Autocross is a type of racing where drivers take turns driving through a course marked by cones. It's usually done in parking lots and focuses on how well you can control the car.
SCCA stands for the Sports Car Club of America, which is a group that organizes car racing events for enthusiasts. They help people compete in different types of racing.
The Porsche 356C is an older sports car that many people love for its speed and handling. It was made by Porsche in the 1960s and is considered a classic today.
Karting is a type of racing that uses small, fast go-karts. Many professional race car drivers start their careers in karting before moving on to bigger cars.
'Out the door' means the total price you pay for a car, including all extra costs like taxes and fees. It's the final amount you need to pay to own the car.
The Porsche Parade is a big event for Porsche car owners where they gather to show off their cars, participate in races, and enjoy activities together.
Adrenaline is a chemical in your body that makes you feel more energetic and alert, especially when you're excited or scared. It helps you react quickly in situations like racing.
Car
Porsche Speedster
The Porsche Speedster is a special version of the Porsche 356 that has a lower windshield and a sportier look. It's known for being fun to drive and has a classic style.
E-production is a category in car racing where regular cars are modified to race. There are rules about how much you can change the car, so it stays similar to the original model.
Cal Club is a local car racing organization in California. They help organize races and have their own set of rules for how cars can be prepared for competition.
Panorama is a magazine for Porsche fans that shares stories and information about Porsche cars and events. It's popular among people who love these cars.
The MGB is a small, sporty car made by MG, a British company. It's loved by many for its classic look and fun driving experience.
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Welcome to Porsche Patter with Bracken Helms, the show where we hear Bracken and his distinguished
guests from the Porsche community patter on about Porsches and all things automotive.
Porsche Patter is sponsored by Circuits Explore. Circuits Explore creates authentic automotive
apparel made for life-minded automotive enthusiasts. The links for Circuits Explore are in the
show notes. Okay, let's get to it.
Dwight Mitchell, part one. Alright, a couple weeks ago I was going through some old magazines and I
came across this article that I remember quite fondly and it was on Dwight Mitchell and then
so I was like reading back over it and I'm like this could be someone worth interviewing. He's
popular in Porsche circles for being dominant in autocross and also a champion SCCA driver.
Anyway, in this one we talk about him getting his started racing by climbing inside a go-kart and
his go-kart racing days which led to early racing with his cars. He had a 356c and a 356 speedster
but anyway here's Dwight Mitchell, part one.
Who is Dwight Mitchell? An old skinny white guy.
Okay, how did you get interested in cars? When I was in high school and college I played two sports,
baseball and basketball but I wasn't really good at any of them but I was very competitive
and I believe it was my junior year I had an instructor that had raced a go-kart and he knew
I like cars. He says why don't you come out and try driving my go-kart and I said you're fine
and so we did and I got in the cart and in five laps I was faster than the guy that owned the
cart and raced it so I figured okay there's something going on here and we had shortly
before that we bought a 356c coupe. I went to a Porsche club parade in 1965 in Santa Barbara
and I'd never driven the car in anger but I decided I'm going to enter all these events
and so in the class I was at first time and I ever ran an autocross and was on a racetrack
so it was fairly fast so I won my class so I thought you know I'm a competitive guy I started
on to something I'd buy a go-kart and see if I can race it and that's how I got started.
Okay so what grade were you in when you went and your teacher invited you to go ride the go-kart?
It was just like in the HP parking lot right? Correct you got it and that was how like what grade?
I think I was this I think I was either a junior or senior in college.
So when did the three when did you get this 356c? December 31st 1963.
Well how old were you at that time? Let's see that would have been 25 back in
those days there was an insurance break if you're a young man you paid a higher rate
but if you're 25 or older you paid less a lot less so that's why we decided to buy a sports car
after I turned 25. So um but you you race go-karts right? Yes. So is that before the 356 like from
the time that you got in your teacher's go-kart to the 356 or when did that happen? This event
saying at Pila Packard was I believe would have been 1959. So I raced go-karts for three years
before even bought the Porsche. Okay like what was the go-kart racing just like local people
showed up with go-karts or did you go out of your city out of the state or what? I joined the go-kart
club there was a go-kart race it was going to be a back of the valley raceway and it required two
drivers and they had a bazillion people enter entered this thing this guy built a one-off
go-kart uh was a mercury outboard motor on it it was faster and blazes and uh there was like 50
entrance in this race and I qualified on the front row first time I ever drove it so I I figured
okay I guess there's some talent lurking back there somewhere and unfortunately uh when the
race started the owner of the car drove the car the drive mechanism that he set up I think failed
on the third lap of the race or something so we never got to figure out what had done I was too
bad because it really would have been fun to to try. Where's the furthest you went during this
kart racing I'm just trying to see like how broad this kart racing was like if it was just Bay Area
basically only in California okay go-karts were just starting to explode and uh when there was one
out near Livermore that was attempted to be close to a copy of Laguna Steak it was in a
fold went up and down hill it was fast first couple times I drove it I was kind of scared but
the first kart I bought was a single engine kart and that wasn't enough for me so
I brought what was called a sea open kart which was a two-engine kart that had some pretty good
amounts of horsepower it was when I first started driving it was scary fast but I got used to it.
