Short course off-road racing is back in the West.
On Friday, Unlimited Off-Road Racing announced short course racing has been added to the 2025 Mint 400 weekend. A new course will be developed along the Mint’s start/finish line in Primm, which will then be used for two days of racing on Friday, 7 March, and Saturday, 8 March.
Although not competing in the feature Limited or Unlimited races, the short course vehicles will join their desert counterparts for the parade on the Las Vegas Strip and the Off-Road Festival at the Fremont Street Experience, the latter where technical inspection will take place.
“We have been eager to bring short course racing to the Mint 400 in a more profound way than ever before, harkening back to the Mickey Thompson era,” Unlimited CEO Matt Martelli stated. “We grew up attending the Mickey Thompson stadium races as well as desert races, and it was always a united culture. From racing at Riverside, to the LA Coliseum to downtown Tokyo, Mickey showed us that anything is possible.”
The Mint 400 starts and ends in Primm, a town roughly forty miles from Las Vegas, particularly by the Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino. Primm is no stranger to short course racing, having previously hosted the inaugural round of the now-defunct Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in 2009 as well as the season finale; however, it only lasted that one year as Alex Striler, then the sales and marketing director for Lucas Oil, recalled in 2017 that it was “too windy and didn’t attract a lot of spectators.”
Great American Shortcourse was originally due to race at Primm in 2023 but it was eventually moved. GAS shut down at the end of the year, leaving the West Coast without a major short course presence.
“We are looking forward to expanding our infrastructure and feature these remarkable vehicles to the massive built-in audience of the Mint 400,” commented UNLTD event director Kilian Hamlin. “We’re thrilled to unleash Pro 2s, Pro 4s, and more Pro classes on a newly prepped short course track at the official start/finish line in Primm, Nevada. Get ready for some mind-blowing door-to-door off-road action, we’re excited to welcome the short course racing community to the Mint 400.”