The Mint 400 TV Show This Saturday May 19th On ABC Sports!
This Saturday, May 19th, the race dubbed “The Great American Off-Road Race” airs on ABC Sports. The BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400, now in its forty-first year, is a four hundred mile shootout between the biggest names in off-road racing.
The oldest and most prestigious desert race in the nation, the Mint 400 win is a huge notch in any competitors who manage to take the checkered flag.
The BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 powered by Monster Energy television show airs on ABC’s World of X Games at 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific. Watch 400 of the world’s top off-road racers battle it out during the most grueling and challenging race of the year. See off-road stars BJ Baldwin, Bryce Menzies, Rob MacCachren and more go door to door and as they duke it out with one another and mother nature herself. If you’re a fan at all of off-road racing, or honestly just a fan of racing in general, you do not want to miss this!
Known as “The Great American Off-Road Race™,” The Mint 400 is the oldest, most prestigious, and most challenging off-road race on the planet. This annual four-hundred mile marathon between the top off-road racers in the world includes over three hundred and fifty race teams in twenty-four different classes of off-road vehicles. Established in 1967, The Mint 400 is steeped in American lore. Thousands of racers and celebrities from around the world have attempted to tame the brutal Nevada desert, but less than half of them have ever finished the Mint. An entire week of events lead up to the famed off-road contest in and around Las Vegas, including a vehicle parade down the Las Vegas Strip, a drivers meet and greet, a pit crew challenge contest, the Miss Mint 400 beauty pageant, massive parties, a qualifying race, and a huge ten-block “contingency” gathering on Fremont Street East. Over forty-thousand spectators gather to watch the world’s best off-road race teams do battle at The Mint 400!
According to the race’s website, “The race was created by Norm Johnson who was race director through 1974 and a participant from ’69 to ’82. Initially the race was a public relations event promoting the Mint Hotel’s annual deer hunt. but what started out as hotel promotion soon grew into a legitimate desert race. The second year it was run, Norm enlisted the help of his friends, famed race car drivers Mel Larson and Parnelli Jones. With their endorsements and a guaranteed prize purse of 30,000 the participant list grew exponentially. Entrants in the event were world wide and included some of the most well-known names from all racing genres as well as the television and motion picture industry. Indianapolis 500 winners Parnelli Jones, Al Unser, Rick Mears, and Rodger Ward; off-road champions Mickey Thompson, Ivan Stewart, Jack Flannery, Walker Evans; international off road competitor, Rod Hall; power boat champion Bill Muncey, movie- and television stars James Garner and Steve McQueen; Comedian, Mort Sahl; Astronaut, Gordon Cooper, are among the many racing and entertainment luminaries who competed in the Mint 400.”
The Mint 400 race went on a hiatus in 1988 after the sale of the Mint. However the race was revived in 2008 as The Great American Off-Road Race. Bigger badder and better than ever, the Mint 400 is everything that is was and a whole lot more. Given the advances in off-road technology and the ever changing landscape of Las Vegas, the Mint has grown but all the classic elements are still in place.