We lived at the time in what's now called Silicon Valley and so probably went to some events in
Southern California and Northern California but at that time there was no place I'm not
aware of any national series go kart races. Yeah I was interviewing someone recently I don't know
if it was John Morton but someone someone said like early on like yeah go kart racing had like
taken off and was like huge in California it was like a time where it just like I said didn't
exist and then all of a sudden it was just like everybody was doing it. Yeah I raced 59, 68, 61 and
62 and won several California state championships and won a lot of races. I don't know why this
came up but like it came up in my feed on YouTube and I was they went over all the go karts from
every era and the new ones they have white tires they're on the ground and they're you know but
they had like professional drivers that race the new go karts try on a track all these older ones
through the years and they get in some of those early ones and they were just scared out of their
mind because the tires were skinny and they just didn't really have brakes as well as the new ones
did and they're just like I would never drive one of these old ones. Well there are new shifter
parts in those days there were three levels I forget what the cc was I drove I had a you know
I can't even think of the brand of the car and I used some mccullough engines which were not the
fastest engines the west bends in those days were fast and there was a fellow that built a
go kart that used an outboard motor and it was very fast but it was also very heavy. Yeah so then
you turned 25 and you bought a 356. Correct. Let me back up I actually won a race that I never
had to go kart and it was at a track in San Carlos California for some reason there was a lot of
people who dropped out on the last lap me and another driver were going and we ran into each other
and we were boasting at the side of the road with the car stopped and since I was farther down the
road than he was in the last lap I was shown as the winner of the race. There's a number of tracks
in the San Francisco Bay area and like the winner of the Livermore was by far the best.
My wife never drove a go kart but she came out and watched the races. Anyway I work in Livermore
so I'm just wondering like where this track probably used to be and I forget exactly how you
got there. Remember this is a eons ago yeah and but it was very very professionally done.
It was a serious thing to have for real go kart racers. They don't use the word go anymore
they're just called karts or karting. So you you just bought the 356 when you were 25. Correct.
We delivered it on New Year's Eve of 1963. And what drew you to Porsche?
There used to be a bunch of once a year imported car shows and I thought why I wanted an L for
a male but I would go around and I would close the doors and the first time I closed the door
on the 356 I go whoa this thing has felt a whole lot more quality before servicing go kart
I had a Triumph TR2 it was just a street car and I don't know it was pretty crude and when I closed
the doors and rolled up the windows and stuff like that on the 366 I said and I looked at the price
it was $4,200 out the door brand new. You can imagine that. I said the Porsche is the one I
want because of the build quality of the car and of course I went to some of the imported car races
and got interested in the Porsches that were driving there and one day it was in Palo Alto and
there was a FW Porsche dealer on El Camino Real in Palo Alto and they just rolled this red 356
out into an aerated city you drove down the road you couldn't miss it and it was like some power
that I had no control over turned the steering wheel in the car and drove me up into the dealer's
lot right there so the I looked at it and sat in it drove it so forth and it's a time I was making
$550 a month and I guess that when I get make $600 a month I'm going to get that car and coincidentally
just maybe a week or two later I got a raise to $600 a month called the dealer and said you
still have that car and says yes he says I'm taking it then I joined Porsche Club and got
involved in that they had their own autocrosses and stuff like that the same goes the rest of
history I just got my 60th year name tag membership tag for Porsche Club of America
oh you've probably you're probably in panorama because they've started putting
the names of people that have been there for a long time in the magazine mine was in there in
that section I'm glad to see you you read it yes okay um so you bought the 356 and then you just
kind of showed up at one of the autocrosses well at first autocross I ran was at the 65
Porsche Parade in Santa Barbara and I'd never autocrossed or anything like that before I tried
it and I wouldn't like to last so that's when I started autocrossing those days you got found
somebody's parking lot and you got permission to put pylons out and one of the members of the club
had a one of the new newer high tech companies there and they had a pretty big lot so we that's
where I started autocrossing was in that lot in Mountain View California when you showed up for
that first autocross where you think oh I've done some carding like I'm going to go see what I can
do or you were just kind of like I haven't really you were saying you hadn't driven the car in anger
so you were just showing up like I'll give this a shot it was the Porsche Parade and they had
a competition events and they collected points for the autocross the rally of the concor I think
were the three and this is my first year in Porsche Club so I did pretty well in the concor
miraculously did well in the rally and I won my class and I ended up third overall
