Mint 400 - History

History

The future of the Mint 400 race came into question in 1988 following the sale of Del Webbs Mint Hotel and Casino to next door neighbor Jack Binion owner of the Horseshoe Club. However as a testament to the race itself, the prestige and importance of the event created by veteran race director K J Howe and the Mint management team and the financial benefit this promotion brought to the City of Las Vegas, under new ownership the annual Mint 400 Off Road Race continued to be run in 1988 and 1989.

Unfortunately, two years removed from previous ownership and upper management that were themselves race competitors and motorsport enthusiasts, who understood and appreciated the importance of this event to the sport of off road racing and the local community and; now owned by an individual that once remarked the race, its competitors, tech inspection on Frement Street and surrounding ancilliary activities, was a negative impact on gambling and his Bingo players, the rougest and toughest racing event on U. S. soil was gone following the 1989 Mint 400 event. Considered a motor racing icon, on the level of the SCORE Baja 1000, a legendary event was dead and a historic era in off road racing had come to an untimely end.

The race resumed on March 29, 2008. The race was preceded by inspections of the vehicles on Fremont Street in the Fremont East district.

The Mint 400 was also the ground topic for Hunter S. Thompson's semi fictional novel "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas". Thompson was originally hired by Sports Illustrated to write photo captions about the race itself, but ended up with about 2,500 words which were rejected by the magazine. These then became the blueprint for the novel later but were originally published in two parts by Rolling Stone magazine.