After many years of lying dormant the
So what’s so great about this race? I would have to say that the Mint 400 always brings out the best competition and it has always been known as one of the Triple Crown events along with the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. Maybe the glitz and glamour of The Fremont Street Experience along with the crowning of Miss Mint 400 could be considered great? That’s all part of the show and one thing is for sure this race is one of the most coveted trophies in all of Off Road Racing.
Great are all the people that come out to support my racing program. People like Jake Johnson and family along with
Great are the companies that support me and they are Slime, AutoZone, BF Goodrich, Reliable Lumber, Wik’s Racing Engines and nothing would happen without the awesome car preparation by Jake’s Fabworks of Anaheim, CA.
Great was the prerun this year because I got to take my friend and Team Dakar
So how great was the race itself? That is a very tricky question that involves a ying and yang because when you don’t come through with the first place trophy you have to resurrect all the positives. You got it I came away with a lot of accolades but no hardware. You have to love this sport to get any satisfaction out of a weekend like mine here at The Mint because it can be grueling and it most certainly is a lot of hard work. With dedication, hard work along with knowing you had a chance to win, this sport can give you something back that no one else can take!
The course was a real challenge this year because the terrain was unarguably the roughest we have raced on since I can remember in all my years of racing. On top of that the wind went still on race day which compounded the difficult driving conditions especially right of the start. Many cars didn’t make it past race mile four because of a huge pile up in the first silt bed off the start.
So how did we do? WE DID GREAT! I always get so many compliments on how professional my team is on and off the track and for the first two and a half laps of the race no one would debate who was in the hunt for a win in class and just maybe a podium overall? Jake and I ran trouble and flat free and we were solidly in second place in class with the third place car over twenty (20) minutes behind when things went south.
So what was the problem? The answer is part failure and it happened two thirds into the race when an axle let go. With that we were stuck with no way to get help and that was the end of our great run. We eventually made it out to the pits and in the end we came home with a 6TH place for the weekend.
The Mint 400 is a great race that I want to win and we will be back next year to claim that prize!
2008 Baja 1000 AutoZone Promo Video