Undoubtedly the most historic Off-Road race in America, The Mint 400, would be a battle of survival for the Monster Energy SXSPerformance.com team. With a pedigree of being one of the roughest and toughest races in America, you never know what is going to happen come race day. To give you a look inside the UTV class alone, there were over 60 UTVs that would take off to do battle against the Nevada desert with only 23 of them able to finish the grueling 400 mile race.
The Mint 400 is an experience that can be very difficult to explain without being able to participate first hand. A week long festival taking over Las Vegas, NV and celebrating the Off-Road racing culture is best coined by the phrase “I went to a party and a race broke out.” Kicking things off on Wednesday was the historic parade down the Strip. Taking over 100 of the coolest vehicles imaginable down the strip in front of thousands of fans and spectators was a sight to behold. We were fortinute enough to have our good friend Joey D with UTVUnderground.com do us the honor and drive our Monster Energy Pro UTV down Las Vegas Blvd. Joey D stated, “I was fortunate enough to be able to drive the 1948 Monster Energy/ SXSPerformance Polaris RZR in the parade with our friend Mike Lasher. It was an amazing thing to be a part of and a memory I will not soon forget.”-UTVUnderground.
When in Vegas, a 4 AM wake up call is not usually what you would expect. But it was RACE DAY! We would start the great american race as the 6th car to leave the line in the UTV class. A great starting position considering their were over 60 UTVs behind us. The race starts just as planned and Burroughs and his co-driver Aaron are calling out mile markers like they were nothing until mile 42. Things go silent… They broke a front lower shock bolt. On top of that, while trying to get it replaced the jack broke. They were able to make do and got it fixed after about 45 minutes of down time. They didn't waste any time and got right back up to speed and calling out mile markers faster than ever. They came thru Pit B at race mile 80 where Matt Lasher, Robby Fischer, and Randy Clary were waiting and gave a quick look over and a splash of fuel. They flew thru the rest of the lap and were out on lap 2 when not long after Pit A they broke another front shock bolt. This time they fixed and were back up and running in no time. As they were working their way towards Pit B there were reports over the radio that they are having a hard time steering the car. Sure enough, as they pulled into the pit we noticed the left front tire had a bunch of camber in it, they lost one of the lower A-arm bolts.
The Mint 400 is a tough race, but while Matt and Aaron hopped out Matt Lasher started getting the left front corner fixed while Randy thru a new spare on the rear of the car from a previous flat. Robby and Matt hopped in while the guys finished up with the front end. And when we say guys, we mean over 15 guys trying to lend a hand getting the car fixed, and out fast. Robby and Matt were off. They cruised for a little bit trying to see how the car felt and getting comfortable with each other, because this was really the first time they had ever been in a race car together. About 15 miles in, they broke a front shock bolt. Both a little confused because Matt and Aaron were having rear shock bolt issues all day, or so they thought. Over the radio they called out rear shock bolts both times they broke so we kept giving them rear shock bolts. We didn't realize that they had been having front shock bolt issues till after the race. Robby dug thru our bag of spare parts and said no front shock bolts. Matt stated, “ As I start thinking of what we can pull a bolt off of to get it to main pit. I double check the bag and find a bolt that's about 5 inches longer than the normal bolt but I shove it in and throw a nut on it and call it good.” Matt Lasher thinking on his toes again. As they started the 3rd and final lap there was about a 45 minute gap till the Trophy Trucks went off the line. Can you imagine? being in a RZR XP1000 Pro UTV Class Build race car, and now the beast of the Trophy Trucks are taking over the course. Strategies change at this point, the only thought is to just get the car to the finish. Making quick work of the first part of the race course they were blowing thru it. With this being Matt Lashers first time behind the wheel of ?#1948 Race car in racing conditions “I was in heaven” stated Matt. A few more shock bolt issues and sitting in the pits. Matt stated, “A trophy truck pit member came up to the window and told me the lead Trophy Truck is about 10 miles out. Robby just looks at me with a face of terror. His first ever desert race and now he has to worry about Trophy Trucks passing us. We pulled out of the pit figuring they would catch us pretty soon. I put the skinny pedal thru the floor trying keep as much of a gap between the fire breathing machines and our "golf cart" as I could.”
The car was eating up everything Matt could throw at it. They made it to mile 100 and no sign of the Trophy trucks yet, and then that eerie sound of helicopters hovering above. With 10 miles to go the racers had to do some fun tight infield type sections and go thru the pits. “At one point I was ready to turn off the intercom. All I could hear was Robby yelling at me to slow down” stated Matt. With no brakes Matt was pushing the car a little harder then he probably should have been but he was on a mission to stay in front of the lead Truck. There was about a minute gap between them and BJ Baldwin the lead Trophy Truck. It was game on for our team and we were not letting BJ around. Our team got to the finish and Bj Baldwin was about 10 seconds behind us. “It took some time to settle in that we had actually finished the 2015 Mint 400” stated Matt. Our car only has 3 races on it and to be able to finish a race like this it pretty cool. Sure it's not a win but we have taken what we can from the 2015 Mint 400.
Without each and every one of our crew members it wouldn't have been possible to do what we did so a special thank you Mike Lasher, Bill Lasher, Jim Lasher, Randy Clary. A huge thank you goes out to the sponsors that keep us in the desert; Monster Energy, SXSPerformance, GBC Motorsports, OMF Performance, PRP Seats, Walker Evans Racing, KC HiLiTES, Torco USA, Summers Brothers Racing, Vendetta Motorsports, and UTV Underground.
