They gave him and his attorney (yes, his attorney) a soundproofed suite in the Mint hotel, owned by the race promoter, and a huge, bright-red Chevrolet rent-a-car. Sports Illustrated ensured Thompson had everything he needed to cover the event to the highest standards. These were the days when journalists were looked after properly. ‘We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.’Īnd the book continues in that vein for several hundred pages. Thompson starts Fear and Loathing, during the drive from Los Angeles to Vegas, with these immortal words… Even Steve McQueen had a go at the Mint, usually riding under the pseudonym Harvey Mushman. When Thompson covered the race the hottest tools for the event, which took riders through the Nevada desert, skirting Death Valley along the way, were Husky and Yamaha two-strokes. Last year’s was won by Dalton Shirey on a Husqvarna FC450 four-stroke enduro bike. The Mint 400 is still going today, indeed the 2021 race takes place this Saturday. This is one of many reasons I feel a certain affinity for Thompson, although I would never dare suggest I’m good enough to deserve even a sniff of his Tippex bottle. Thompson’s job that weekend was essentially the same as my job now: visit race venue, watch motorcycles hurtling this way and that, talk to some riders and mechanics, eat, drink and make merry, dream up a story, hammer out some words and sell them to the highest bidder.

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Fear and loathing in las vegas poster