in this big Porsche Parade and I thought hey I'm a hot shot man you know so because I did so well
the local club I was in was just called Gate Region the next dinner meeting I was at they made
mention of the fact that I would have finished third and the ego went off the charts I think
something like that can I add something right here yeah I have never tried or attempted to
use any kind of illegal substance including marijuana cigarettes I think I tried two marijuana
cigarettes didn't like them but you know what I found out that when you win a race and you do well
it's like the combination of adrenaline and ego is right in the vein it is very definitely
I can't think of the word right now but you're hooked you're hooked and I did well and I was
hooked for many many many many years how long did you have the 356 before you went to a the next
was the speedster right let's see yes let's see I bought it in 63 and I think I started racing
in 68 then I think I kept the 356 probably until early 70s something like that there was a time
when I had both the 356 and this and the racing feature in fact my wife it was my wife's go to
work car for a while not the race car the 36 the coop okay so I was interested we kind of talked on
the phone I had dropped a name I don't remember what the name was but I had written an sorry I'd
read an article recently about a man a guy that used to race back in the 356 days because I mean
you see these old like pictures and stories about you know the speedsters and how everybody had them
and they have the hay bells and they're like at airports and whatever land they could find
and so that's always been kind of intriguing to me and so I read this article on this one person
and I can't even remember the guy's name but I was like you know I would like to know about like
some of those 356 speedster racing days and I mentioned the guy's name and you're like oh he
wasn't really that big a deal I was much faster than him well in those days in SCCA he raced against
some models of Alfa Romeo MGV the British the British Leyland had a factory team
Jill Huffaker you'd probably remember the name Jill Huffaker and he ran a British Leyland team
and there were some well supported dealers supported 356's a lot of them out of Southern
California and let's see oh there is oh god what was that team back east anyway there's another
British Leyland team back east that came out and raced at some of the big races in Laguna
SCCA there in those days up to all these 16 group 44 that was it so group 44 we competed against
the Huffaker group we competed against there are some pretty darn good independents in there
in two and zero times when we ran a race and we were not the fastest class and it usually was
all e-production but there are times that we're going to say and particularly with the Canaan
races where we had like everything up to a through e-production competing in my speech
here against Corzettes you weren't going to win overall you just win the class cars were pretty
crude at the time you pretty much run what you're brung so to speak so did you like travel all over
California because I know there was there's a lot of tracks that I mean obviously like big ones
people know like Riverside but there was also tracks like Torrey Pines that a lot of people
haven't even heard of it did not go to Torrey Pines I did drive at Riverside many times and
Southern California was SCCA and there's also a Cal Club and one time Cal Club held the races
and eventually they joined together but Cal Club had more liberal preparation rules than SCCA did
I raced in both of those there was going to say of course Sears Point was just coming out and I
I drove the race in the inaugural Sears Point track and Vacaville raced up where they had the
air races at Reno Sacramento had a track road track one time didn't work very well
stopped and had road races going going back in my memory here
now that was pretty much it I might on this one but early on there was races in Golgi Park
and I went to watch them but by the time I was racing they didn't have them anymore
and there were races in Carmel they had races down there too but that when a guy got killed they
never had races there and I had a chance to run there that was before my time
okay um did you run I know a lot of like racers that became pretty well known started
you know back in the days when they were just racing speedsters and all the cars you mentioned
did you ever race against some of those some of those names that became kind of famous
it depends upon famous there was a fellow who raced in a sports racer but we sometimes
ran the same class but I think we ran the Lewis and he ran Indianapolis a few times never did
anything but Elliot Forge Robinson you may remember that name racing at the gym I did
better against him when we were in in our 9 and 14s and he and I ended up becoming fairly good
friends right now I can't think of uh there's a lot of local names that were well known locally
in the San Francisco Chronicle writer and sports page by the name of Gordon Martin and he did a
once a week race on club racing and stuff like that so I got my name in the San Francisco Chronicle
a number of times on articles on races that I had one that was written by Gordon Martin
I don't know where these where these names are coming out of the past but they're just
you're popping up so um I'm trying to like make this so it's not like we're jumping around
I know that like you went from go karting to autocross to sports car racing back to autocross
then to sports car racing you kind of jump back and forth throughout your that that's correct
and we were privileged to drive for the northern california portion of the dealers
