March 10, 2017
[ssba]

Since 1997, Vision X has attended many Mint 400 off-road races, but this year marked a renewed focus. While Vision X has been producing the brightest and furthest reaching lighting products, our on-site event set-up has been fairly limited so were excited to be back in the action. Thank you to all of the Teams and fans who welcomed our crew, and thank you for joining us during the great race week. #TeamVisionX

Starting the week festivities with a party at Hogs & Heifers Saloon in Las Vegas with race vehicles on display, to rolling the new Vision X Semi into place for Contingency/Tech. Thousands of fans came out to see the pre-race action of off-road buggies, Trick Trucks and tons of UTVs. We were happy to have Team Valvoline/Cummins, Pat Dean, Fire Guys Racing and TPF Racing inside our compound, handing out stickers, and hanging out with the off-road fans.

 

During the Mint 400 qualifying sessions both Pat Dean in the Vision X/SpeedStrap backed Unlimited Class buggy, and Eric Hustead & TJ Flores in the ELE Motorsports Trick Truck proved to be hot for race day. Pat Dean qualified 24th and Third Unlimited Buggy, while Hustead landed 33rd of 67 unlimited race vehicles.

Race day kicked off and Team Vision X was in full assault mode.  Some teams had fame, some had misfortune but none of them quit without a fight to the end.  Brock Heger & Eric Dollente piloting the JV Race Prep / Method Race Wheels Class 10 Alumicraft Race Car took the field by storm and secured the Class win!

Coming off the SCORE Baja 1000 win, Justin Davis had his sights set on the Mint 400 victory when an early race mishap by driving partner Adam Wik sent the team into a nasty crash.  Everyone was okay, but the XPRS LED Bar equipped Green Army Motorsports “Frogger” will need extensive work before the SCORE San Felipe 250. This team has the best in the business at the shop, they’ll be ready!

Pat Dean & Shane Robinson took their Vision X buggy from 24th to 2nd place, marking one of Dean’s top finishes at the grueling Mint 400 off-road race.

Long-time Vision X racer, Reid Rutherford took his Fines Double Racing truck to the front for another Team Vision X class win!

In the fastest class of the day, the driving duo of Eric Hustead & TJ Flores took the ELE Motorsports toward the front.  Slamming through the desert and overcoming an apparent hood ejection, they took their LED Light Cannon Equipped Trick Truck to 9th place for the day.

German Family Racing entered their tried-true and proven Class 8 into the Trick Truck class this year. As they build a new beast specifically for Trick Truck at their shop, KITTY II as she’s named fought hard but came up with some mechanical issues retiring the race, but not without some epic photo ops.

Team Valvoline / Cummins Inc. came to Mint 400 for more fun after a great learning experience at the SCORE Baja 1000. They were able to take the 6.7″ LED Light Cannon equipped 8114 truck to a 10th place finish of 25 starters.

The fastest growing class in desert racing, likely in all of motorsports, the UTVs have been stacking the entries and this year 49 UTVs took to the Mint 400 course.  UTV newcomer, Sven Ellstrom has the industry turning heads as he took his Vision X Optimus Headlight equipped Holz Racing Products built Polaris RZR Turbo to a third-place podium finish!  This young racer has now finished First and Third in his first two races!

If there’s one UTV team you can count on to cross the finish line it’s Brandon Schueler in the Jagged X racing Polaris RZR. With 8 championships to their name, Jagged X racing knows how to to get the job done, resulting in a solid 6th place finish this year.

After debuting the most hyped UTV race car in years, Dustin Jones and the S3 Racing team have been hampered with bad luck.  A nasty crash in the last two races have really tested the team.  Having won this race in the past, they knew how to win, but were tested with some down time and fought back to a 7th place finish in the UTV Turbo class.

Mobbin’ Racing’s Michael Isom brought their new LSR Racing built, dirt eating monster, Can-Am Maverick X3 to a 9th place finish!

Adrian Orellana rounded out the Top-10 in Pro UTV Non-Turbo and proved the Vision X Xmitter Prime Amber equipped Assault Industries / KMC Wheels Polaris RZR 1000 has the right combination to contend for top finishes.

Malcom Sneed III, S3 Racing Team Owner, testing the CanAm Maverick through the rough course. 4.5″ LED Light Cannons equipped.

Jason Hutter of Fire Guys Racing shows us how brutal the Mint 400 course can be on the vehicle and all equipment. XPR Series LED Light Bars taking a beating and keep on ticking!

Fire Guys Racing JeepSpeed piloted by Mark Murrell locked down their Fourth podium finish in five races!

For some of the racers, quality lighting became important to finish the long race.