Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Eight-Wheel Monster Truck Takes a Dip in the Gulf of Mexico

This past week TheDrive.com shared a story by Peter Holderith about an eight-wheeled Chevy Silverado that decided to take a spin in the Gulf of Mexico near Bradenton, Florida. A video of this misadventure garnered 8 million views on TikTok, the Chinese video sharing platform that has been at the center of a lot of controversy this past year. 

The story caught my eye in part because a couple years ago I was at a beach near Bradenton--located between Sarasota and Tampa Bay--watching the activities of a wind-surfing club for a while. An eight-wheel monster truck would have been quite disruptive in the middle of that scene.

The owner/driver of this 8-wheel beast is Tony Detwiler and his handle on various social media platforms is WhistlinDiesel. According to BunkerBranding.com "Whistlin Diesel is basically everything you’ve thought of doing with your truck but you’d never ACTUALLY do."

And that's the heart of this story here. He said he was going to drive out into the sea, and he did

I'm curious how much he knew with regard to the terrain below the surface before trying the stunt. Or are beaches there universally uniform with few surprises? 

Holderith wrote that according to an Instagram post, "Floating seemingly thanks to the immense amount of air in its tires, the truck made it into the water before local authorities arrived. No, it doesn't have a propeller—he just drove it into the water before getting pulled back by a boat, surrounded by the Coast Guard, sheriff's office and Department of Natural Resources."

The name Detwiler has given his Duramax dieel-powered Silverado is "Monstermax." The eight wheels are purportedly from a piece of heavy machinery.

* * * 

If you've ever been to a monster truck exhibition, you've probably noticed a few things. First, kids love 'em.  Second, these monsters can certainly produce power. And third, a lot of these guys are probably emblematic of the Peter Pan Syndrome. You know the tune, "I won't grow up!"

The most famous monster truck of all time is probably Grave Digger. One reason might be because there are more Grave Digger monsters than you realize. I was going to say here that there were 28 Grave Diggers, but in fact checking I learned there have been 41 built over the years, and 7 still in circulation. 
 
As for Detwiler's antics on the Florida shore, here's a link to TheDrive where you can see a whole batch of photos and links to more: Here's Why an Eight-Wheeled Silverado Monster Truck Went Sailing into a South Florida Bay.


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