The Mint 400

Rugged Radios Expands Sponsorship of
American Off-Road Racing Championship as
“Official Communications”

Officials with the American Off-Road Racing Championship Series are pleased to announce the expansion of Rugged Radios sponsorship support as the “Official Communications” partner of the entire championship series. As part of Rugged Radios’ full-season partnership with the AORC, the company will have a presence at all series events while continuing to support racers, teams, and fans through its online retail platform and flagship headquarters in Arroyo Grande.

“Rugged Radios has been a longtime supporter of both UNLTD Off-Road Racing and Best In The Desert. Their support of our newly unified league, the American Off-Road Racing Championship, demonstrates a continued commitment to off-road racing culture,” said UNLTD CEO Matt Martelli. “This partnership directly supports racers while creating a retail bridge that connects the technology developed in off-road racing to real-world products consumers can use every day.”


“Off-road racing has always been at the core of who we are at Rugged Radios,” said Greg Cottrell, Founder and President of Rugged Radios. “We’ve supported both BITD and UNLTD for years, so seeing the sport come together under the American Off-Road Racing Championship is exciting for racers, teams, and fans alike. We’re proud to continue supporting the people who push this sport forward and to help keep everyone connected and safe, both on and off the racecourse.”

The dust has settled on the 29th Silver State 300 — and what a weekend it was.

One of the biggest Silver State 300 races in modern history is officially in the books. Hundreds of race teams, thousands of fans, and an incredible community came together in Tonopah and the Nevada desert to celebrate the sport we all love. 🏆🚙💨
What follows is a long list of the racers, partners, volunteers, and crew members who made the 2026 Silver State 300 possible.
🙌 First and foremost, thank you to our racers, teams, volunteers, staff, and partners. You are the heart and soul of this race. This event simply does not happen without your dedication, grit, and passion for off-road racing.

THANK YOU for showing up and making this year’s Silver State 300 one for the books. ❤️🏎️

🌿 Thank you to the Bureau of Land Management Tonopah Nevada Field Office, especially Kenner Elana & Daltrey Balmer for being incredible partners in protecting and managing the public lands that make this race possible.

🏙️ Huge appreciation to Tonapah, along with key partners at the Town of Tonopah- Joe Westerlund, Jennifer Mills & Bethany Thompson, Esmeralda County and the Roads Department- Carl Schrider for helping keep this massive event running smoothly.
💪 Shoutout to the Tonopah Station and their incredible Staff lead by Chavonn Smith for being great hosts and treating their guests with phenomenal hospitality.

🚙💨 A huge thank you to all of our series sponsors who supported The Silver State 300. Your commitment to off-road racing continues to elevate this race and the entire sport.
🏆 CageWRX — thank you for crafting the Silver State 300 class trophies and the Overall Champion trophy.

🔧 O’Reilly Auto Parts — four fantastic years supporting the Limited Race and grassroots racers.

💥 MagnaFlow — thank you for helping bring the sound and performance of this race to life.

⚙️ Camburg Engineering — huge thanks to Jerry and the entire crew for years of support and friendship.

🏁 Chevrolet Performance — thank you for expanding your commitment to desert racing with $110,000 in contingency across all five rounds of the American Off-Road Championship.
The list of sponsors supporting the Silver State 300 this year was massive.

Thank you to Can-Am, Rugged Radios, Power Sport Pros, Maxxis Tires, PCI Race Radios, Diode Dynamics, VP Racing Fuels, Bilstein Shocks, Simple Tires, Action Sports Canopies, Dirt Co., and Eibach Springs.

Your support makes this race possible.
💥 Massive thanks to our Assistant Race Director Megan Van Cleve, whose leadership and behind-the-scenes work keep this massive operation moving.

💪 Huge thanks to our incredible Course Marshals, Brandon Dubuc, Rod Glotkowski & Bobby Howen, the ones who build it, tear it down, build it again when the wind says “not today,” and somehow keep everything rolling.

🦺 Thank you to David Nehrbass and the entire Motorsports Safety Solutions team for keeping racers, teams, volunteers, media, and spectators safe.

💪 To our Radio Communications team, Keith Purmal, Cyndie Parks, and JJ, thank you for keeping our on-course communications clear, steady, and dialed in. You kept racers and staff informed every step of the way.

🙌 Huge thanks to our UNTLD Family, including Matt Martelli & Kilian Hamlin, for coming to support us on the 3rd round of our newly unified AORC!

⛽ Thank you to our pit captains and patrol units, including Aaron Rogers, Walker Andreason, David Watkins, George Wagner, and Art Gode, for keeping the race running smoothly in the desert.
🔎 Huge thanks to “Big Al” Rudd & the entire Tech Team for the long hours ensuring the race stays safe and fair.

💥 Thank you to Kim & Travis Loppnow and their family for jumping in and doing whatever needs to be done in order to keep the race week moving along.

🙌 Thank you to Frank Brown for the post reclamation work on the course during grading and returning the race course to pre-race standards.

🎬 MAD MEDIA
Congratulations to Cameron Johnson, Jeremy Huelsman, and the entire Mad Media team for providing incredible coverage of the event, and welcome to BITD!

📸 Thank you to Connor for capturing incredible photography from the race.

📝 Huge thanks to the Silver State 300 Registration Team, including Layla Kevick, Mindy Brown & Melody Andreason, for absolutely crushing registration.

🎨 Thank you to Jeff Ray and the branding team for making everything look absolutely MINT.

⏱️ Huge thanks to the Live Time Scoring team for handling timing, staging, and race operations support.

📡 Thank you to the RacingTrax team and David Clay for outstanding tracking coverage.

🎥 Thank you to Christy Melville for wrangling the guest media crew.

🏁 To the fans who traveled from near and far — and the hundreds of thousands who watched online — THANK YOU.
💙 And to every volunteer, course worker, and checkpoint crew member who stood in the cold, rain, wind, and dust to make this race possible… we couldn’t do it without you.

📅 Join us next at the Vegas to Reno, the next stop of the American Off-Road Championship.
👊 See you in the dirt.

Bryan Folks, Matt & Josh Martelli

Points standings have been updated for the .  Over the next week, we’ll be rolling out three key updates:

1.  A toggle option to view standings with or without the championship throwaway race applied.

2.  Three new leaderboards showing overall times of the Limited, Unlimited, and Motorcycle races.

3.  A points calculator that allows racers to model different finishing scenarios and understand exactly where they need to place at the next race relative to competitors ahead of or behind them.

Great spending time with Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (pictured here with UNLTD COO Josh Martelli) and Bureau of Land Management - Nevada Director Jon Raby at a roundtable focused on the future of public lands.

We had a productive and honest discussion alongside ranching leaders and fellow stakeholders from the outdoor recreation community, including mountain biking, hunting, and OHV groups.

What stood out most. Secretary Burgum went around the room and asked each of us directly what his administration can do to support our industries!

The answer was consistent across the board.
Preserve, defend, and expand access to public lands.

For us in off-road racing, that means protecting the trails, routes, and open desert landscapes that have been part of our sport for more than 60 years. It also means ensuring large-scale land use decisions, including energy development, are balanced in a way that does not cut off access to the recreation communities that depend on these spaces.

Public lands are not just land. They are heritage, industry, and a way of life for millions of Americans.

Thank you to Secretary Burgum and Director Raby for taking the time to listen and for supporting off-road racing and the broader outdoor recreation industry. We appreciate the dialogue and look forward to continuing the conversation.