The Martelli Brothers Announce Unlimited Off-Road Racing Series
The Martelli Brothers Announce Unlimited Off-Road Racing Series
The Parker 400, Mint 400, and California 300 to comprise The 2024 Unlimited Off-Road Racing Championship
San Diego, CA March 24th 2023 - The Martelli Brothers announced today that they have structured a brand new, desert off-road racing organization called “Unlimited Off-Road Racing”. The new series will include the historic “Parker 400”, BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400, and California 300 races, and host all desert classes including youth, UTV’s, motorcycles, cars and trucks. The Parker 400 will take place in January of 2024, followed by the Mint 400 in March, and California 300 in October.
The new series will also feature the next evolution of the UTV World Championship, which will be determined by points accumulated at all three events. Unlimited Off-Road Racing will offer teams the opportunity to compete for cash, prizes and a prestigious points championship across three of the most challenging and distinguished desert races in the sport. The announcement comes on the heels of the organization's biggest Mint 400 race and event in recent history.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be announcing this new league and championship points series,” said Unlimited Off-Road Racing CEO and Co-Owner Matt Martelli. “The Parker 400 is one of the oldest and most historic races in our sport and we’re excited to have that become part of our calendar as we take yet another massive step forward in our league’s development. We’re preparing to take the same assets and marketing power that we have used to make The Mint 400 the biggest spectacle in the sport, and apply that to our entire league. Racers, partners, and fans can expect us to deliver the best experience, media coverage and value in the industry as we continue to grow and expand our offering. That includes industry leading production from our team at Mad Media, live stream team, and events group.”
The Parker 400 race began in 1971 and was called the “Dam 500”. It was created by the Parker Dam Chamber of Commerce (now Parker Area Chamber of Commerce) and NORRA. The event had over 100 entries in its first year followed by 37 entries in year two (16 finishers) and 83 entries in year three. SCORE (under Mickey Thompson and Sal Fish) changed the name to the “Parker 400” soon after and ran the event from 1974 until 1985, when the High Desert Racing Association joined with SCORE to promote the event that year. SCORE resumed promoting the race into the late 1990’s. Whiplash Motorsports took over for four years, and co-promoted the 2002 race with SNORE, and Best in the Desert operated the race for the past twenty years. The race has been won and championed by a host of local racing luminaries including Dan Beaver and Manny Esquerra - who is widely recognized as one of the greatest racers in the sport's history.
“The Parker 400 is one of the most iconic and important races in our sports history,” said Josh Martelli, COO of Unlimited Off-Road Racing. “It deserves top notch billing and the same approach we implemented for restoring and promoting The Mint 400 these past 12 years. We’re excited to work with the BLM, the City officials and people of Parker, and La Paz county to restore this race and transform it into a massive event for the entire industry to rally around. It’s also the perfect launching pad for our league. Unlimited Off-Road Racing has been in the works since 2020. We’ve been very clear about our goal of building the preeminent desert off-road race league in North America. It feels very rewarding to know that will come to fruition now in 2024 and we want to thank everyone who has contributed to that effort. Our staff, volunteers, partners and racers. We have you to thank for this next evolutionary step.”
The newly added Parker 400 race will feature multiple days of pre-running, three days of racing, and a fantastic fan experience, all in careful coordination with the town of Parker and La Paz County. The Martelli Brothers recently met with Mayor Hartless, La Paz County Supervisors Plunkett and Minor, Police Chief Bailey, Public Works Director Ziegler, Clerk Putnam, as well as Chamber of Commerce Director Newton, to begin to map out the evolution of the celebrated race and events. Complete details on the Unlimited Off-Road Racing series will be forthcoming.
About Unlimited Off-Road Racing
The Unlimited Off-Road Racing league was formed by The Martelli Brothers in 2023 after more than a decade of successful desert off-road race promotion, including The Mint 400, (12 years) The UTV World Championship (8 years) and The California 300. The league was formed to promote the sport of desert off-road racing, the off-road industry, and to expand the reach of off-road companies beyond the industry and into the homes of every off-road race fan, globally. Key attributes of the newly formed league include large racer car counts, competitive and challenging race courses, safe and family-friendly spectating areas, multiple days of racing and off-road festivities all located near major cities and markets that positively affect the off-road industry. The Martelli Brothers, owners of the motorsports powerhouse production group Mad Media have made it their mission to grow the league into a four race series that showcases the best off-road racers on the best courses in North America.