Baja Designs Racers Dominate The Mint 400
The Mint 400 is the oldest off-road race in North America, taking place annually in Primm, NV. Athletes endured four 107-mile laps, totaling 428 miles of brutal off-road racing. High performance lighting played an even more important role than usual due to last-minute schedule changes. Racers were caught off-guard with race classes moving from Saturday to Friday, along with adjusted start times. The change caused many teams to rush to add lighting… queue The Scientists of Lighting.
Baja Designs’ TeamBD racers carried on the trend of absolute domination of nearly every class. In the Unlimited Truck class, Baja Designs racers took first and second place. Luke McMillin achieved two for two this race with his seemingly flawless 1st place finish. “I told Luke, let’s let this one come to us. And it came to him about the last 20-miles,” said Mark McMillin of his son’s race. Luke had been racing in the top three all day, but hadn’t yet taken the lead, until 20 miles out when Ryan Arciero suffered a flat tire allowing Luke to make the pass. “Thank you to Baja Designs, our great light company. We actually needed them!”. Second place finisher, Bryce Menzies took 2nd in his new AWD truck, coming off a first place finish at King of the Hammers a month prior. He was excited to try out his new lighting set-up! Both Bryce and co-driver, Oren, loved the change to the 40” OnX6+ Amber Dual bar and how evenly the light was spread.
First-place finisher of the Pro Turbo class, Branden Sims, raved about the night section. “You know what, I really love racing at night. I gotta put that out there. My Baja Designs lighting just killed it. I wouldn’t mind doing more night racing. I love it!” Branden ran a race that others have only dreamed of. With an early lead and virtually no mistakes or mishaps, it seems that this was his race to win from the get-go.
Pro Turbo class 2nd place finisher, Jake Carver, commented, “The Mint 400 course was far more brutal by nightfall. Our Baja Designs light package provided us with the daylight we needed to make up time and yield a podium finish! Night racing always presents additional dangers in the desert, our team only trusts Baja Designs to guide us through the night safely. The new LP4 lights not only provided exceptional forward-facing light, but also cornering light like we have never experienced. The LP4 received endless compliments on Fremont St. during tech/contingency. I think it’s my new favorite light!”
“This year’s Mint 400 was by far the roughest Mint we have ever raced. With the change in start time and the increase in laps, we figured we would be seeing some night-time racing,” mentioned Dustin Jones. With a last place start in the random draw, Dustin Jones #978 in the Pro Turbo class, knew he would have a battle ahead of him. “We knew we would deal with dust all day and lapped traffic at night. With the combination of our S8 Amber, OnX6+, and Racer edition XLs, we had no problem cutting through the night and battling through the dust on our way to a podium finish!” Against all odds, Dustin Jones and his co-driver Dustin Henderson managed to achieve a 3rd place finish after 428-miles of vicious terrain, 214 of those in darkness.
In addition to the regular classes, the Mint 400 also added a special Military class which allowed our veterans to compete in military grade vehicles. Danny Novoa, combat wounded Marine and member of Warfighter Made, a non-profit organization for wounded and disabled vets and partner of Baja Designs, took 1st place along side a team of vets in Flyer 22. “When putting our Nation’s Heroes behind the wheel of our off-road vehicles, we trust Baja Designs to light up the night,” Rob Blanton, CEO of Warfighter Made.
Early morning starts before sunrise, and finishes late into the night allowed Baja Designs to further demonstrate excellence in LED and Laser lighting technology. First place finishers Luke McMillin and Branden Sims trust The Scientists of Lighting to safely guide them through the night to a podium finish – and Baja Designs is proud to support the best racers in the game!
