The Datsun 240Z is a popular sports car from the 1970s that many car enthusiasts love for its style and speed. It's a symbol of Japanese automotive engineering from that era.
Top fuel dragsters are super-fast racing cars that compete in short races called drag races. They have really powerful engines that help them go from zero to very fast in just a few seconds.
PCA is short for the Porsche Club of America, a group for people who love Porsche cars. They organize events and help members learn more about their cars.
A concor award is a special prize given to cars that are restored and presented very well at car shows. It's a way to recognize the best cars at these events.
The Zuzich of the Year is an award given to someone in the Porsche community for doing something really great, like showing off their car or helping others.
An odometer is a tool in cars that shows how far the car has traveled. Older cars used mechanical odometers, which were easier to change than today's electronic ones.
The Porsche 911 is a well-known sports car that has been around for many years. The versions from 1972 and 1973 are especially famous for their style and speed.
A lapping tool helps make sure that the parts of an engine fit together well. It uses a suction cup to hold the valve while you spin it with a special paste to make it smooth.
A valve job is when you fix or clean the valves in an engine to help it run better. It makes sure everything fits together correctly so the engine can work well.
The suspension is the system in a car that helps it ride smoothly over bumps. It includes parts that support the car's weight and keep the tires in contact with the road.
Warts are small round lights on the front fenders of some cars, like the Porsche 914. They are used to help other drivers see the car better when parked.
The Triumph TR-3 is a small sports car from the 1950s that many people love for its fun driving experience and classic look. It's a great example of British engineering from that time.
A rear engine means the car's engine is located at the back instead of the front. This can help with how the car handles and drives, especially in smaller cars.
The Renault Dauphine is a small car made in France during the 1950s and 1960s. It was designed to be affordable and practical for everyday use, making it a common sight on the roads at that time.
A swing axle is a part of a car's suspension that helps the wheels move up and down. It allows for better handling, but it can sometimes make the car less stable.
Narrow tires are thinner than regular tires. They can help a car go faster in some situations but might not grip the road as well as wider tires.
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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 automated.
Porsche Patter is sponsored by Circuit 6-4. Circuit 6-4 creates authentic automotive apparel made
for life-minded automotive enthusiasts. The links for Circuit 6-4 are in the shown notes.
Okay, let's get to it.
Dwight Mitchell, part six. All right, it's been a while. It's been a little crazy,
like since around the holidays, because Christmas fell on a Thursday,
New Year's fell on a Thursday. I was down in Southern California. That was on a Thursday,
a couple of weeks ago. And then last week, my friend came up from Southern California,
and I've been trying to get him to come up here for 10 years, and I really needed his help with
something. So that took up that Thursday, and I only post on Thursday. So I think I've only
posted one podcast since Christmas, because all this stuff seems to keep happening on Thursday.
But while I was in Southern California, one of those Thursdays, like a couple of weeks ago,
I went by John Morton's place, and that was pretty cool. I met him and Sylvia, and they
showed me, like, we went out to his garage, and I got to see that 240Z that he just barely got done
that's super nice. He just barely showed it at that all Japanese car show or whatever in LA that
was the 20th anniversary. That was a couple of months ago. Anyway, so it was at his house, and
then he showed me like his motorcycle collection and scooter collection. And I saw some like the
pictures of him racing on his wall and stuff like that. One of the pictures was him in Dragster,
and I'm asking him, like, what's this all about? And he's like, yeah, so I raced at Dragster for
three races. I wasn't really that excited about it. I didn't really want to do it, but, you know,
my friend asked, the team was looking for a driver because their driver was no good.
And so they asked me, would you race my car? And I kind of just said, well, okay. Then the guy,
like, threw like some money at him, and he caught it. So he's like, oh, you he's got good reaction
time. So they made him come race. And so he raced like three different events. But then another
team he was with like a normal road racing team, he was signed with or whatever, or something,
he had other obligations. So he after the third race, they were like, we need you back to, you
know, he needed to go to another race. But so I didn't know that I didn't know that he raced a
like a dragster, like a top fuel dragster for like three events.
All right. And this one, I asked the questions because Bill Patton grew up in the Bayer, as you
know, I've, you know, you've heard Bill Patton on this show. And so he had questions about Dwight
because he kind of knew Dwight and Jerry Woods knew Dwight. So they had some questions. So I
asked those questions in this one. And also he gets a little bit emotional at this one. So he
you'll see him kind of change the subject. Although the subject kind of is relatable because,
you know, he's talking about his wife who had just barely died. And so when he changed the
subject, he changed it to like the story of when he told his dad he was getting married,
which the story involves him wrecking a brand new Renault. What else do we talk about in this one?
