After what seems like an eternity, the International Midget Series returns to Western Springs Speedway starting on Boxing Day. Reminiscent of the ’80s, when we saw the likes of Sleepy Tripp, Stan Fox, Jimmy Sills, and others making the trip down to New Zealand, this season we have four more outstanding American drivers in search of victory, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid, Taylor Reimer, and Ethan Mitchell.
We had the pleasure of catching up with 21-year-old Ethan Mitchell from Mooresville, North Carolina, shortly after he arrived in New Zealand.
THE JOURNEY
His motorsport journey started like many others, at the age of 10, a father/son team, racing Outlaw Karts at Millbridge Speedway – a 1/5-mile dirt oval, “We instantly fell in love with it, and the rest is history, you’re committed to the cause at that point, living the racing lifestyle.”
“Everything we did after that was based around racing.”
Ethan’s Dad, John ‘Bundy’ Mitchell, has a background in high-performance motorcycle engines and turned his hand to building Outlaw Kart engines and so Bundy Built Motorsport was born.
After 5 years of driving the Outlaw Karts, an opportunity of a drive in a dirt midget presented itself, ultimately the deal fell through, but it was enough to light the fire.
They bought a $9,000 car that came with everything but a motor. With the cost of a top-tier Midget engine being prohibitive, they decided to build one themselves.
“It all comes down to funding, when we started midget racing, we couldn’t afford a Toyota or SR11 engine and with Dad having engine building experience, he decided to have a go at building his own midget engine.”
“Little did he know it was going to be such a pain in his ass!”
“The Honda engine is what we’re known for; it’s different from everybody else.”
“We’re doing our own thing, going against the grain, it’s what you’ve got to do sometimes, and here we are four years later getting some great results.”
2022 – XTREME OUTLAW CHAMPIONS
A little over a year ago, John Mitchell suffered a heart attack, from which he is making a recovery, “Most of this year, I’ve been on my own with our helper Brian, who’s been helping me with the midget work, without him, this year wouldn’t have been possible.”
Despite the setback 2022 was a breakthrough year for the team, as Ethan teamed up with Zach Daum to run the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series, leading the team and making sure they got from race to race with two cars.
“It’s been a great year. We’ve been lucky enough to run Zach Daum and pick up the Extreme Outlaw Championship with him. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and for all the hard work we’ve put into the season.”
“It’s a big deal,” Daum said after winning the championship. “Ten-thousand dollars is a lot in Midget racing. Hopefully, this thing is like Chili Bowl. Rich Vogler won the first one and everyone still knows that. Hopefully, 30 years from now this thing will have exploded and we’re the inaugural champion. It’s huge for Bundy Built… everyone that helps on this team. I can’t explain the shoestrings they race on.”
THE COMETTI CONNECTION
The Auckland-based, family-run, Cometti Racing have been developing their own midget engine program, also based on a Honda engine. ”We started messaging each other about 3 years ago. We’d always been interested in coming over to race in New Zealand, but Covid had put a “wrench in the deal.”
In August Ben Cometti crewed for Ethan at the BC39 at Indianapolis.
“Ben came over and we put the deal together, I can’t thank him and the whole Cometti family enough for the chance to come over to NZ.”
“I’m super excited, it’s my first time outside of the USA, my first time in a new racecar with a different Honda engine, so a bunch of firsts for me. It’s an awesome experience!”
“First and foremost I’d like to thank the whole Cometti family and everybody who’s made this possible, it’s a great opportunity and I can’t thank them enough.”
SUCCESS
With the intense competition in the midget ranks, a successful series means different things to different drivers and teams. “I try not to put goals on myself, obviously I would like to win or get a podium, that would be great for me. Whether or not it happens, I’m just grateful for the experience.”
Car owner Ben Cometti is well aware of how intense the competition will be, “if we can get inside the top 10, that would be a successful series for us.”
2023
With 2023 just around the corner all the American drivers (and some Kiwi drivers) will be jumping on the plane and heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 37th running of the Chili Bowl.
”I fly straight from NZ to the Chili Bowl. It’s going to be great to have Dad back on the tools, hopefully, he’s got everything sorted! We’re running two cars there for myself and Max McLaughlin.”
“After that, we have a couple of months off to prepare for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series as well as the USAC National Midget Series. Once we get to mid-season we will see how we’re going and choose one series for the remainder of the year. To do both series at the moment is a lot to ask for a team like ours.”
It’s inspiring to meet a group of people who are prepared to forge their own way, ‘doing our own thing, going against the grain’. Ethan Mitchell, along with his father, are a testament to what can be achieved if one is prepared to follow the path less trodden, and in New Zealand, we have Cometti Racing following their own path.
Whatever the results over the next few weeks, it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.
WHERE TO FIND ETHAN MITCHELL:
www.facebook.com/ethan\mitchell
www.instagram.com/ethan_mitchell19
www.facebook.com/bundybuiltmotorsport
www.facebook.com/comettiracing
You can hear more from Ethan & John Mitchell on the ‘Open Red’ Podcast
