Mason Mitchell celebrates his home town win in Victory Lane. Photo – Courtesy of Iowa Speedway
Mason Mitchell is our ‘Winner Circle’ guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, July 20, 2015 at 8:40 pm ET. Call 714-202-9918 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @Sal_Sigala or @ZRoethlisberger with any questions or comments during the LIVE broadcast.
ARCA Racing Series 2014 Champion and Iowa native, ‘Superman’ Mason Mitchell is capturing well-deserved attention that will hopefully help advance his career.
It boggles the mind that Mason Mitchell is racing part-time after winning the ARCA Racing Series 2014 championship. Last Friday night in his last scheduled race of the 2015 season, Mitchell won the #Thisismyspeedway 150 in front of his home town crowd at Iowa Speedway, showing he has what it takes, and deserves his chance at the next level of his career – NASCAR.
Growing up near by in Des Moines, Iowa, Mitchell has dreamed of winning at his home track, and done whatever he could to make that dream a reality. Mission accomplished and well done.
“This is my Daytona 500,” Mitchell said in victory lane. “This is the biggest win of my career and ranks right up there with winning the ARCA Racing championship.”
A determined Mitchell would not be denied as he took the lead away from Kyle Weatherman entering turn one on the last lap, he was able to hold off one last challenge from Weatherman in the last corner to capture his first short track victory.
Celebrating with his family and friends, Mitchell steps out of his car and walks toward the stands as he unzips his firesuit and puffs up his chest to show the ‘Superman’ emblem emblazoned on his shirt – the crowd goes wild. His celebration is a fan favorite, but is also a great display of his passion for the sport he loves while acknowledging all he does on and off the track to earn his success.
“That is what it is all about,” said Mitchell. “I’ve been here so many times – racing in late models and ARCA cars. We’ve been solid but couldn’t close the deal. …I wanted to give the crowd the best race they could and let them know I wasn’t going to give up on them. …I’ve never heard people cheer that loud. It’s an amazing feeling. I can’t believe it.”
Last year Mitchell became the first Iowa native in 40 years to bring home an ARCA Racing Series title. He has over 15 years of experience, not just behind the wheel, but in all aspects of racing including managing his own team, Mason Mitchell Motorsports. This season, Mitchell has put himself behind the scenes, in support of his driver, Austin Wayne Self, who now sits third in the series’ point standings. With two consecutive victories – Self won at the previous series event at Winchester – the team is building momentum toward their goal of winning back-to-back championships with perhaps their luckiest of numbers – seven.
“This team is really strong right now,” Mitchell said. “That’s two wins in a row and I don’t want to stop at all, but the next one is going to have to come from Austin. I started seventh tonight and I believe he started seventh at Winchester, so maybe we’re going to have to start seventh for the rest of the year.”
Although he’ll be working hard at helping Self go after the 2015 ARCA Racing Series title, Mitchell still has more dreams he wants to realize, that include moving on to the NASCAR ranks.
“My main goal is to race the Sprint Cup someday and be a successful driver who wins races and championships,” Mitchell said on Friday night after the race. “As of now, I have no clue what the hell is going on, but I’m going to work as hard as I can every single day of my life and try to put stuff together.
“Because I know that every time I get behind the wheel, I’m going to drive like I did tonight.”
‘Mind boggling’ are truly the most descriptive words when considering, despite all that dedication and passion, Mitchell has not been able to secure the sponsorship he needs to take the next step of his career, in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck or XFINITY Series. Mitchell has a great deal to offer for any sponsor looking for a driver partnership.
“Fans want charisma and entertainment,” Mitchell said. “That’s what I want to bring… After winning the championship but having to take a step back, it’s taken a huge toll on me mentally, knowing that there are a lot of guys out there racing and I’m not one of them.
“Because of that, I realize that I need to do whatever it takes to get to the top and it doesn’t matter how many people I piss off. It’s all about going after that checkered flag and these people of Iowa and making them happy. Having my own character.”
With ‘Never Give Up’ embroidered on his firesuit, Mason Mitchell is someone to keep an eye on as a future star of NASCAR.