B
esides the Baja 1000,
perhaps no desert race is
as iconic as The Mint 400.
Everyone has heard of The Mint
400!
The race, originally known as
"The Mint 400 Del Webb Desert
Rally," was born to showcase The
Mint Hotel & Casino in Las Ve
-
gas, and the racecourse covered
400 miles (or thereabouts) of
the Nevada desert. The inaugu-
ral Mint 400 took place in 1968,
marking the beginning of one of
the sport's most legendary races.
The Mint 400 catered to
four-wheelers, but motorcycles
quickly became a major part of
the race. All the top desert racers
took part, like Malcolm Smith,
J.N. Roberts, Max Switzer and
Mitch Mayes. The Roberts and
Switzer team won the race in
1971, covering the "400" miles in
nine hours, 54 minutes, and five
seconds.
One of the race's big attrac
-
tions was its purse. In 1972, the
total purse was $56,000! That
was a giant sum of money back
then, equivalent to more than
$400,000 in today's money. The
top motorcycle team would take
home $12,000. Not bad at all.
Once the word got out, not just
desert racers but also a few mo
-
tocrossers like Rolf Tibblin, Bob
Grossi, Rich Thorwaldson, Mark
Blackwell, and John DeSoto all
wanted a slice of the Mint pie.
Roberts and Switzer were back
to win it again in 1972, facing a
deep field of talented motorcycle
racers. Roberts started for the
duo, and it wasn't long before he
had the motorcycle lead. Thor
-
waldson was right there after
the first lap, but the quickest of
all was Terry Clark. However, on
the second lap, Clark's teammate
Mitch Mayes came to a rolling
halt with a broken bike. Their
race was over way too soon.
Switzer, on their team's
Husqvarna 400, maintained the
physical lead over the pursu
-
ing Suzuki of Thorwaldson and
DeSoto, but it was close. By the
end of the fourth lap, the teams
were tied with an elapsed time of
CNII ARCHIVES
P140
BY KIT PALMER
PUTTING IT TO THE DESERT RATS
THE MINT 400 - 1972
Rolf Tibblin (pictured)
split the $12,000
purse with Bob Grossi
for winning the Mint
400 in 1972.