in 9 14s and uh we were at the time that we thought boy we do everything we were hot
well found out that we didn't know everything and uh so there was some trials and tribulations
with that car I lost my train of thought for a second the part of the reason of that is I
eventually with my wife we started an independent Porsche repair shop in Sacramento
and I got deals where I would do the preparation for cars from my customers and then instead of
charging the money they let me drive the cars so I had two or three clients where I was
autocrossing my own car but I quit doing that because I got an officer to drive other people's
cars uh the last car that I had that I own that I rode race was actually the speedster after that
the the next car was the 9 14 and then there were a number of 9 9-11s 9 14 6s but no the only other
people that I sort of helped them when they were driving and I I was able to race the cars instead
of charging the money okay there was a point where I think it was the uh early 80s that we had had
done a 9 14 6 program reasonably successful we looked at what was gonna we were gonna have to do
next year for the same car and we figured that was gonna cost $200,000 to do it and that was
embracing an IMSA and under two and a half liter we looked at the budget and said $200,000
the guy that owned the car said no I don't think still I'll sell it so I still had a few rides
occasionally but never one more it was a complete program okay so do you want to tell the story
that you told me before the last race in 3056 at Laguna Seca and turn two that was in this the
speech sure I got my license in 1969 I rode 69 and 70 and I never got through turn two going
flat I didn't do it anyway I can't think of the gentleman's name right now but he went he went
like all the e-production stuff and he said why you got to learn how to go through turn two flat
out anyway there was a big race it was just all there's no canam or anything like that
so the SCCA started and I think they call it the old Olympia spreads and I said to myself okay
I'm going to go through turn two flat out or die trying and this is even before slicks these were
brand I think some kind of semi street street tire anyway in qualifying I about six times
six laps I went through it qualified on the front row and then I was walking around my
chest stuck out and so forth and it was a big field and I was on the front row with another
Southern California guy named Bob Kirby I believe his name was and I was walking around in the
paddock area and I bumped into the so I can't remember his name he said how's it going I go
man great I finally got turned two flat out he goes you did I said yeah he said Christ
Mars I know nobody's ever done it I was just bs in you and had he not told me to go to turn
two I don't know if I would have tried it but of course the next year six came out everybody
went through turn two flat out I actually won that race got interviewed was broadcast on the radio
really big deal and I set a new life record in that race too so I was very proud of that and
got written up in panorama and that was one of the things that kind of got my name out there
nationally I was winning that particular race oh and there's a part of it the group 44 part was
there and I can't see his name they had an mgb and I beat him and they interviewed me they did the
card did not go to impound it went directly to the winner's circle and the the next was there
his interviews and so forth and the next morning the guy who was driving the mgb started making
accusations that although the scrutiny never looked at the car and the car was obviously illegal
that's why it didn't win and the chief scrutineer that year happened to have been
the man who was my instructor when it went through driver's school his name was Frank Schultzkeis
and we got to be good friends and because I was winning races I was concerned about getting
protested and he was too so he on so somewhere during the week before the race when I was putting
my engine together he would come over with the engine partially assembled measure everything
and then I would put a couple of pieces back on it and he would put a seal on it and all he had to
do is go down lift the deck that up look down at the seal and he said like this thing is legal and
so you don't need to go to impound and Schultzkeis went out found the group 44 guys and they had them
apologize to me and Schultzkeis who was the chief scrutineer said I guarantee you that car is legal
so that was pretty exciting
thanks for joining us for today's episode if you enjoyed the show please subscribe
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goodbye for now we hope we can get together again for our next episode now get out there and enjoy
the cars and the people
About this episode
Dwight Mitchell shares his fascinating journey from go-karting to becoming a champion in autocross and SCCA racing. He recounts how a high school instructor introduced him to go-karts, leading to his first Porsche purchase—a 356c. Dwight discusses his early racing experiences, including memorable races and the thrill of competition. He reflects on the evolution of karting in California and his transition to autocross, where he quickly found success. This episode highlights Dwight's passion for Porsches and the competitive spirit that has driven his long career in motorsports.
Dwight Mitchell is known in Porsche circles for his dominance in PCA AX and as a 5 time SCCA Champion. 2 ASP Solo 2 National titles. 2 Class SPI Pro Solo Championships.
In this episode we talk about: -Go Kart racing. -Buying and racing a 356C. -Racing his 356 Speedster. -What drew him to Porsche. -Setting a lap record at Laguna Seca.
