Mint 400 Off-Road Race Looks To Carve Bigger Piece From Vegas Sports Market

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Matt Martelli has invested $10 million in the Mint 400 since he and his brother, Josh, bought the off-road race outside Las Vegas seven years ago.

 

And his marketing strategy is simple — make a once-popular off-road race that was dormant for nearly 20 years accessible to desert rat fans who can watch the race from many vantage points and affordable to adrenaline junkie racers who can spend as little as $20,000 on a vehicle and another $5,000 for safety equipment to race in multiple class categories in the Mojave.

 

“This is the wildest, craziest, most American form of racing,” Martelli said Friday afternoon at The Kitchen at Atomic as thousands of off-road race fans strolled along Fremont Street to check out the vehicles that will take to the desert Saturday.

 

There will be 400 race cars in the desert Saturday.

 

Martelli, CEO of Mad Media in Vista, California outside San Diego, grew up in an off-road race culture and bought the Mint 400 from Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts (or SNORE) to resurrect a race event launched as a publicity stunt to promote developer Del Webb’s Mint hotel and casino in 1967. (Webb was also a former co-owner of the New York Yankees.) The Mint, once a downtown Las Vegas hotel-casino mainstay, sent drivers operating a pair of matching dune buggies across the desert from its hotel to Lake Tahoe, California to drum up publicity.

 

The off-beat off-road buggie rally turned into the Mint 400 race until 1989 before going dormant until 2008.

 

This year’s event comes during a busy time for big-time sports in Las Vegas, which hosted UFC, NASCAR, Golden Knights, rugby and bull riding events a week or so ago and has been inundated with no less than four college basketball conference tournaments this week.

 

“We have to fight for it,” Martelli told LVSportsBiz.com of the competition for sports dollars in the Las Vegas market.

 

So, the Mint 400 is trying to continue to grow in this increasingly intense sports entertainment market. The Mint 400 once drew 90,000 visitors in the mid-198os, Martelli said. And he’s looking to build on last year’s crowds of 65,000, hoping that the number of Mint 400 visitors swell to 75,000.

 

For off-road racers, the Mint 400 is their Daytona 500 or Indy 500. There are more than 400 race teams competing in a bevy of classes. The vehicles are stunningly diverse, ranging from $25,000 Polaris RZRs and UTVs to million-dollar trophy trucks.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

“The race lost its luster and we want to make it cool again,” said Nolan Woodrell, business development/sales director for Martelli. “When people go out and see the trucks, they’re hooked.”

 

There’s a loosey, goosey vibe to the Mint 400’s Fremont Street party, as team owners and racers chat with gearhead fans and desert lovers.

 

“We want fans to mix it up with their favorite drivers,” Woodrell said. “Most guys are not getting rich building these trucks. They love driving them in the desert.”

 

Martelli generates revenues from the Mint 400 from selling advertising and sponsorship deals to brands such as BF Goodrich, Polaris RZR, Monster Energy and companies involved in manufacturing products in the off-road racing industry.

 

The Mint 400 is live streaming the entire 16 hours of racing on YouTube, Martelli said. And he buys time on ABC and produces the race content while selling ads for income. Officially speaking, Martelli is the CEO/creative director for Mad Media in Vista, Calif. outside San Diego.

 

Martelli said he studies UFC’s business strategy of integrating celebrities and he hopes to align Hollywood stars with the off-road racing scene.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 

The drivers and team owners have an emotional connection to the off-road race. LVSportsBiz.com caught up with team owner George Pondella, who spends $250,000 a year on his vehicle and 18-person race team. He noted he used to spend $1 million on his trophy truck, but now he gets excited over his $120,000 Can Am vehicle.

 

Pondella believes in off-road racing, noting 30 percent of the car racing industry sales is for UTVs and other off-road vehicles.

 

The Mint 400 even has its own Miss Mint 400 and she’s Bailey Hughes from Prescott Valley, Arizona. “This is a family solid sport,” said Hughes, whose boyfriend is racing the number 913 car Saturday. “These are people I see more than my own family.”

 

*

 

Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/publisher/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com