Chassis:
Patrick Enterprise Engine:
557 CI Merlin Body Style:
Custom RC Replica
Driver Name:
Sean R. Duhon Location:
New Orleans,
Louisiana Sponsors:
NGK, Chiller Specialties, amsoil, ISP, Hooker Harness, Painless Wiring, Energy Suspension, Ride on, Pucker Powder, Super Wraps
Chassis:
Patrick Engine:
540 CID Chevrolet Body Style:
2003 Chevy Silverado
Driver Name:
Bruce Haney Location:
Bronson,
Florida Sponsors:
Detroit Locker, Joes Hand Cleaner, FK Rod Ends, Tri City Bolt and Screw, Hose & Hydraulic, Amsoil
Chassis:
Patrick Chassis #6 Engine:
Bennett Racing 557 cubic inch SVO Ford Body Style:
GTS Fiberglass 06’ Ford F-150 with custom sprint car wing. Paint by Freddy Mills Auto Body
Driver Name:
Kirk Dabney Location:
Russellville,
Alabama Sponsors:
Off Road Centers, Bennett Racing, PTC Transmissions, Freddy Mills Auto Body, Ft. Wayne Clutch, R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc.
Chassis:
Marty Garza Custom Designed Chassis Engine:
Bennett Racing 557 cubic inch SVO Ford Body Style:
GTS Fiberglass 07' Ford F-150 with custom futuristic wrap
Driver Name:
Kirk Dabney Location:
Russellville,
Alabama Sponsors:
Off Road Centers, Bennett Racing, PTC Transmissions, Freddy Mills Auto Body, Ft. Wayne Clutch, R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc.
Chassis:
Custom Tubular Chassis Engine:
Bennett Racing 540 cubic inch Donavan Chevrolet Body Style:
Winning design by school children as class project. Custom 3D fiberglass body.
Driver Name:
David Brown Location:
Little Ville,
Alabama Sponsors:
Off Road Centers, Bennett Racing, PTC Transmissions, Freddy Mills Auto Body, Ft. Wayne Clutch
July 14, 2007 - This spy shot was taken at Kirk Dabney's Off Road Centers
in Russellville Al. Keep checking back as we receive more information on the
"NEW" Overkill Monster truck.
January 17, 2007 - In December 2006, Creative Sports and Entertainment,
Inc. approached Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc. to design
and develop
a “real” monster truck racing event. Creative Sports and Entertainment, Inc. was
impressed by the partnerships, events and races that R/C Monster Motorsports
accomplished and fostered. Accepting the challenge, Fred Reep designed and
developed the concept of “Monsters
of Motorsports” with long time friend Kirk Dabney, driver of Monster Patrol.
The "Monsters of Motorsports" will be a one of a kind monster truck racing event.
Please check back for the official "Monsters of Motorsports" press release due to
be released with more event details. See you there! If you have any
questions please contact Fred Reep, President, R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc. and
Program Director, The "Monsters of Motorsports"
December
4, 2006 - Long time friends Kirk Dabney and Fred Reep teamed up together
once again to put on a spectacular event. This time the location was The Man’s
Expo in Melbourne, Florida. Monster Patrol, Wild Thang, and R/C Monster
Motorsports rocked The Man’s Expo. Kirk Dabney had Monster Patrol and Wild Thang
on display while R/C Monster Motorsports put on an R/C Monster truck racing
competition.
Forty-eight R/C Monster Trucks from across Florida participated in the race
competition. All pre-registered drivers received a limited edition plaque
recognizing the event, designed by Bari Musawwir and autographed by Kirk Dabney.
Concourse was the first event slated for the day. The Hooter’s Girls of
Melbourne were on hand to Judge the Concourse competition. Mike Herndon’s
Incredible Hulk would be the Hooter’s Girls favorite to win first place in
Concourse.
