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Adam Householder enjoys “flawless day” to win Mint 400 Unlimited

The Mint 400 is one of the toughest off-road races in America, but Adam Householder was more than up for the challenge. In fact, as many of his rivals dropped out or suffered mechanical issues, Householder’s Unlimited Truck was perfect from start to finish.

After chasing down Ryan Arciero for the first of four laps, he took the lead and never had to look back particularly close. Although Arciero and Christian Sourapas provided the biggest challenges, both were hit by truck problems on the final lap that enabled Householder to pull away. Kyle Jergensen, the 2022 Mint 400 winner, inherited second after Arciero was knocked out by a broken driveline and finished almost eleven minutes back.

The reigning Unlimited Off-Road Racing Series champion, Householder began his title defence on a strong note when he finished won the Unlimited overall at the Parker 400 in January. Now two-for-two in the 2024 season, he can complete the clean sweep by taking the California 300 in October.

“We had a flawless day. No issues, nothing. Never had to get out, had a fantastic day,” said Householder. “We just ran with everyone at the beginning to kind of see what their pace was doing and set it from there. Everyone just kept dropping out like flies and we just proceeded to go to the front.

“It’s not easy out there. By the time you get to the last lap, it is brutal. You’re hitting kerbs, I just tried to keep the truck alive and that’s what we did. There’s a lot of rocks out there, and so he was on it, Trevor (Ellingham) did an incredible job all day telling me what to do, where to go, and we made it happen.”

Sourapas started the race alongside Householder but spent most of the day pursuing him after the latter gained the early advantage. Brake wear caused him to fall back slightly before he came to a stop entirely on the final lap while running second. He eventually salvaged a top-five finish.

“It was an eventful day,” Sourapas began. “Had a really clean first lap, lost the holeshot to Adam, so I knew he was going to set a really good pace. We stayed in his dust pretty much the whole lap. Lap two, we started to run into a little bit of brake fade. Still in the hunt for the most part, and then halfway through the last lap, lost the brake pedal entirely. Had to pull over an fix that and did the whole last lap with only front brakes. Trying to stop a six thousand-pound truck with only fronts is a little bit challenging, especially when you’ve been in a truck for seven hours and you’re ready to get the hell out of it.”

Arciero, who led the first lap before losing an alternator, assumed the runner-up position following Sourapas’ brake failure only for the driveline to break an hour later. While he still reached the finish, it was just another addition to a long string of bad luck at the Mint; he was leading the 2022 race late before his truck lost power, then retired in 2023 with a broken transmission.

“I don’t know what it is about the Mint 400, but it kicks my ass every time,” Arciero remarked. “We’ve been second, we’ve been third, we’ve been fourth, we’ve been second again and we’ve been third.

“I need to get this monkey off my back. I don’t know what I need to do to do it. I don’t know if I need some voodoo, some sage, I don’t know what it is. But we’ll get it.”

2023 winner Eric Hardin and twice victor Rob MacCachren failed to complete a lap before bowing out, a fate that also befell nine other drivers including all three in Class 1 Unlimited headlined by Casey Currie. Pole winner Nic Whetstone struggled and finished nineteenth overall, while Parker 400 Class 1 winner Conner McMullen was disqualified for illegal outside assistance.

Troy Grabowski joined Householder and Jergensen on the outright podium. Cole Potts, who rolled in qualifying on Friday, rebounded to win the 4WD truck class. Marco Fuentes Zaragoza finished sixteenth overall and won Class 1, though the former could have been much higher as he ran second at halfway before having to make late repairs.

Unlimited class winners

ClassOverall FinishNumberDriver of RecordTotal Time
4400 Unlimited404482Cole Johnson8:37:14.509*
Class 116179Mario Fuentes Zaragoza8:04:07.806
Class 1 UnlimitedDNFN/ANo FinishersN/A
Unlimited Truck 2WD124Adam Householder6:46:59.415
Unlimited Truck 4WD460Cole Potts7:05:11.247
Unlimited Truck Legends20L22Robert Malone8:37:18.210
Unlimited Truck SPEC2222Kyle Jergensen6:57:45.928
* – Did not complete all four laps

