The 2012 General Tire Mint 400 was held March 21st – March 24th, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over nine-hundred racers, spanning fourteen countries and three-hundred professional off-road race teams, competed in twenty classes of vehicles – and battled 400 miles of grueling Nevada desert! The highly coveted Mint 400 Championship went to Robby Gordon, who piloted his SPEED Energy, Class 1500 racecar to victory – with a margin of three minutes over the second place overall finisher and Class 1400 winner Rob MacCachren. Third place overall went to Adam Householder of Householder Motorsports.
The Mint 400 festivities were held on Fremont Street from Wednesday through Friday night, and included a “Pit Crew Challenge,” official Mint 400 party, the crowning of the new Miss Mint 400, Vanessa Golub-Ferrara, and the famous vehicle parade and tech inspection. Estimates on attendance top sixty-five thousand – including the over fifteen-thousand spectators that watched the race for free, near Jean, Nevada on Saturday, March 24th.
“The Mint 400 is now the biggest off-road race event on the planet!” said Mint 400 CEO Matt Martelli. “Between the largest group of world-class off-road racers ever assembled…all of their crews and families, and the wonderful support of our fans and spectators from all over the United States – we came close to seventy-thousand people throughout the week. It was a fantastic day of racing for teams and fans, and not a single person was injured. That’s amazing!”
The Mad Media production crew covered the event from both the ground and the air – employing thirty seasoned off-road cinematographers, photographers, and producers, as well as a custom A-Star helicopter that was outfitted with a Cineflex camera system, capable of capturing steady images at over 140mph.
“The Mint 400 Facebook analytics show us that we reached 1.25 Million people over the weekend. That’s an amazing value for our sponsors and race teams and really proves that we are on the way to making this the most important annual race event in the world. We have begun production on a one-hour television special and iTunes download that will showcase all the great stories from the race. This has been a fantastic experience for all of us,” commented Mint 400 COO Joshua Martelli.
For more information on The Mint 400 and press photos/video, visit www.themint400.com
Photography by Vincent Knakal of Mad Media
