CANIDAE Racing Trophy Truck
Canidae Trophy Truck Team Achieves Top 10 Finish at the Mint 400
Mint 400 The CANIDAE All Natural Pet Foods offroad Trophy Truck team finished the Mint 400 in seventh place this past weekend despite tough competition, treacherous terrain, and little experience with their brand new motor.
What started out as a fun filled event in Las Vegas turned into an all out war come race day. The weekend began with the historic Mint 400 “Fan Fest” on Freemont Street on Thursday. The entire Canidae crew was able to spread their message of Responsible Pet Ownership to all of the race fans and pet owners gathered for this famous race. Team members handed out thousands of free samples and coupons for super premium Canidae dog and cat foods. Fans and crew had a great time together, enjoying the festivities and music well into the night.
Mint 400 1Friday brought qualifying, contingency and tech inspection. Scott Whipple drove the Canidae Trophy Truck to a 29th place qualifying position out of 59 vehicles — a great spot to be in considering the team was breaking in their brand new motor. The rest of the day was filled with pre-race activities enjoyed by the entire crew.
As the sun came up on the Nevada desert Saturday morning, there was tension in the air among the crew as fun times had given way to the seriousness of the task ahead. Team Canidae was competing against some of the fastest race vehicles anywhere, and over some very tough terrain, and would need to perform at their peak to even finish the race.
Mint 400 3Each team would have to endure four laps on a 104 mile course that was littered with rocks as big as refrigerators, enormous jumps, holes that you could lose a locomotive in, and more than 250 other racers. Dust was a major factor as the top teams made their way through the field and towards the front. Team Canidae co-drivers Scott Whipple and Pat Gailey set a solid pace for the first two laps. As competitors began to fall by the wayside, it became apparent who the players were going to be and the Canidae team was right in the thick of it.
With just over 100 miles to go, Whipple began to make his push towards the front and moved inside the top 10. Somehow able to fight through the dust and difficult terrain, Whipple saved his best for last and turned in his fastest lap of the day in the worst conditions — an amazing feat by a truly excellent team. Whipple crossed the finish line with a time of 9:27:38.015 which put him in 7th place for the day and gave the Canidae All Natural Pet Foods team their first finish of the 2010 season. Great job guys!
Mint 400 1 For a recap of the weekend, race fans can visit the Canidae Team’s Mint 400 blog where reports and photos were posted live during the event. The team’s photo album contains great snapshots of the crew and truck before during and after the race.
After four races in a short amount of time, the Canidae team will finally get a break as the next race is the Baja 500 scheduled for June 4-6 in Ensenada, Mexico. In the interim, the team will have time to prep the race truck, ready the team and pre-run for the 500. To keep up to date on this, or any of the other Canidae All Natural Pet Foods sponsored teams, please visit www.canidaeracing.com to make sure you do not miss a minute of the action.
Team Canidae would like to extend a very special thank you to the Missing Lenk Motorsports team for their help and support during the race. This great group of dedicated racers made their pit and supplies available to the Canidae crew.
