Ragland Wins Desert Race All by Himself

Larry Ragland, driving without relief over 400 miles of sharp rocks and choking dust, was the elapsed-time winner of the 19th annual Mint 400 Desert race for off-road vehicles Saturday.

Ragland, 43, of Phoenix, will move into the truck division after this race. He drove his single-seat buggy to an overall elapsed time of 8 hours 33 minutes 14 seconds.

Cam Theriot and Greg Lewin teamed up to finish second overall but won the two-seat buggy division.

Walker Evans of Riverside won a record eighth Mint 400 class championship with a victory in the two-wheel-drive truck category with a Dodge pickup.

The event was the third stop on the eight-race High Desert Racing Assn.-SCORE series.