A few different things. After he was done racing, he did like a chase car work is what he called it.
Like the government or some programs has you come drive the car to like see how traffic flows.
I don't know. You'll hear it in this one. But anyway, here's Dwight Mitchell, part six.
Okay. So some of these questions I asked Bill, like if he had anything I should ask. And I also
talked to Jerry. So I don't know if this is a bill question. This sounds like a, this sounds
like a bill question. I mean, he's PCA crazy. You won the laser Blanchett award.
That's a concor award. It's either the concor award or the Zuzich to the year. I can't remember
which it was. Well, as our Blanchett might have been the Zuzich to the year when I won that.
And I won in 1973. I won the overall concor championship at the Porsche parade in our 914,
our own 914. With our Blanchett, it had nothing to do with going fast.
And then you won the Manhattan trophy concourse. There we go. Manhattan was the concor award
and with our Blanchett was the Zuzich to the year award, which I won in 1971.
Well, he was, he was acting like the Manhattan trophy was like a big deal because it wasn't
just a normal concor. It was like, I don't know. I don't even remember what he said.
It was at the Porsche parade. We won it in the 914. And somebody, it was the 73 914 that we
bought brand new. And they just to change the rules. They used to have the concor age and
mileage bonus points. And people were, they found that people were fludging the mileage on their
odometer, which were all mechanical in those days. And they said, okay, no more age and mileage
points. And here I'm sitting there two years in an almost new car. Why not enter it? I mean,
how hard is it going to be to prepare it? Well, it turned out to be pretty hard to prepare it.
But anyway, a gentleman named Gene Babbo was the chairman of the concor that year,
as each class winner or category winner, I should say, was announced. He would say,
he would give the car color, the car type, and then the name is who was the, and the car was green.
And there were two green cars on the concor that had won their category. And there were being,
had been re-judged. And everybody thought the screen beautiful, I think 72 or 73 911.
And they said, it was the 914. And you could hurt a pin drop in that place. What the heck is
of 914 doing winning the concor, the Porsche parade? Well, it was points, you know, it was
judging. And I had won the category that all the 914s were in. So I ended up with
Alessar Blanchard Award. I was happy to have won the category because they were still had
the competition for overall and literally almost fell out of my chair.
And then the two things that Jerry Woods wanted me to ask you about or brought up was
1975 parade in Seattle, the 914 for lime green car.
It was called Delphi Green, D L P H I Delphi Green.
And he just says, I remembered Dwight being super anal.
Guilty as charged on your honor. Guilty as charged.
And he had Clarence Daniels paint his car. And so he kept making him repaint it because
Dwight was crazy. He did paint part of it twice. One time was my fault. One time was Linda's fault.
I had been known to have a bad temper. And I was in my garage doing an engine rebuild
for the fellow that bought my speedster. And I was, do you know what a lapping tool is for valves?
No.
When you do a valve job, anyway, it looks like an 8 meter, except there's a suction cup on the end.
And you put the suction cup on the end of the valve and you put a little bit of the valve
lapping compound on it. You spin it around and it laps in so the valves seat nice and evenly.
And you can make sure that the valve job was done correctly and so forth. Anyway,
I was doing this and it was just the last time I had somebody else do the valve job for me.
I started doing the whole thing myself. Anyway, did not do a good job. And I'm trying to
lap the valves in so they'll seat properly. And I just got mad and I picked up this thing in my hand
and I was going to throw it across my garage and into the wall and do no harm. But about the
time I got halfway through swinging my arm, I thought, wait a minute, I'm going to finish this.
If I throw it against the wall, I'm going to break it. I can't finish it. So I decided to throw
it out the door of the garage and go out of harm's way, except I forgot one thing. The 914
was sitting right there and I bounced the valve lapping tool off the hood of the 914.
So he repainted the hood for me. The second time, I think, was the next year we went up to
Portland to preview the Porsche Parade was going to be held there that year. And then Linda was
driving it and it was through a parking lot that had a bunch of parking spots. Well, she made a
turn up over a curb. Fortunately, somehow it did not bend the suspension, but the front fender
where the tire was turned or something like that got bent a little bit. So I had him repaint
the two front fenders and take off what we call the warts, which were those little round
parking lights that were on the front of the all of the 914 fenders. So I had him take it off.
And that would have been 74, I believe. And what I wasn't meant to have in Concord award is 75.
The judges never noticed that I did not have the warts on the front fenders. And I ended up
putting over all that a couple of people came out to me and said, didn't you get dinged for not
having any warts on your fenders? I go, I don't know, I have nothing to do with how they scored it.
