8/10/2022
Five Flags Speedway
Dirt-Track Veteran Kevin Mitchell Finding Sportsmen Footing on Asphalt at 5 Flags
Dirt-Track Veteran Kevin Mitchell Finding Sportsmen Footing on Asphalt at 5 Flags
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Kevin Mitchell used to spend Friday nights in the Five Flags Speedway grandstands, watching door-to-door battles and imagining himself in those moments.
The Pensacola driver, who earned his bones on dirt tracks across the Panhandle, doesn’t have to wonder any longer. Mitchell, 33, is in his first full season competing in The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen class at the famed half-mile asphalt oval. While a win is yet to come, he has earned runner-up finishes twice this season at Five Flags and, again, last weekend at Montgomery (Ala.) Motor Speedway.
“I don’t think anybody does second like we do,” Mitchell joked.
The Florida Power & Light substation technician eyes his first trip to Victory Lane on Friday at Pensacola’s high banks when the Sportsmen battle in a 25-lap feature. They will be joined by the Faith Chapel Outlaws (35 laps), Zoom Equipment Pro Trucks (25) and Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (20). All four divisions serve as precursors to the main attraction, as the track’s annual Demolition Derby will close the night’s festivities. Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and admission is only $10 with children ages 11-and-under still free.
Mitchell has raced dirt for the past 12 years, following in a decorated legacy left by his father, Randy Mitchell, and other family members. Randy Mitchell was reluctant to follow his son to pavement racing initially.
“He wouldn’t come out to Five Flags at first because he wanted to stick to dirt,” Kevin Mitchell said. “He would still help me at the shop, but he wouldn’t come to the track. Now, he’s ate up with it. He hasn’t missed race all year. “
Before he found his path to dirt, Mitchell helped on the cars of local heroes, Eddie and Stevie Mercer.
“We won the (Sportsmen Snowball) Derby together,” Mitchell said, recalling his successful years maintaining Stevie Mercer’s car. “Those guys are legends. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a Late Model or Sportsmen, there are super talented drivers at Five Flags every week.”
Mitchell has racked up nearly half a dozen dirt track championships at Southern Raceway in Milton and Tri-County Speedway in Flomaton, Ala. while driving for Coastal Engine and Machine.
He drives for Guy Brothers Roofing in the Sportsmen and credits his extended church family with helping both his asphalt and dirt programs. In addition to his two car owners, Mitchell has earned a grocery list of sponsors: Emerald Coast Exterior Cleaners, The Dock on Pensacola Beach, Billy Clark Bail Bonds, Nelson Plumbing Contractors, Seckinger Fencing, David Tau Automotive, Michles & Booth, Derrick Griffin’s DG Performance, Miller Motorsports, Marcus Pointe Baptist Church – Beulah, Deerings Custom Cabinets, Pensacola Air Repair, J. Green Construction, ParsCo Construction and Zarahn Insurance Agency.
“I’ve been blessed to no end with sponsorships,” Mitchell said. “It’s more than I could dream of. I’m blessed with friends and family in the racing area that got behind me. If I’m getting interviewed on the front straightaway, it takes me forever and that is such a blessing. I like promoting myself in a positive manner, plus it’s part of my job.
“People in the racing community don’t take that seriously enough. These (sponsors) give you their good, hard-earned money and you need to represent them the best way you can.”
It’s a lesson that Mitchell is teaching Payton Guy, a 13-year-old Pure Stocks driver and son of one of the Guy Brothers Roofing owners.
“Every day at the racetrack is a job interview,” Mitchell instills in young Payton. “You represent your team, your sponsors and you never know who’s watching. In Montgomery, we brought a knife to gun fight and ran well. Afterward, we had numerous friend requests on Facebook and sponsors see all that on social media.”
Mitchell also credits his asphalt success to his spotter, Lake Brooks, and crew chief, John Ruth. Ruth—who won many Sportsmen Snowball Derbys and track championships as the crew chief to Steve Buttrick last decade—joined Mitchell’s dirt Late Model program last year and began licking his chops when Mitchell joined forces with Guy Brothers.
“He’s phenomenal,” Mitchell said of Ruth. “Asphalt is, of course, right in his wheelhouse. When we had the chance to get an asphalt car, I took him with me to purchase the car.
He continued: “Lake Brooks is a legend around here. He does a great job to manage me and manage the race. My first race this season, I passed Maddox Langham for second on the final lap and without Lake coaching me, that doesn’t happen.”
Despite his success this season, he admits that Five Flags is a hard puzzle to solve. Mainly because of his dirt track background.
“Right rear tire management is probably my biggest hurdle because I’m so used to running dirt cars and sliding them around all the time,” Mitchell said. “Keeping the car under you and not letting the right rear get hot are super important.
“It’s a different track and all about momentum. You have to drive these Sportsmen on the edge. If you’re comfortable, you’re three-tenths off the pace. Learning how to drive where you are not outta control is where the speed is at.”
He hopes to dial it in Friday. Mitchell plans to make every race before the Derby in December to gain seat time and hopefully find a win along the way. Right by his side will be his sponsors, supportive team and most importantly his wife Morgan and three-year-old son Reese Paul Mitchell, affectionately known as “RPM.”
“I really wanna win a race at Five Flags,” Mitchell said. “That’s a bucket list item for me.”
Article Credit: Chuck Corder
Submitted By: Dave Pavlock
