About 400 Entered in Las Vegas Off-Road Race

LAS VEGAS —  About 400 drivers will take off across the desert today in the Mint 400 off-road race, one of the oldest and most prestigious off-road events in the country.

Drivers racing everything from motorcycles to 4-wheel drive pickup trucks will race four laps over a 100-mile course south of Las Vegas in a race that organizers say will attract more than 60,000 spectators.

The event has attracted drivers from as far away as Japan.

Race organizers say a team of six Japanese drivers with four vehicles will be on the line when the 21st annual version of the race begins at 7 a.m. near Jean, 30 miles south of here.

This year’s Mint 400 course is expected to the the fastest in history, and the new layout has drivers and racing officials upset.

The faster course, which will have trucks going up to 120 m.p.h. on straightaways, has drawn complaints for being too dangerous and for catering to small trucks whose manufacturers sponsor the event.

This year’s course differs from previous years’ in that it consists more of power line roads, which have been smoothed down by utility trucks.

Organizers had planned a more challenging route that went into California, but the Bureau of Land Management killed the plan because it could have endangered the desert tortoise.