Dragon Mines

Dragon Mines (はぐるま トロッコこうざん lit. Gears and Trolleys Mines in Japanese) is the tenth race course in Crash Team Racing and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. It is raced on in the blue Gem Cup (as well as Sewer Speedway, Tiger Temple and N. Gin Labs) and the purple (with Roo's Tubes, Papu's Pyramid and Hot Air Skyway) Gem Cup. It is Komodo Joe's home track.

At the start of the race, the players go down a big hill, past an underground lake and stalagmites. Next, they encounters a minecart track where minecarts might even hit them. After that, a spiral bridge is ascended. More minecarts are at the top. And then the players arrive back to the starting line. It is possible to drive through the minecart route from before the spiral bridge to after but without protection or turbos, the players will get squashed.

In adventure mode, the course is located in the Glacier Park. It's also the boss stage of Komodo Joe.

Trivia

 * This track is featured in the intro when Dingodile is trying to tune his kart.
 * Some fans believe that this stage was once meant for Koala Kong, as he was fought in a mine in Crash Bandicoot. However, since he wasn't in the game, Komodo Joe is raced there instead.
 * Originally, the lights of the mine carts in this track used to be red, instead of white.
 * According to an interview with Beenox's co-studio head and creative director Thomas Wilson, the backstory given to this track in the Nitro-Fueled version is that a mining company has dug deep that they stumbled upon a dragon's treasure.
 * The Dragon from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex makes a cameo appearance as a guardian of the treasure.
 * Thomas also mentioned that the animation of the miners in the background is synced to the rhythm of the soundtrack.

Mines Dragon