Side
by Side R/C Monster Truck Racing would be fierce at The Man’s Expo with a
modified Chicago Style track layout. Bari Musawwir’s Monster Mutt would have the
weekend off due to a blown engine. However, Zeek Heard let Bari pilot his
Superman to top qualifier and first place win’s in Big Block and the Tuff Truck
competition. Tommy Feichtel was top qualifier and winner in Small Block class
driving his Digger’s Dungeon Traxxas T-Maxx.
In Carpet Drags, Bari once again showed what the Man of Steel could do by
putting Superman in the winner’s circle in Big Block class. James Wilmont pushed
Nitro Cruiser to the limits to win the Small Block competition. James also set
track record with a time of 1.295 seconds. In Truck Pulls, Steve Tash took first
place with his Byron’s Revolocity in a pull off against Carney Sparks. Shawn
Callahan took first place with Cocoa Style in Big Block truck pulling with a
distance of 25’4” @100 lbs.
Be sure to check back frequently to find out when R/C Monster Motorsports will
be teaming up with The Man’s Expo again.
Click here to view a photo gallery of
the race. Click here for a complete list of
drivers for the event. Click here for a
complete list of race event results. Only the top five places are shown in the
results.
Many of you are familiar with Kirk Dabney as the
driver of the Overkill and Monster Patrol Monster Trucks for Paul Shafer
Motorsports. However, you may not be aware that this man is a seasoned veteran
that is celebrating his 23rd year as a Monster Truck competitor. Kirk along with
his brother Kevin is responsible for many monster truck firsts.
Kirk began his Monster Truck career in 1984. His first monster was built to help
promote his Carolina Custom Off-Road shop located in Fayetteville, NC. Kirk’s
first Monster was actually not a truck, but rather a car. Kirk and Kevin built
Blue Thunder, a 1968 Camaro that started on 5-ton axels and five and a half foot
tall Goodyear turf tires. The Camaro body was mounted to a Dodge truck frame and
powered by a Dodge 440 engine with a 727 Torque Flight Transmission. The engine
featured a tunnel ram intake with dual carburetors and nitrous injection system.
Soon after Blue Thunder’s public debut, the Dabney’s switched the tires over to
66”x43” Goodyear Terra tires. Blue Thunder was the first Monster Car ever built.
Using a Camaro body wasn’t the only innovation that Blue Thunder Featured.
The Blue Thunder Monster Camaro was themed after the popular Blue Thunder movie
that featured a high tech helicopter. As such, Kirk’s Blue Thunder had many high
tech features as well.
The main controller for the vehicle was actually a tiller
stick from a helicopter. The stick controlled the front and rear steering, tilt
front end, and activation for the Nitrous system all with one hand.
Blue Thunder also featured an innovative suspension as well. Instead of leaf
springs, Blue Thunder utilized air bags with four link suspension. Although air
bags had been in use prior, Blue Thunder was the first monster to utilize a four
link suspension. In conjunction with airbags, the Dabney’s utilized a hydraulic
shock at each wheel of the truck in order to control ride height. In fact the
amazing “green knob” regulators, that other teams have taken credit for
innovating, were used by the Dabney’s to control hydraulic flow to these
cylinders back in 1984. Blue Thunder’s radical appearance and performance made
it an instant hit on the USHRA series.
In 1986, The Dabney’s built a new monster, Mega Force. The Dabney’s continued to
divert from popular trends as Mega Force used a 1985 Nissan extended cab pick up
body. Mega Force had its own share of stunning features, most notably its size.
The truck stood 14’ tall due to 80” tall Firestone tires. The body also featured
a tilt bed. Another interesting feature was that Mega Force used two small block
Chevy engines, one under the hood and one in the bed. The engine under the hood
was basically a stock 350 and used to maneuver the truck around the pit area.
The engine in the bed was a supercharged, alcohol-injected 377, with 1100 horse
power which was used for performances. Mega Force was the first monster truck to
utilize Clark Planetaries. Mega Force’s axels were Clark 20 ton axels from a
military fork lift. Because Clark axels were a traditional pinion arrangement
instead of a high pinion, like Rockwell 5-ton, the Dabney’s built a right angle
drive system that used the axel turned 90 degrees with the pinion facing up. A
right angle gearbox was mounted on top of each axel and transferred the transfer
case outputs into the differentials. Ultimately, the Dabney’s started using
Clark planetary ends in conjunction with 5-ton Rockwell’s and were the first to
do so. In fact their decision to try the combination came about by accident.
