Big Oly Rides Again: Big Oly TT and Original Big Oly Bronco

Marshall Madruga wasn’t at the Baja 1000 in Big Oly’s heyday, but Big Oly’s appeal proved timeless and spawned thousands of fans, Madruga among them. He built and drove a string of vintage Broncos during his high school years, and eventually worked his way into a Class 8 Ford F-100 later in life. Just like Jones after winning the Baja 500, Madruga wanted to up the ante.

Vintage cloak, modern hardware carries through to the wheels. The classic “kidney bean” wheels were custom made by American Racing just for this truck, and they’re wrapped with 39-inch BFG Baja T/A KRT tires. Summers Bros. hubs and Outlaw brakes round out the package.

Vintage cloak, modern hardware carries through to the wheels. The classic “kidney bean” wh

Putting the Class 8 F-100 up for sale, Madruga decided that the next step up would be a Trophy Truck. Now, Marshall isn’t a poor man, but he’s hardly one who can just march into a premier fab shop and sign a big, fat check. A major portion of this truck came from Madruga’s personal skill and sweat equity.

The concept for the Big Oly Trophy Truck came about as Madruga envisioned something that would wrap both his desire for all-out performance with his admiration for Big Oly and Parnelli Jones into one unique package. Using a Sandco Performance chassis as a template, Madruga completed the tube work without the aid of high-zoot fabrication tools or bucks-up computer modeling. “I actually did all of my tube notches using a hand-held Makita grinder,” Marshall says proudly. The result is a machine with state-of-the-art performance that was built the old-school way.

The 9-inch-style rearend combines a Dirt Tech housing with a Currie/Gearworks third member. The third member holds a 10-inch, 5.14:1 ring-and-pinion set that’s bolted to a full spool. Summers Bros. 300M axleshafts take the power from the third member out to the Summers Bros. full-floating hubs that sit at each end of the Dirt Tech housing.

The 9-inch-style rearend combines a Dirt Tech housing with a Currie/Gearworks third member

Next it was time to build that which would set it apart from the rest of the TT field: the body. Obviously, no ready-made Bronco TT fiberglass existed, so Marshall used his years of surfboard shaping and building to his advantage. Just like with the chassis, Madruga’s sweat equity made the final product come to life. After Marshall shaped the body Perry’s Fab N Fiber made teh molds and final fiberglass. The body’s crowning touch is naturally the huge polished wing on top just like the original.

Doing this story the right way involved not just one, but two photo shoots. The first was done in the dirt as usual. The second shoot was near Parnelli’s shop in Torrance, California, with the Big Oly TT and the original Big Oly side by side. It was an awesome opportunity to meet a living legend.

With its up-to-the-minute suspension, highly-tuned drivetrain, and retro skin, the Big Oly TT is the ultimate modern classic. In this case, TT doesn’t just stand for Trophy Truck. This is also a Tribute Truck.