2016 President's Weekend Recap

This President's Weekend had quite the turnout for 2016. BLM reported an estimated 12,000-15,000 people visited Dumont over the holiday weekend. Vendor row was full and quite busy all weekend with some vendors such as GTP Offroad offering end of season blowouts. This was basically the last big holiday weekend for most so many made it count. Sunny and warm weather made for a beautiful weekend with friends and family at the dunes.

Aerial photos by Tess Roussin

The Las Vegas Jeep Club in coordination with SxS Wars/ K&T Performance put on one of the biggest racing events Dumont has seen in years, Sand Wars! Excitement has been brewing leading up to this event. Many remember last year where there were no races at all due to time constraints and personal commitments with some of the organizers. Well this year they made up for it big time with the Sand Wars. The event was a perfect mix of old and new. Many are into the old Jeeps and dragsters, while the side x sides have grown HUGE in popularity.

Guys like K&T Performance have taken the Polaris RZR to levels nobody has seen before.

On Saturday, duners pulled up and filled the area scouting for the best spot to watch the races. The races consisted of the Jeep Club doing their regular format of hill climb drag races along with their Turtle Crawl. In addition to the Jeep races, the multiple class side x sides raced on the hill as well. The tricked out side x sides turned heads when they lined up and pulled the front tires off the ground. Many don't ever expect that kind of performance from a side x side. Sunday consisted of the 300' sand drag competition with both the dragsters and UTV classes.

With the large crowds you can guess what the nightlife was like over at Comp Hill. Rows and rows of lighted whips and lights filled the entire staging area of Comp. Photographer, Jason Wink, caught some great long exposure shots of the action.

In addition to the excitement going on at Sand Wars, Comp Hill, vendor row, camp and of course the dunes, Banshee Hill had a huge gathering in itself. Racers from Utah, CA, and AZ came out to race each other in typical holiday weekend fashion. North Shore Drag Racing shared some photos of the action.

Throughout the weekend the BLM staff opened it's doors to the public at the Dumont Dunes visitor center. They hosted a "Meet the Medics" open house and desert wildlife display.

Flight for Life made numerous landings throughout the weekend. We only heard of one fatality, but that is one too many. A Utah man died while racing his Banshee on Banshee Hill. Other injuries occurred in other various accidents including a couple accidents on Comp Hill and a broken femur which was near a major artery and the person required immediate Flight for Life medical attention.

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