MILFORD, Texas — After the first two starts of his career, Bradley Mitchell wasn’t sure if he’d ever even finish a race.
But after the end of his first Friesen Performance IMCA Modified season, the Milford, Texas, driver was making plans to attend the national awards banquet, where he’ll walk across the stage and accept the GRT Race Cars South Central Region rookie of the year award.
“It’s a little bit the excitement of going fast, and it’s the excitement of going around the track and seeing what you can do,” said Mitchell, who helped crew for Ennis driver Mike Svehlak last year, then bought a 2011 Hoffman Chassis to begin his own, self-sponsored career in. “Starting out, I was real nervous and always stayed toward the back but by the end of the year I was more comfortable and started being more competitive.”
“It’s something I always dreamed about and now it’s a reality. I enjoy it a lot.”
The first member of his family to race, Mitchell debuted at Abilene Speedway’s Ice Breaker, then tussled with the big dogs the following weekend at Kennedale Speedway Park’s Spring Kickoff.
He’d make 22 starts in all, traveling to Grayson County Speedway, Heart O’ Texas Speedway and Southern Oklahoma Speedway as well and finished 15th in the regional points race.
In the process, Mitchell expanded his circle of friends to include reigning and seven-time regional champion William Gould and 2021 regional ROY Steve Askew.
“After I bought it, everybody always asked me ‘Why did you get an IMCA Modified, that’s the biggest class there is.’ I told them the opportunity arose and I could afford it, so I did it,” he said. “Me and my wife and my family enjoyed it, so we kept going and going. We didn’t even know we were number one in the rookie points for the region until somebody told us. I said, ‘Holy smokes!’ and we kept racing.”
The Hoosier State native had been introduced to the sport by his late father Sam, who took him to watch races on the asphalt at Anderson Speedway. They moved to Texas in 1999 and became dirt track fans at Cowtown Speedway and Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
“M dad and I had kind of a deal where he and I wanted to buy a car and do something like what I did this year, but I couldn’t because I was working and didn’t have my weekends free,” Mitchell said. “Then I got this chance and went ahead and pursued this opportunity.”
That opportunity almost came to an abrupt end with a broken frame mid-summer, a situation rectified with encouragement from wife and crew chief Elizabeth and assistance from Darryl Campbell at Destroyer Chassis.
“I thought our career and our dream were done at mid-season, but I called Darryl and in half a day he had it back together and we were racing the next Saturday,” Mitchell said. “We started this not even knowing if we would finish a race so winning rookie of the year was a big accomplishment for us.”