Some teams had already begun to match 5-ton Rockwell’s to Rockwell planetary
ends, but those setups required custom axel shafts to be made. Therefore, many
teams could not afford to adapt to planetaries by going that route. Hence one
day the two brothers’ were working in the shop. Kevin was working on Mega Force
and Kirk was working on Blue Thunder. They both had their axle assemblies apart
and parts were all over the shop floor. When they each went to put their axels
back together, they found that they couldn’t tell the difference between the
Clark and Rockwell inner shafts. Thus they tried mating a 5-ton center section
to Clark planetaries. The first truck they did this for was for the customer who
owned the Gentle Ben Monster Truck. The Dabney’s built several other axel sets
for many other Monster Trucks as well. Thus the ever-popular Clark / Rockwell
hybrid axel was born.
1986 brought about some changes to Blue Thunder as well. SRO the promoter behind
the USHRA convinced Kirk to spruce up Blue Thunder’s image. Blue Thunder then
became Thunder Beast. The Camaro body was repainted a brilliant red base coat.
Fred Brumann, originator of the “Grave Yard” paint scheme on Dennis Anderson’s
Grave Digger, was hired to add custom mural work and lettering. Thunder Beast
was also given a set of Clark planetaries added to its 5-ton axles and was
modified to run on 73” Firestones to make it even more visually impressive. The
engine and transmission were also updated to a Donovan and Turbo 400 so that the
drive train was a closer match to the make of the body. Kirk had teething
problems with the new combination and Thunder Beast did not generate the fan
following that was predicted due to the fact that the machine’s identity seemed
to have been lost during the transformation from Blue Thunder to Thunder Beast.
Kirk soon abandoned the concept and used the axels and tires to build a new
truck, the Duraliner Giant.
Built in 1987, Duraliner Giant was perhaps the most traditional truck the
Dabney’s had built to date. Duraliner Giant was indeed a giant as the 1986 Ford
pickup body stood over 13 feet tall. Kirk had negotiated a sponsorship with
Duraliner and promoted the truck as the Duraliner Giant for three years.
Duraliner Giant received updates along the way as the body was changed to the
87’-88’ body style.
By the end of the eighties, Monster Truck competition turned into all out
racing. By 1990, Kirk had decided that he needed to change to fit the needs of
the industry. Kirk sold the Duraliner Giant to an individual in Kentucky who now
runs the truck as a ride truck called Kentucky Thunder. Kirk then purchased
Scott Hess’s Bearfoot racer leaf spring truck. Kirk rebuilt Bearfoot into the
Giant. Kirk kept the drive train and built an all new chassis to the exact
dimensions of Hess’s Bearfoot frame. Kirk ran a Ford body to keep the following
he had generated with his Duraliner Giant fans.
In 1991 Kirk decided to expand his operation by purchasing Steve Hess’s second
Nitmare Monster Truck. Nitemare was also a leaf spring truck that Kirk
eventually renamed Thunder Struck. Kirk competed with Giant and Thunder Struck
in the Thunder Nationals circuit in the early nineties.
In 1993, Kirk decided to enter the highly competitive Penda Series which took
place at Special Events shows in spring, summer, and fall. Kirk purchased the
Nitemare race truck from Steve Hess and promoted the truck as Nitemare and as
USA-1 for a short time during the 93’ season.
In 1994, Kirk purchased yet another truck, Marty Garza’s Extreme Overkill. This
was perhaps the most sophisticated truck ever to be built with its low center of
gravity chassis and swing arm suspension. Kirk promoted Extreme Overkill for the
next three years, winning many events along the way. In 1997, Extreme Overkill
was updated to the new F-150 body style and given a new paint scheme.
At one point, Kirk had three different teams with himself driving Extreme
Overkill, Bobby Zee driving Nitemare, and Roger Grate driving Thunder Struck.
