Casey Folks announced big changes for the 2016 Best in the Desert (BITD) season at a press conference today at the Aliante Casino Hotel in North Las Vegas, Nevada, during tech and contingency day of the Vegas to Reno race.

Folks has had a new motto going around for 2016; Get Excited! Folks said “When we started in 1984 we wanted to have the best off-road organization out there. We wanted to have the people in the sport be treated the way they should.”

With that in mind Folks has taken a get out of the way, get behind us, BITD has the pedal to the floor. He has the right mindset in creating the top off-road racing organization in the world.

The new changes for the 2016 BITD season will introduce the Laughlin Desert Classic. There has not been a BITD race in Laughlin, Nevada for quiet some time.

There will be a parade of champions down Casino Drive, a pit stop challenge, and even will have tech inspection on the streets of Laughlin. There will also be three new miles of course added to the previous 14 miles of course out there.

The race will be four laps over the 17 miles of course. There is also pans to have a family UTV poker run.

The second change for the 2016 season is the addition of the Pahrump Nugget 250. This will take place in Pahrump, Nevada at the Pahrump Nugget Casino & Hotel. The race will be a one-way 242 mile course.

It will run on the same course as the old Terrible’s 250 race and will include 60 miles of unused race course since 2002. Folks was very excited for all the additions of events.

The Silver State race that has taken place in recent years will not happen next year. Folks explained that all the new events have a three year agreement, with the hope of expanding.

The greatest and most exciting change for the 2016 BITD season is the changes for the 20th anniversary Vegas to Reno race. A race like this years which has traditionally been a point to point one day race will now be a two day race.

The race has been run in stages before with the last time in 2006, and it creates something the teams like. The race will now start in Alamo, Nevada and run 293 miles the first day. The second day will start in Tonopah, Nevada and run 347 miles to the finish in Dayton, Nevada.

There will be no impound for the race vehicles between the two stages so teams will be allowed to work on them as long as they need to. The most aggressive part of the race is the fact the course will go through a newly declared national monument. A feat that should otherwise not happen under new legislation.

The changes for the 2016 Best in the Desert season something we all should be excited about. Off-road desert racing is headed in the right direction and Casey Folks looks to continue to change the sport for the better.