Like most boys, Bari Musawwir has had a passion for all things trucks since he was a little boy. He would draw and build plastic model trucks and create sound effects.
So when his mother took him to his very first monster truck show at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1986 when he was six years old, Musawwir knew he wanted to make a living driving one of the big rigs.
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| MONSTER TRUCK —Bari Musawwir is shown driving the Spiderman truck, a 10,000-pound Custom Concept 540 CI engine truck with a Coan 2-speed transmission and generates 1,500 horsepower. (Courtesy Photos/Monster Jam)
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“They were bigger than life to me and I knew I wanted to drive one, one day,” said Musawwir, a 31-year-old Orlando resident who was reared in Cleveland. “At 6 I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but when I got older I surrounded myself with good people and I finally did it.”
Musawwir got involved in the radio-controlled cars and trucks five years after his monster truck moment. He began competing at National Radio Control Truck Pulling events with his first radio control truck before he became a teenager.
“I kept trying and got better at driving trucks and began winning places at events and I added more radio control trucks to my racing arsenal over the years,” Musawwir said.
After numerous years of winning radio control truck races and designing his own line of after-market parts for his trucks, Musawwir formed No Limit R/C, his own racing and promotions company. The company held racing events throughout central Florida and was chosen to organize events outside of the Sunshine State.
The group’s largest event was the No Limit R/C Monster Truck Finals. Musawwir said it was during this event in 2006 during Memorial Day weekend where he got what he had been praying for since he was a kid.
“Bill (Easterly with Monster Jam) saw me and asked me if I had any motor sports experience and I didn’t. I know my way around a few wrenches my degree is in design. It is not technical,” Musawwir said.
A week after his encounter with Easterly, Musawwir was invited to test in a private Monster Jam Truck test session. He had two training sessions with Monster Jam, one in 2006 and another in 2009.
“During the testing they want to make sure that you can speak well, have a great look and basically be the complete package. They want to make sure that you can handle the truck the way they tell you to. They look for the throttle rhythm and having the natural ability to adapt to the driving,” he said.
Musawwir’s dream came true in 2010 when he was called to drive in the Monster Jam World Tour Competition in Panama City, Panama driving a truck named Backwards Bob. Soon after, he was given the assignment to drive for the El Toro Loco team in 2011. He is the first and only African-American Monster Truck Driver.
“His very first year, Bari was named Rookie of the Year. I am so proud of him because he gets the chance to live out his dream. He’s always been up for a challenge,” said his maternal grandmother, Ruth Johnson Richey, 83, who resides in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Musawwir comes to Pittsburgh several times a year during Christmas and in the summer for family reunions. “We’ve always supported any dream that Bari had,” she said.
This year, Musawwir was given the assignment to drive the Spiderman truck, a 10,000-pound Custom Concept 540 CI engine truck with a Coan 2-speed transmission producing 1,500 horsepower.
“Spiderman has a big fan base and it’s fun to drive,” Musawwir said. “You have to learn how to respect the equipment because you are dealing with a lot of horsepower and you have to be able to move around the arena.”
He’s excited to be performing in Pittsburgh where his family can see him perform.
“People are going to be treated to a two to two and a half hour show packed with excitement. There’s a wheely contest to see who can do the best wheely and there’s a freestyle contest, which is the drivers’ favorite,” he said. “This is just getting paid to have fun. I’m excited that my family and friends in Pittsburgh can get to see me perform.”
Following his time in the Golden Triangle, Musawwir will be performing in his hometown of Cleveland.
When Musawwir isn’t crushing things while driving Spiderman, he enjoys spending time with his family, going to movies and designing parts for the radio control truck industry. He also writes a column on Monsterjam.com called “Bari’s Adventures” where he chronicles his trips during Monster Jam tours.
(Monster Jam will be held in Pittsburgh Feb. 17-19 at the CONSOL Energy Center. For ticket information call 1-800-745-3000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Box Office at the CONSOL Energy Center.)
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