Mint 400 – FANS MEET RACERS AND PIT CREWS FACE OFF

Mint 400 – FANS MEET RACERS AND PIT CREWS FACE OFF

FANS MEET RACERS

The first event today on Fremont Street for the 2016 Mint 400 was the Rugged Radios Meet & Greet, where fans could get up close and personal to the drivers to get autographs and have their photo taken with their favorite driver. Tracy Graf, Justin Lofton, Jason Coleman, and Cole Potts were just a small sample of racers that stopped by the Rugged Radios booth to interact with fans.

New to this year’s Mint 400 was the Rigid RoundUp where contestants entered their personal vehicles in a competition to see who has the baddest ride around. There were five categories; Vintage, Prerunner, Chase Truck, 1450 Class, and Street King. Three awards were given out which included The People’s Choice Award, given to the truck with the most votes online. Best in Show, awarded by on-site judges to the best looking truck overall, and Best in Class, to the baddest vehicle in each category.
The contest offered $20,000 in cash and prizes, including a Rigid light bar, set of BFG Tires, and a photoshoot with the Miss Mint winner in Dirt Sports magazine.
The winners are:

The People’s Choice Award – Tim Grachen

Best in Show – Alan Larson

Best in Class

Vintage – Steve Olliges

Prerunner – Alan Larson

Chase Truck – Nick Cress

1450 Class – Rick Randle

Street King – Audry Bird

PIT CREWS FACE OFF

The final event today was the Pit Crew Challenge, sponsored by Method Race Wheels. Having a strong pit crew is vital in today’s racing and this pit crew challenge lets teams showcase the talent they have on their team. Races can be won or lost in the pits. A slow pit stop can make the difference between maintaining your position or getting passed by the guy behind you.
Like previous years the pit crew challenge was divided into two categories, Trick Truck and Class 1500. Last years winner Steve Olliges returned to defend their TT crown as did COPS Racing crew teaming up with Chase Motorsports. Starting with the Elite 8, teams battled for every tenth of a second to move on to the next round, and as each round went by the competition got more fierce.
In the end only two teams could win the Method Race Wheels Pit Crew Challenge and they were Menzies Motorsports in Trick Truck defeating Strobel Motorsports in the final round, and COPS Racing in Class 1500 who narrowly beat AGM Motorsports. Both teams won a custom floor jack trophy hand painted by Kelly and Sons Crazy Painters, as well as a set of Method Race Wheels, BFG Tires, FOX 2.0 Performance Series Smooth Body IFP shocks, Speed Strap Tie Downs and more.

X