The last thing we wanted was to get run over by a monster truck. That night we hit a local superstore for all the essentials, which includes high-visibility vests. We picked up maps of the race course and attended a briefing that mentioned where we could go and what to watch out for. There is nothing like the smell of the inside of a Vegas casino: cigarettes and buffet food. Nothing a little gaffer’s tape couldn’t fix. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the driver-side mirror decided to quit. Shooting off-road racing had so many challenges that I’ve never faced before, one of which was having to four-wheel my way to shooting locations. On the way to Vegas I picked up two hitchhikers of my shooting buddies, as they were also covering the Mint 400. My Nissan Titan did not have four-wheel drive, but my sister’s Nissan Pathfinder did. The weekend had started in Hollywood, where I went to trade cars with my sister. The Unlimited class mostly consisted of these Trophy Trucks, but since the term ‘Trophy Trucks’ is trademarked they call them ‘Trick Trucks’.Īlso in the Unlimited class were four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive buggies. In fact, some of these cars were driven to the event.Īlso in the Limited class were these smaller all-terrain vehicles, some of which were running two-stroke motors. In the Limited class there were some serious-looking rigs that still somewhat resembled street vehicles. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like for the competitors. It’s crazy as I had a hard enough time navigating the access roads at night with all the dust that was in the air. The race officially ended at 10pm for the Unlimited class guys, so they race well into the night. The race is just one day, but after a few laps the driving line got very rutted and caused many flips – but it also made for some nice jumps. There are three pit areas spread out over the length of the circuit. The course is a 92 mile circuit and the race comprises four consecutive laps for the Unlimited class teams. There were massive elevation changes as well, which provided for some excellent views of the entire race course. There was so much dust that it completely blanketed the valley, including the main highway going into Las Vegas. Much of the high speed sections are run on dry lake beds, where massive clouds of dust get kicked up by the hundreds of race cars. The race is relatively high speed compared to the King Of The Hammers as there was no rock crawling involved, but it is not any less challenging and fewer than 50 percent of the teams cross the finish line. It is held about an hour south of Las Vegas, near the Nevada and California border. It is known as the oldest off-road race in America as it started back in 1967, and many racing legends including Al Unser, Mickey Thompson and Steve McQueen have graced this glamorous off-road test of endurance. I was really looking forward to checking out the Mint 400, as I had heard so much about it. What the drivers have to overcome just to cross the finish line is madness. There are so many variables, as the course is constantly changing over the duration of the race. Off-road racing is very visually appealing – there is such a wide range of racecars and it’s very dynamic both in the appearance of the competitors and the terrain they are running on. My reply is simple: because it is awesome. Ever since I shot the King Of The Hammers race, people have asked me why the sudden interest in off-road racing.
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