Unlimited overall results

PositionNumberDriver of RecordClassLaps TimeMargin
124Adam HouseholderUnlimited Truck 2WD46:46:59.415Leader
2222Kyle JergensenUnlimited Truck SPEC46:57:45.928+ 10:46.513
3272Troy GrabowskiUnlimited Truck SPEC47:03:16.722+ 16:17.307
460Cole PottsUnlimited Truck 4WD47:05:11.247+ 18:11.832
56Christian SourapasUnlimited Truck 2WD47:11:38.709+ 24:39.294
6263EJ HerbstUnlimited Truck SPEC47:16:28.504+ 29:29.089
7205Trey GibbsUnlimited Truck SPEC47:17:46.409+ 30:46.994
8246James ScullyUnlimited Truck SPEC47:22:53.449+ 35:54.034
9273Jordan BrenthelUnlimited Truck SPEC47:32:17.278+ 45:17.863
1034Brett ComiskeyUnlimited Truck 4WD47:36:09.116+ 49:49.071
11279Cole HardinUnlimited Truck SPEC47:37:46.604+ 50:47.189
12282Brent FoxUnlimited Truck SPEC47:38:24.757+ 51:25.342
139Ethan EbertUnlimited Truck 2WD47:41:46.127+ 54:46.712
14250Nick IsenhouerUnlimited Truck SPEC47:50:36.766+ 1:03:37.35
1591Alexander WackerUnlimited Truck 2WD47:56:03.651+ 1:09:04.23
16179Mario Fuentes ZaragozaClass 148:04:07.806+ 1:17:08.39
1732Ryan ArcieroUnlimited Truck 2WD48:06:12.475+ 1:19:13.06
18224Terry HouseholderUnlimited Truck SPEC48:23:10.031+ 1:36:10.61
1918Nic WhetstoneUnlimited Truck 2WD48:26:12.389+ 1:39:12.97
20L22Robert MaloneUnlimited Truck Legends48:37:18.210+ 1:50:18.79
21204Maxime LosierUnlimited Truck SPEC48:39:53.175+ 1:52:53.76
22295Pat GaileyUnlimited Truck SPEC48:41:38.728+ 1:54:39.31
23202Neal DrickeyUnlimited Truck SPEC48:44:05.194+ 1:57:05.77
24233Josh HorschelUnlimited Truck SPEC49:11:47.524+ 2:24:48.10
25262Lincoln DayUnlimited Truck SPEC49:11:52.890+ 2:24:53.47
26111Jay ReichertClass 149:14:38.320+ 2:27:38.90
27299Sid MattilaUnlimited Truck SPEC49:16:28.015+ 2:29:28.60
28210Louis HorschelUnlimited Truck SPEC49:38:48.473+ 2:51:49.05
29288Andre LaurinUnlimited Truck SPEC49:42:56.722+ 2:55:57.30
30211Thomas St. PeterUnlimited Truck SPEC49:45:23.569+ 2:58:24.15
31269CJ FaisonUnlimited Truck SPEC49:51:06.573+ 3:04:07.15
32227Jack OlligesUnlimited Truck SPEC410:02:58.958+ 3:15:59.54
33274Shane LewisUnlimited Truck SPEC410:07:32993+ 3:20:33.57
34230Chad HallUnlimited Truck SPEC410:07:32.993+ 3:35:53.61
3597BJ BaldwinUnlimited Truck 2WD410:22:53.031+ 3:51:22.01
36255Kirk HarkeyUnlimited Truck SPEC310:38:21.428+ 1 Lap
37251Michael HalversonUnlimited Truck SPEC35:47:52.213*+ 1 Lap
3819Tim HerbstUnlimited Truck 2WD36:06:59.262*+ 1 Lap
39212Paul KrausUnlimited Truck SPEC38:25:26.673*+ 1 Lap
404482Cole Johnson4400 Unlimited38:37:14.509+ 1 Lap
414497Mike Spindler4400 Unlimited39:10:31.730+ 1 Lap
4288David BernsteinUnlimited Truck 2WD39:16:27.739+ 1 Lap
43127Drew NormanClass 139:22:52.490+ 1 Lap
44245Adam CastanedaUnlimited Truck SPEC23:40:47.505*+ 2 Laps
4544Bill ApgoodUnlimited Truck 2WD23:55:44.341*+ 2 Laps
4631Michael FryeUnlimited Truck 2WD24:05:03.625*+ 2 Laps
4770Kevin ThompsonUnlimited Truck 2WD11:40:50.167*+ 3 Laps
48201Jason ColemanUnlimited Truck SPEC11:44:03.956*+ 3 Laps
49219Thor HerbstUnlimited Truck SPEC11:45:55.189*+ 3 Laps
50267Bret JeffersUnlimited Truck SPEC11:47:39.275*+ 3 Laps
51129Madix BaileyClass 111:53:11.715*+ 3 Laps
52266Harrison WeissUnlimited Truck SPEC11:55:59.105*+ 3 Laps
53214Donald CerroneUnlimited Truck SPEC11:58:59.749*+ 3 Laps
54284Justin “Bean” SmithUnlimited Truck SPEC12:12:01.378*+ 3 Laps
55208Garrett GentryUnlimited Truck SPEC12:22:29.105*+ 3 Laps
5679Eric HardinUnlimited Truck 2WD0DNF+ 4 Laps
5711Rob MacCachrenUnlimited Truck 2WD0DNF+ 4 Laps
5826Jonathan BrenthelUnlimited Truck 4WD0DNF+ 4 Laps
59L23Luis SaenzUnlimited Truck Legends0DNF+ 4 Laps
60U103Keith BassoClass 1 Unlimited0DNF+ 4 Laps
61U102Casey CurrieClass 1 Unlimited0DNF+ 4 Laps
62U105Shannon CampbellClass 1 Unlimited0DNF+ 4 Laps
63115Dan MyersClass 10DNF+ 4 Laps
64277Travis WilliamsUnlimited Truck SPEC0DNF+ 4 Laps
65254Trevor BrainUnlimited Truck SPEC0DNF+ 4 Laps
66271Chase BarbieriUnlimited Truck SPEC0DNF+ 4 Laps
DNS27Steve OlligesUnlimited Truck 2WD0DNSN/A
DNS141Kyle McMullenClass 10DNSN/A
DSQ140Conner McMullenClass 126:29:44.169*+ 2 Laps
* – Set a lap time but did not finish

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