Gravel Grinder News: Land Run 100 Becomes "Mid-South"

The logo for the renamed Land Run 100, now known as "Mid-South"

Special Edition of Gravel Grinder News: Breaking Story- The Land Run 100 Becomes "Mid-South"

History is an ironic thing. You can read into it what you like, but history has an ever-changing perspective, and a great example of this is the re-naming of one of gravel grinding's classics. This was just announced today and came as a bit of a shock, but upon further reflection, it makes sense in today's world.

The Land Run - the historical, late 19th Century event - used to be portrayed as one of the U.S's final achievements in its "Manifest Destiny" philosophy. It's a very complex and difficult bit of our past to understand, and it affected millions of people, both native and immigrant alike.  Against this backdrop, it was criticism of the naming of the Oklahoma gravel event as the "Land Run 100" which ended up causing some reflection and ultimately the scrubbing of this event's name from the records.

So, moving forward the event will be known by the curious name of "Mid-South". The former name is being swept away, and you can read about why that is here and here. The event has a completely new website as well which can be seen here.

Comments: Interestingly, this new name is quite a change from before. In my opinion, it is such a neutral name that it has hardly any excitement or inspiration to it, unlike the former name, however misguided and hurtful to some folks that may have been. The logo reflects this as well. It has no "identity" to it, (at least that is obvious) but it may not matter in the end.

People were flocking to enter the "Land Run" before, with its former, now understood to be questionable, name choice, and they will likely go to the "Mid-South" event despite its uninspiring facade. This is because whatever they want to call the event, what makes the thing a "big deal" is the enthusiasm of Bobby Wintle and his crew, their style, and the myth of the legendary challenge of the red mud roads. Name notwithstanding, apparently.

Regardless of how anyone feels about the changes, this reflects how "gravel is growing up" and points to a more inclusive and less offensive face for a very popular event on the calendar. That's the real point here, and it probably was a very difficult situation for Mr. Wintle and crew to navigate through. My hats off to Mr. Wintle and crew for moving forward with this new name and I think it speaks to his and his crew's character highly.