All Bets Were Off For Alumni Craft Racers At The Mint 400

Las Vegas, Nevada is known for extravagant casinos where you can place a wager on just about anything. At the Best In The Desert Mint 400 race, all bets were off for Alumi Craft racers as the rocky race course had all the odds in its favor. The class 10 racers always put on a great show for the fans, but the brutal conditions created even more drama, and tighter competition than usual; nobody got out unscathed. When the dust settled, Heger would get his first win of the season, and fellow Alumi Craft racer Christian Fessler was third. Both had to overcome difficulties on their way to the podium.

Since teaming up with Eric Dollente last season, Brock Heger has been on a tear; winning several races, the class 10 championship, and rookie of the year honors for Heger. It looked like Brock was off to another big win. Starting on the front row, he built a substantial lead on lap one. Twenty miles into lap 2, he hit a boulder hidden in the whoops that crushed his wheel and flattened his tire. It also bent the brake rotor; taking out the brakes. On lap 3, he tangled with another car that sent him into a roll onto his lid. The damage from the rollover took out his radio, intercom, and GPS navigation. He turned the wick way up on his final lap; knowing he lost 10 minutes due to the roll, and not knowing where the competition was.

“The Mint 400 this year was one of the toughest tracks I have yet to race on,” said Heger, “I went into the pits for my final fuel stop and the crew wanted to fix the brakes, and make repairs. I told them to just leave it alone; we would lose too much time. I knew I had to drive my hardest on the last lap because we lost so much time. When I went past pit B on the final lap, the crew had the roof that came off my car in the roll with “Haul ass” written on it. I knew we would have to push the limits of the car, and told my co-driver we were either going to win this race or end up in pieces. We drove as hard as we could and ended up with the win by 20 seconds. It was one of the most rewarding races I have ever run, and beyond thankful to Alumi Craft for back to back Mint 400 class 10 wins!”

Interestingly, 20 seconds was also the gap between 3rd place Christian Fessler and his next competitor. “We thought it was going to be the day we capitalized on Heger’s misfortune, but we had problems of our own,” said Fessler, “This was the tightest and most competitive race in a while. Sometimes you don’t even see the cars you are chasing down but with the light rain you could see without the dust. I can’t help it, if I see someone in front, I go after them. The course was 10 times rougher than last year. We had no problems with our Alumi Craft car, and our pit stops were flawless; we lost time due to all the rocks killing our tires. That’s why we have an Alumi Craft car. 80 miles from the finish, my co-driver was putting the jack back on the car after a stop for a tire change when the pins got lost. I told him to stash the jack and we would come back for it after the race. It was a gamble to run the last 80 miles with no jack, and no spare, but we knew we were in contention for the podium, and did not want to give that up. Our gamble paid off; we only had seconds over 4th place at the finish. It’s amazing how close it was after 6 hours of racing!”

No matter how tough the challenge, Alumi Craft owners prove the superior performance provided by their meticulously crafted cars every time out. They have the confidence to push hard in the worst conditions imaginable. Regardless if you are competing in the desert, prerunning, or racing wheel to wheel on the track, Alumi Craft is committed to providing you with a competitive, safe and reliable vehicle that exceeds your expectations. They offer many types of cars for competition or pleasure and a long list of services and support. If you demand the best, give Alumi Craft a call at 619-596-9841 or go to: http://alumicraft.info/ to find out more about our race products and services.

Photography By: Bink Designs

About Alumi Craft
Alumi Craft is the premier race car chassis manufacturer in the off road industry. Crafting cars from lengths of 4130 Chromoly tubing is our specialty. We offer a variety of vehicles to accommodate the professional off road racer to the recreational driver. Since 2004, Alumi Craft racers have earned countless wins, six prestigious Lucas Oil Challenge Cup champions and forty-two points championships; sixteen short course and twenty-six in the desert. Darryl Smith 4X, Gabriel Torres 3X, Darren Hardesty Jr. 3X, CJ Greaves 2X, Rob MacCachren 2X, Luke McMillin 2X, CJ Greaves 2X, Gunnar Peterson 2X, Matthew Owen 2X, Broc Dickerson, Brock Heger, Michael Meister, Chris Browning, Rafael Navarro IV, John Fitzgerald, Adam Ollerton, Aaron Ampudia, Roger Starkey Jr., Nathan Martino, Geoffrey Cooley, Mike Valentine, Andrew McClelland, Luke Johnson, Andrew Myers, Roger Starkey, Mitchell DeJong, Mike Porter, Randy Minnier, Cameron Steele, Matt Cullen, Chuck Cheek, Darren Hardesty, and owner John Cooley have all won championships behind the wheel of an Alumi Craft race car.

Visit // www.alumicraft.info