Tye Mihocko’s moxie is admirable. He rarely wastes an excessive amount of time processing decisions or worrying about where the road might lead.
When he ponders the choices that lie before him, he distils things down to the basics and rolls the dice. That method has led him to Indiana where he works as a welder during the week and races sprint cars on the weekend. Mihocko’s approach to life may not work for everyone, but it has worked out nicely for him.
An Arizona boy, Mihocko has spent the majority of his life around race cars and tools. His father, Tim Mihocko, works on refrigeration systems for the transportation industry, but he spent his off hours at places such as Canyon Speedway Park and Central Arizona Speedway. He lent a needed hand to driver Darren Williams and his modified team. It was an activity they took seriously and in 2002 they captured the prestigious IMCA Super Nationals at Iowa’s Boone Speedway.
Tye Mihocko was racing karts by the time he was 4 years old.
“The Arizona Karting Ass’n is about 15 minutes from my house,” Mihocko said. “You were supposed to be 5 to drive but they went ahead and let me race.”
After becoming a frequent winner in go-karts, he graduated to 600 micros and Legend Cars, but he was clearly pointed on a path toward sprint cars. His first taste came aboard a non-winged, steel-block powered sprint car. He raced the machine in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
“It was a feeder class but I did get a win in my first year,” Mihocko recalled.
To keep moving forward, the engine was converted into an open 360 powerplant. Now, the challenge began.
Open-wheel racing has been a staple in Arizona for generations. However, it would be hard to capture the twists and turns that have marked the Southwest sprint car scene since Phoenix’s Manzanita Speedway closed. Mihocko’s journey reflects this turmoil.
“I think my first year was with ASCS Southwest, which was a non-winged series,” he said. “Then that turned into the USAC Southwest series and then we went from 360s to 410s and that turned into USAC-CRA. They have had to get creative out there in order to keep racing.”
Regardless of the sanction, the roster of Arizona-based drivers who jousted for victories rarely changed. Running with this group of vagabond racers provided plenty of on-the-job training.
Among the heavy-hitters Mihocko faced on a regular basis were R.J. Johnson and Charles Davis Jr.
“Charles is just one of the coolest dudes ever,” Mihocko said. “He really became like a mentor to me. We kind of have the same personality after the races and we always got along well. But we raced each other really hard. He didn’t like it when I beat him and I wanted to beat him, too. It was hard but really clean racing because we both respected each other.”
Mihocko first cracked the top five in USAC Southwest points in 2016. By 2018, he had not only found victory lane but was runner-up to Davis in the title chase. By now he had settled into a routine. He attended Liberty High School in Peoria, Ariz., and when he approached his senior year, he discovered he could do something a bit different on his way to graduation.
“I found you could take an apprentice type of class and that would allow me to skip class and go to work,” he said. “I love making money so I was all about that.”
After working with his dad and learning to weld, Mihocko began fabricating pieces for his cars and eventually took a job at a fabrication shop.
While he wasn’t following a game plan, Mihocko reached an important juncture in his life.
“About that time the racing was really starting to take a hit out there,” he said. “We had nights where we had 10 or 15 cars. I wasn’t happy about that. I talked to my dad about moving to Indiana and he has always been super supportive. Because I liked welding and fabrication, I hoped I could get a job back there doing that.”