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Meet Ray Mowery, owner and driver of Wild Hair 4x4 Monster Truck.
Ray was born July 23, 1968 in New London, Connecticut. When he's
not on the road attending monster truck rallys, you'll find him
at his home in Newport News, Virginia. Ray is married and has two
chilren. He has been active in the monster truck industry for nine
years. His favorite colors are purple and blue. Ray loves to eat
big juicy steaks and all kinds of fruit. His favorite movie is "In
Harms Way" starring John Wayne and his favorite song is "Little
Man" by Allen Jackson.
We recently caught up with Ray for an interview. Here's what he
had to say.
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Q. How did you get
started in monster trucks? |
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A. In 1980, I was 12 years
old and my father took me to see the tractor pulls
at the Pontiac Silver Dome. There was one monster
truck there called Big Foot. After the tractor
pulls, the track crew brought out 4 cars, then
the truck slowly drove up to them and started
crushing them with it's 66 inch tall tires! That
was the first monster truck show ever.
Then three years later I attended another show where this
blue and silver panel truck called Grave Digger made its
show in the Hampton Virginia Collisium. After crushing some
cars it hooked up to a pulling sled and started down the
track. The crowd went nuts! That's when the seed was planted.
In 1994 I started volunteering to do track work and over
time I started to pit for some other truck owners until
the present when I bought Jason Witte's monster truck named
Wild Hair in December of 2004.
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Q. How can someone get their
start as a monster truck driver/owner? |
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A. Try as hard as you can
to meet your goal. Think small at first. Learn
the sport and it's do's and don'ts. Talk to some
of the other drivers and ask them how they got
started. It will take time to make this goal a
reality, but when it happens and you know you
did it, it is that much more a special feeling
that you did it. It took me two years after I
knew I wanted a truck. Just don't let anything
get you down or distracted from your goal.
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Q. What makes the sport of monster
truck racing so special for you? |
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A. It's the look on the faces of all the
fans and the cheers so loud that you can hear
it into next week that I love. It is the facial
expressions of long term fans or the first timer
who gets so excited to see their favorite truck
that they give a look of being in awe. And it's
the feel of the horsepower and paint jobs on these
trucks.
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Q. What is your goal as an owner
and driver in the monster truck industry? |
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A. To be the safest and the best I can be
for myself.
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Q. Where do you see the sport
of monster truck racing 10 years from now? |
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A. I see the sport much larger than it is
now with large sponsored teams and growing to
the size of Nascar or Bushgrand National Racing.
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Q. Where do you see your Wild
Hair 10 years from now? |
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A. I see not only my Wild Hair but many
other trucks stronger, faster and much more popular to the
fans than it is now. |
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History of
Wild Hair |
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| View the transformation of Wild
Hair below. Wild Hair has been around since the
mid 80's. |
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photo
courtesy of http://www.monsterphotos.com
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OWNER: Jon and Bob
Breen of Jefferson City, Mo.
VEHICLE: 1986 Chevy Stepside later changed to
a 1986 Chevy Silverado
ENGINE: 454 cu.in. Chevy
CARBURETION: Enderle gasoline injection system
and a 6:71 BDS blower
HORSEPOWER: 500
TRANSMISSION: TH400
RUNNING GEAR: 2 1/2 ton military transfer case,
1200 case tractor axles with planetaries
SUSPENSION: custom leafs and Rancho shocks later
changed to 12 Rough Country shocks
TIRES: 66X43X25 inch Goodyear Terras
HEIGHT: 12 feet
WEIGHT: 11,400 lbs.
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photo courtesy
of http://www.monsterphotos.com
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OWNER: "Starvin" Marvin
Smith
VEHICLE: 1988 Chevy Silverado
ENGINE: 454 cu.in. Chevy
CARBURETION: 3 Predators atop an 8:71 blower
HORSEPOWER: 800
TRANSMISSION: TH400
RUNNING GEAR: ProFab transfer case, 5 ton Rockwell
axles with 20 ton planetaries
TIRES: 66X43X25 inch Goodyear Terras
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photo courtesy
of http://www.monsterphotos.com
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OWNER: Jason Witte
DRIVER: Jason Witte of Washington, MO.
VEHICLE: 2003 Chevy Silverado
CHASSIS: Custom build 4 link railing chassis
ENGINE: 505 cubic inch Lloyd Fisher motor
HORSEPOWER: 1400
TRANSMISSION: Coan build turbo 400 3 speed
AXLES: Custom build F-106
PLANTARIES: Clark's
TIRES: Goodyear 66x44x25
SHOCKS: Comb's nitrogen
SHOCK TRAVEL: 30 inches front and rear
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OWNER (since Dec. 2004): Ray
Mowery
VEHICLE: 2006 Chevy Silverado
COLOR: Wild Hair Purple and Viper Yellow
CHASSIS: Custom build 4 link railing
chassis
MOTOR: 512 cubic inch Lloyd Fisher motor
HORSEPOWER: 1500
TRANSMISSION: Coan build turbo 400 3
speed
AXLES: Custom build F-106
PLANTARIES: Clark's
TIRES: Goodyear 66x44x25
SHOCK'S: Comb's nitrogen
SHOCK TRAVEL: 30 inches front and rear
FUEL: Mythanol
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