A Son’s Dream – The Backdraft Monster Truck

The very popular fire truck bodied Backdraft that debuted in 2003.

(Story By: Fred Disharoon)

In the quaint little bi-state railroading community of Delmar, Maryland is where a dream began. On 203 Pine St. in Delmar, Maryland was the home of the Disharoons, a family deeply involved in the community. The family consisted of father, mother, and two siblings. Both the father and mother had great interest in the growth of Delmar and were involved heavily. The father was mayor and president of the fire department, and the mother held equal responsibilities on local government commissions and president of the fire department auxiliary. With these interests, naturally the little Dishaoon’s were in the background, forming their future. The son followed the father to the firehouse daily, as that is where the father spent much of his off time. There was a white dog with black spots, Ringo, that followed them. With this type of environment, you can imagine what was going through a little boy’s mind. The red fire trucks were exciting and the alarm when it sounded would never go away.

The scene has been set for the beginning of a dream. To tell more of the story, the father’s occupation was with another group of colors, red, white, and blue Pepsi Cola. He was the food service director, which involved special events mud bogs. Yes, the son followed him here also, gaining more ideas about the future. The ideas of the future were being put together as he grew. In the backyard is where the dream-planning sessions started, with the family riding lawnmower being used as a jump vehicle when the parents were away. As years passed and the little boy grew, he got his first four-wheel-drive, an old International Scout, but it met the requirements for the dream—four wheel drive. Again, supposedly not known to his parents, much practice was happening with a bigger lawnmower. That lawnmower grew into many local famous mud machines, like ‘Wet & Wild‘ and ’Loggers Legend’ to mention a few. They all were designed and built by Rick Disharoon.

As time moved ahead, Rick became involved with timber harvesting. He eventually was the owner of one of the larger timber harvesting operations in Maryland. At the beginning of economical times, he diversified his operation from purchases of larger timber equipment to monster trucks. He had many friends in that field, like Dennis Anderson of Grave Digger and Bob Chandler with Bigfoot. The next step was to get in touch with Dan Patrick of Patrick Enterprises to build the first chassis for the monster truck. Much thought was given as what was going be used as the theme. That little boy’s dream was still in the making. Unknown to anyone, the name and the theme for the new monster truck was developed by him, and is still alive today. The Backdraft monster truck was born. The original truck carried the famous saying, ‘’If you play with fire , you’re gonna get burned.”

That big red fire truck out of a little boy’s dream, the Backdraft monster truck continued to grow with Hot Wheel toys and more. The truck traveled to large arenas in the U.S, Canada and was booked, and on the ship to Australia when 9/11 happened. The truck returned, as all foreign shows were canceled. When it returned, it continued to do shows for Clear Channel, now Feld Motorsports, carrying a message honoring the people who lost their lives in 9/11. Backdraft seemed to always have the longest lines of people to get autographs at pit parties from the time of its conception .

The Disharoon's second truck Sandman.

Backdraft and Black Stallion in Baltimore.

There was the original monster truck with the specially designed flames and flashing lights, and then Rick designed the fire truck style; it was one of the first monster trucks to race at Daytona Beach. He also had a Backdraft ride truck at Wildwood, New Jersey. There was a second truck “Sandman “ that traveled with Backdraft.
With a change in life style, Rick found it best to step aside from the needed traveling with the motorsports arena, so the next move was to find good people to continue Backdraft’s future. It needed to be someone that would continue to grow the image he had built for Backdraft. Those people would have to provide that father-son image like Dennis and his sons Adam and Ryan. At the time Ryan Disharoon was too young to drive Backdraft. The person to be Backdraft’s new owner would be Andy Slifko and his son, Jeremy, who have done a great job to continue to grow the Backdraft Racing Team.

Today, Rick, his wife Sherry, and his son Ryan are in business together. Their company, The Metal Shop, with two divisions, the Commercial Division and Motorsports Division (where the monsters are!) is doing well. Both divisions have grown, as they are a favorite with their customers. The two boys’ dreams will be a reality with the new truck “SAIGON SHAKER.”

NEVER STOP DREAMING!!! WRITTEN FROM A PROUD FATHER