Moss Brothers Win 2008 Mint 400

Mint 400 Race Notes from Don Moss

The SCORE San Felipe 250 was held Saturday, March 15. The crew this time was myself, Ken, Dave, Dan, Robert, Rick, Amber, Tom and Julie. Rick (Flyin Bronco) was with us at Laughlin. We rolled in on Friday morning in time for the BFG meeting and then did the contingency and Tech parade. The local crowds were not huge, but seemed happy to see us. Through a snafu last year, the course had been moved to Ensenada 10 days before the race, leaving everyone hanging.

Last weekend was the first of the re-born Mint 400 races, traditionally held in Las Vegas. Of course the Mint hotel does not even exist anymore, but the name is still remembered by many racers, and there is a tremendous amount of history from those old races. I had been several times in the 80's as a crew member for various teams, never thinking I would actually race in one.

It turned out to be what I thought was a very good event. The race was organized by SNORE, which is an entirely volunteer operated and they did a heck of a job. My hat is off to them.

One of the features of the original Mint 400 was that tech and contingency were held on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. In the old days the street was shut down and it was in general a circus for the event, mixing tourists, gamblers and racers. This was recreated for the race this year, which was quite an accomplishment in this day and age. We actually drove the race truck around the city streets to get to and from Fremont Street, normal in Mexico, but almost unheard of here. We missed most of the festivities on Thursday, but there were still quite a few vintage vehicles on display on Friday.

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The race started early Saturday morning near Jean, Nevada. The old races I had been to in the 80's had been held in Northern Las Vegas, but this was run on much of the same course that we use for the SCORE Primm races in September. We started on the first row with the Pike Ramcharger. This was to be a 4 lap race, with each lap 96 miles long. Another tradition of the Mint race is a drag race start where two vehicles leave side by side. Gale Pike is in his 70's and has driven in many Mint races in the past, however we were able to beat him to the first corner, and that was the last we saw of the other entries in our class. I drove the first two laps, and Ken drove the last two. We had no problems at all, and never laid a tool on the truck, even though I thought the wheels or springs were falling off at the end of the first lap. It turned out to just be some weird terrain and maybe the shocks fading a little bit. Nevada sure provides some brutal terrain to race in, and rivals San Felipe for rough.

The other entries that came to race were the Pike Ramcharger, the Leavitt Bronco, the BC Broncos early Bronco, and the Toyota FJ40 that took the SCORE championship last year. Unfortunately, the BC Bronco had terminal cooling system problems that kept them from even starting the race. As always, we ran our own pace, which turned out to be very similar to that of the FJ, and we were surprised to find them at just about the same split time throughout the first three laps, even though they had 3 different drivers.

We swapped out co-drivers each lap, with Craig riding the first, Rich riding the second, Chris the third, and Dan the last. We really missed having BFG there to provide pits, and we had to dump our own fuel. A huge thanks to crew chief Dave Grundman for turning the truck around in less than 2 weeks, and then making the entirely-too-mature decision to stay home and attend to business rather than go with us to the race. We installed some spare rear springs, new transmission coolers and radiator for this race, all of which we had trouble with at San Felipe. Thanks to Gary for whipping out new numbers (new numbers each race is really a pain!). Thanks to Rich, Mike, Dennis, Randy, Brock, Dan, Craig, Rob, and Chris, who were all there at the race in support of our effort. Rich for putting us up Thursday night in Henderson and making his co-driver debut on lap 2. Mike rolled in with a full-on industrial service truck that turned a few heads, unfortunately he had to leave on a real service call before we finished lap 1. Also a huge thanks to Greg Weirick for providing a pit at Pit B that we never used (but a radio relay that we did use) after his primary team (BC Broncos) did not start. Greg was out there waving us on lap after lap (you could not miss him, no pit sign required!). If there is something beyond a hard luck award, Chuck and the BC Bronco team would have won it.

The FJ Toyota really turned up the wick on the last lap in the 30 miles between pit B and C and gained more than 10 minutes on us. When Ken heard that they were gaining, he found the afterburner button and gave Dan quite a ride to the finish and the win. The FJ would have only had to finish within 30 seconds of us to take the win, which is nearly impossible to monitor without tracking devices and limited access for crews on the course. It turned out that the FJ had the front ring and pinion explode in the last 20 miles of the last lap, that slowed them considerably, and they finished 20 or 30 minutes behind us, after being within 7 minutes at Pit C. The Leavitt Bronco finished third, but the Pike Ramcharger had front axle problems that stopped them on the first lap.

Next race on the Moss Brothers Racing schedule is the Baja 500, May 30-June 1.

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