The 2014 General Tire Mint 400 Presented by Polaris was held in Jean Nevada. Nevada’s desert is some of the nastiest in the world. The 400 mile course is laid out through rocks, silt, lake beds, and massive whoops. Combine this with 335 of the baddest off-road race cars ever built and you have The Great American Off-Road Race.
The Mint 400 had nearly 100 unlimited race machines entered. This was the largest unlimited field in off-road racing history. Dale Dondel started first off of the line. Dondel started strong, being the first off the line he was running in clean air. A third of the way through the race he lost a motor ending his day and turning the lead over to the #6 Corona truck of Steve Sourapas driven by Andy McMillin. McMillin was running away with it. Menzies, Jones, Vildosala, Dan “4th place” McMillin, Mark Weyhrich and brother Gary, and Trick Truck rookie Travis Pastrana would all make a run for the lead.
Through the dust, rocks and lap traffic the #6 Corona Trick Truck kept it together and ran a flawless race. Bryce Menzies clipped a Joshua Tree and was forced to replace a damaged drive shaft. He lost valuable time and it cost him a podium. Vildosola gave it all he had. Flying through the desert at upwards of 130 mph he pushed his truck hard trying to catch McMillin. Gary Weyhrich was leading the race on corrected time but on his third lap coming out of the Rigid Industries Rock Quarry put the truck on its side causing all the oil to spill out ending their day. Brother Mark who was one position behind him would stop to assist but they waived him on and told him to chase McMillin down. A mechanical problem late in the race would put Weyhrich a few hours down but they would cross the finish line late into the night. Many passes were made across the lake bed. 4 vehicles wide at 130 mph the Trick Truck class put on a show for the helicopters.
With McMillin running away with it, the battle was for 2nd and 3rd. The Mint 400 is a brutal race course to start, but send 40,000 horsepower driven by 39″ tires around it 4 times you end up with a new kind of nasty. Holes the size of SUV’s had formed, basketball sized rocks uprooted by the massive machines littered the race course. The brutal race course punished the vehicles. Many cars lined the track with broken parts.
With a time of 6 hours, 14 minutes and 29 seconds Andy McMillin and co-driver Brady Thompson are your 2014 Mint 400 Champions. Tavo Vildosala kept his truck together and finished second. Dan McMillin finished 3rd and Travis Pastrana in his first ever Trick Truck race finished 4th.
In Class 1500 underrated Jon Walker took the class win finishing in a time of 6 hours, 55 minutes and 37 seconds. 4 minutes behind Walker was Corey Keysar who after winning the Parker 425 last month takes the points lead in his class. For the most of the day Pat Dean was in the lead and was even close to the overall win on corrected time but had to settle for a DNF.
The General Tire Mint 400 Presented by Polaris will continue to make history as long is it exists and with the help of the Nevada BLM and Best In The Desert, that history will continue to be redefined each and every year, one step closer towards it’s glory days of 1967.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
2 LAP RACE RESULTS – CLICK HERE
3 LAP RACE RESULTS – CLICK HERE
4 LAP RACE RESULTS – CLICK HERE
Photos by Jason Zindroski
