The sound of testosterone, horsepower, and the smell of race fuel echoed off hotel and casino walls as 100 race vehicles marched down The Las Vegas Strip in the 4 Wheel Parts Mint 400 Vehicle Parade to officially start the 2015 Polaris RZR Mint 400, Presented by General Tire.
Leading the parade was this years Grand Marshall and offroad racing legend Larry Ragland, who escorted the convoy in his iconic Class 1 car (which one the 1986 Mint 400) nicknamed “Tetanus” by his mechanics. Ragland and millions of dollars of offroad technology followed him down the famous Las Vegas strip.
“It’s really cool we get to parade down the strip and expose our sport to hundreds of thousands of people vacationing in Vegas,” said Matt Martelli, CEO and co-owner of The Mint 400. “Its always the goal to expose the sport of offroad to new eyeballs and this is the perfect way.”
Starting at the South Point Casino, racers eagerly awaited a 1pm start time to drive their race cars passed famed landmarks and casinos as well as newly constructed behemoth hotels. Different from last year, the parade marched all the way through the strip and continued to Freemont Street.
“Driving down Las Vegas Blvd in a race truck is always a fun and unique experience. It gives the general public an up close and personal glimpse of what these vehicles are”, commented Jerry Zaiden, owner and driver of the Camburg Racing #6175 truck.
The hustle and bustle of Las Vegas came to a stop as tourists lined the streets to see taxi cabs, tour buses, and Uber drivers be replaced with offroad vehicles
of all shapes and sizes from Trick Trucks to UTV’s.
