit for granted as we’ve gotten used to being thrilled through the years.

But when you’re behind the wheel of a 12-foot-wide monster truck hurling through the opening with less clearance than your eyes and brain would prefer, it’s the sort of thing that sticks with you.

We caught up with the 65-year-old BIGFOOT driver at Super Summit 2016 a couple of weeks ago at Summit Motorsports Park, and asked him about his semi-retirement as he begins to slowly reduce his involvement with BIGFOOT 4×4 Inc.

He stresses “semi-retirement,” because quitting entirely is something he doesn’t consider possible, and certainly doesn’t want.

“You can’t walk away from this,” Kramer said. “My heart and soul is still in this kind of thing. In motorsports, and in BIGFOOT.”

He’s planning to build and fly airplanes, he said.

Reflecting on nearly four decades of monster truck building, racing, and freestyle performances, Kramer shared his pride in the craft.

“The evolution of monster trucks has been fun,” he said, talking about launching one more than 200 feet through the air, and then taking that same truck through a freestyle show.

“You think it’s a crude monster truck, but it’s not,” Kramer said.

No, sir. It’s not.

You can see and hear more from Kramer in this video:

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