Eventually Kirk sold Nitemare and Thunder Struck. Kirk then purchased a Patrick
chassis truck and ran it as a second Overkill. For a short time in 1997 Kirk
promoted his Garza chassis Extreme Overkill and his Patrick chassis Overkill
until the Garza chassis was sold to Paul Stender.
In 1998, Kirk teamed up with Paul Shafer Motorsports to run his truck as Monster
Patrol. Kirk has worked with Paul ever since and is extremely happy with the
support that Paul Shafer Motorsports gives him. That support shows in the all
new state of the art ORI Monster Truck that Kirk recently built. This truck
backed by Paul Shaffer Motorsports utilizes some of the best components
currently available in the industry as well as many innovative chassis and
suspension geometry concepts.
The ORI Monster Truck can be found on display at Kirk’s new off-road shop in
Alabama, Off-Road Centers franchises. This leads us to the latest development in
Kirk’s career. It would seem as though Kirk’s career has come full circle
starting in off-road customizing to becoming a full time racer and now getting
back into off road customizing once again.
Kirk has recently started Extreme Chassis Works in Russellville, Alabama, which
builds custom Street Monsters for customers. Kirk has built many customized
4x4’s and even some pro-street trucks over the years. After having to
practically re-engineer an OEM frame and suspension in order to achieve the
desired lift that Kirk’s customers want, Kirk decided to begin building an all
tube chassis with four link suspension which use the customer’s OEM body. These
chassis’s and suspensions are replicas of full size monsters in which the Street
Monsters emulate. Extreme Chassis Works also makes competition Monster and ride
truck chassis. Extreme Chassis Works has the ability to build a turn key
competition truck if you desire.
Kirk continues to run Monster Patrol on a full time basis. Kirk has stated that
Overkill fans shouldn’t worry because Kirk has plans in the works to bring back
the Overkill name back into competition once again.
Kirk has watched the Monster Truck Industry evolve from it’s beginnings to what
it is today, all from within the business. It is always nice to see such a
talented competitor stay in the Monster Truck industry and the Monster Truck
industry is in deed better for having Kirk Dabney involved in it. We look
forward to what Kirk and his team comes up with next!
January 17, 2007 - In December 2006, Creative Sports and Entertainment,
Inc. approached Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc. to design
and develop
a “real” monster truck racing event. Creative Sports and Entertainment, Inc. was
impressed by the partnerships, events and races that R/C Monster Motorsports
accomplished and fostered. Accepting the challenge, Fred Reep designed and
developed the concept of “Monsters
of Motorsports” with long time friend Kirk Dabney, driver of Monster Patrol. 
December
4, 2006 - Long time friends Kirk Dabney and Fred Reep teamed up together
once again to put on a spectacular event. This time the location was The Man’s
Expo in Melbourne, Florida. Monster Patrol, Wild Thang, and R/C Monster
Motorsports rocked The Man’s Expo. Kirk Dabney had Monster Patrol and Wild Thang
on display while R/C Monster Motorsports put on an R/C Monster truck racing
competition. 
Side
by Side R/C Monster Truck Racing would be fierce at The Man’s Expo with a
modified Chicago Style track layout. Bari Musawwir’s Monster Mutt would have the
weekend off due to a blown engine. However, Zeek Heard let Bari pilot his
Superman to top qualifier and first place win’s in Big Block and the Tuff Truck
competition. Tommy Feichtel was top qualifier and winner in Small Block class
driving his Digger’s Dungeon Traxxas T-Maxx. 
Many of you are familiar with Kirk Dabney as the
driver of the Overkill and Monster Patrol Monster Trucks for Paul Shafer
Motorsports. However, you may not be aware that this man is a seasoned veteran
that is celebrating his 23rd year as a Monster Truck competitor. Kirk along with
his brother Kevin is responsible for many monster truck firsts.
The main controller for the vehicle was actually a tiller
stick from a helicopter. The stick controlled the front and rear steering, tilt
front end, and activation for the Nitrous system all with one hand. 
