The Mint 400 is an annual desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 off road race

Off-road racing

Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles compete in races through off-road environments.-North America:...

 that was resumed in 2008 after a 20 year hiatus.

The race was for both motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

s, until 1977, and four-wheel vehicles (buggies

Dune buggy

A dune buggy is a recreational vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes or beaches. The design is usually a modified vehicle and engine mounted on an open chassis. The modifications usually attempt to increase the power-to-weight ratio by either lightening the...

, cars

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 and truck

Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

s) sponsored by Del Webb

Del Webb

Delbert Eugene Webb was an American construction magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona.-Early life:...

's Mint Hotel and Casino

The Mint Las Vegas

The Mint Las Vegas was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Opened in 1957, a 26-story hotel tower was added in 1965. In 1988, The Mint was sold and became part of Binion's Horseshoe....

. Del Webb, a well known builder and friend of Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

, was owner of the Mint Hotel in downtown Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. It became known as The Great American Desert Race.

History

The Mint 400 race ended in 1988 after the sale of the Mint and the resulting breakup of the management team.

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

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...

's semi fictional novel "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas". Thompson was originally paid by a magazine to write a short article on the race itself, but ended up with about 25 000 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.

Motorcycle

• 1970 Drino Miller, Vic Wilson
  Vic Wilson (motor racing driver)
  Vic Wilson was a British racing driver from Drypool, Hull, England. He died after an accident at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire....
  
   9:54:5
• 1971 Max Switzer, J.N. Roberts
  J.N. Roberts
  James Nelson "J. N." Roberts is a semi-retired off road and enduro motorcycle racer from Southern California. In the 1960s and 1970s he was a top desert racer on two wheels in the United States....
  
   9:54:5

Notable entrants

Entrants in this event were world wide and included some of the most well-known names from all racing genres as well as the television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and motion picture

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

. Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis 500

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

 winners Parnelli Jones

Parnelli Jones

Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones , is a retired American racing driver and racecar owner. He is most remembered for his 1963 Indianapolis 500 win, and almost winning the 1967 Indy 500 in a turbine car...

, Al Unser

Al Unser

Alfred "Al" Unser is a former American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser, Jr....

, Rick Mears

Rick Mears

Rick Ravon Mears is a retired American race car driver. He is one of three men to have won the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race four times , and the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six...

, and Rodger Ward

Rodger Ward

Rodger M. Ward was an American racecar driver who won the 1959 and 1962 Indianapolis 500. He also was the 1959 and 1962 USAC Championship Car champion.-Early history:...

; off-road champions Mickey Thompson

Mickey Thompson

Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group . He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.Thompson was born in Alhambra,...

, Ivan Stewart

Ivan Stewart

Ivan "Ironman" Stewart is an off road racing driver.-Racing career:In 1973, Ivan was scheduled to co-drive in the Ensenada 300 in a Class 1-2 buggy. His co-driver broke his leg, so Stewart drove the car, and won the race. After some wins under his belt, he joined Toyota factory team in 1983 for...

, Jack Flannery

Jack Flannery

Jack Flannery was an American off-road racing driver who was active in the 1980s and 1990s. Flannery won six short course off-road championships in Short-course Off-road Drivers Association and one in Championship Off-Road Racing . He had over 150 event wins in his career...

, Walker Evans

Walker Evans (racer)

Roger Walker Evans is an Off-road Motorsports Hall of Famer . He was also a driver and owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Walker Evans is nicknamed "the Legend". Walker is the father of off-road racer Evan Evans...

; international off road competitor, Rod Hall

Rod Hall

Roderick Thomas Berringer Hall , literary agent who represented several successful British writers.Having worked for London agency A.P...

; power boat champion Bill Muncey

Bill Muncey

William Edward "Bill" Muncey was an American hydroplane racing legend from La Mesa, California. He won 62 races, the most races in the history of the sport...

, movie-

Movie star

A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...

 and television stars James Garner

James Garner

James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

 and Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen

Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...

; Comedian, Mort Sahl

Mort Sahl

Morton Lyon "Mort" Sahl is a Canadian-born American comedian and actor. He occasionally wrote jokes for speeches delivered by President John F. Kennedy. He was the first comedian to record a live album and the first to perform on college campuses...

; Astronaut, Gordon Cooper

Gordon Cooper

Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. , also known as Gordon Cooper, was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot and NASA astronaut. Cooper was one of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space effort by the United States...

, are among the many racing and entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

 luminaries who competed in the Mint 400.

Mint 400 girls

K.J. Howe, Mint Hotel executive and longtime Mint 400 Race Director, conceived "The Girls of the Mint 400" in 1972 to add glamor and PR value to the race. Each year the Mint racing committee chose a contingent of women to reign over the events' activities. Local media representatives would help select the final ten from the hundreds of entries received from contestants from around the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. The Mint racing committee would select the final five who became known as the Mint 400 girls. This group includes Lynda Carter

Lynda Carter

Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....

 (who portrayed Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

 in the television series) and Wheel of Fortune's Vanna White

Vanna White

Vanna White is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.-Early life:...

. Mint 400 Girls Tracy Vaccaro and Dona Speir were Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

 centerfold

Centerfold

The centerfold of a magazine refers to a gatefolded spread, usually a portrait such as a pin-up or a nude, inserted in the middle of the publication, or to the model featured in the portrait...

s and Vickie Reigle graced Playboy's cover subsequent to their Mint 400 publicity. Lisa Soulé, Anita Merritt, Angela Aames

Angela Aames

Angela Aames was an American actress known for her buxom blonde bombshell image.-Early years:Aames was born in Pierre, South Dakota. She acted in high school and attended the University of South Dakota before coming to Hollywood in 1978. She trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and...

, Lisa Hunter and Suzanne Regard later appeared in various movies and television series as well as Mint Hotel and Casino advertising campaigns.

Impact on journalism

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...

's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas depicts the 1971 race in one of the earliest and best known instances of gonzo journalism

Gonzo journalism

Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...

. His suggestion that he would ride a Vincent Black Shadow

Vincent Black Shadow

The Vincent Black Shadow was a hand-built motorcycle produced by Vincent HRD from 1948. The series "C" which was introduced in 1949 had a 50 degree OHV V-twin engine running a 7.3:1 compression ratio.-Model history:...

 (one of the fastest production road bikes ever made) was most likely tongue-in-cheek, since this bike is too large for off-road riding and the last one produced would have been 16 years old by that time. The Mint is also featured in the movie

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name....

based on Thompson's book.

External links

• www.themint400.com, revival of Mint 400