But one of the judges came up to me and said, you got lucky because we should have deducted
one or two for not having those warts on your fenders. So that's how Clarence Daniels, he only
painted two parts of the car, the hood and the two front fenders at different times.
Another thing that Jerry said was kind of like rumored was the hose, you were getting ready for,
I don't know, I guess this was for Concord's the elegance or whatever to try to make it look good.
And he says the hoses in the engine compartment are different colors.
So he died and bleached them all the same colors, so they would all be the same color,
not a bunch of different colored hoses. Then that made little teeny hairs stand up on the hoses,
so he shaved them with a razor. That's not true. I played innocence on that.
Okay. Jerry was really right. That's probably something, if I had the time, I probably would
have done something like that. Jerry is an extremely clever, intelligent guy. How he put
up with these long hours. He never seen a 935 engine compared to 911. It's mega times more
complex with all the turbo stuff and flat fans and whatnot. It was very interesting.
Quick story, the first time I ran the Daytona 24 hours, I asked somebody, I don't know who it was,
might have been Jerry, says when you go through the NASCAR part of the course,
you know, you've got the chicane before turn three and four. Now, but when we ran,
that didn't exist, so he had that big long straight away, and then to turn three and four
complex. I said, can you go through a flat out? He says, well, I'll tell you how you can tell
if a guy goes flat out in a turbo. The turbos are full tilt for so long because of the straight
away. At night, you can see them going red. If a guy lifts things, as soon as he lifts,
the glow goes away. So, you know, who's going through the corner of flat and who isn't.
That's cool. That's good to know for right, sir. Best advice you've ever gotten?
Mary Linda. Worst advice you've ever gotten?
I decided to become a stock trader in futures. It doesn't get at work. He said, oh, this is easy.
You've got to do it. And so, I took a bunch of classes, and I still, on my impact patches today,
I've never used all the capital gains losses that I incurred during this time trying to be a futures
trader. So, that was the worst advice I ever got. If you could interview or talk to anybody,
who would it be? My natural instinct is to pick Ronald Reagan.
Why is that? In my opinion, he did more for saving the world than any other president
of the United States. He got Russia to tear down the wall, and he was an exceptionally
good politician. He didn't talk down to people. He talked to them on equal basis, and he was
probably the most respected president, at least in my lifetime, that I can think of.
Second one would probably be Dwight Eisenhower. He was the guy responsible for winning World War
II. Gerald Patton would be another one. People's lives are on the line, and they did something
that saved lives. Best memory? Probably married my wife. So, wedding was married my wife.
Okay. We were fortunate we stayed in love with each other. It ups the moment she passed away.
Yeah. I mentioned I had this Triumph TR-3. Yeah. I decided to get married, and I owed my father
money on the car. He'd loan me some money to buy it. Do you remember there were no,
they just called Renault in those days. Renault Dauphine, it had a swimmer axle,
rear engine, cast iron engine. Anyway, my Triumph was worth more than this brand new Renault,
and in those days you had to break the car in. I bought it in San Francisco, and I was going to
college, not in Stanford, but at a J.C. dinner in Stanford. I went out behind Stanford just to put
it on over a hook, kind of a query road. That car had a cast iron engine behind the trans-vax
set of aluminum, and the geometry I learned many years later was the transmission with
swing axle like a Volkswagen. Anyway, I came around the corner and I was following this dealer.
Oh, no. I'm sorry. They were following me. I went around this corner, maybe a tish on the
fast side, car spun 180, hit a ditch, and I did a triple endo with me in the car and no seat belt.
It ended up on its wheels with me in the passenger seat with the engine still running.
I had to reach up and turn the key off, but somehow, because I had had this Triumph,
if you may recall, a Triumph TR, they had a low-cut door, very low-cut. You could get into the car
just stepping over the door. I was trained that if I ever could turn the car over, I was going to
fall across the seat and grab into the door on the other side. When I realized what was going to
happen, that's what I did. I reached over, grabbed the door, and the only thing that happened to me
when I went into the windshield and I had a nasty cut over my forehead. Those lady lines said I did
a triple endo, not rolled. If it had rolled, I probably would have been seriously hurt.
This car, when it got to the wrecking yard, the odometer said 84 miles. I'm like, I didn't kill
myself. My father also happened to be my insurance agent. Of course, I hadn't changed the insurance
on the car, so I called up the office to talk to him when he was gone. I talked to one of his
vice presidents. I told him what happened. I got a call from my father, a lady, that evening and said,
why didn't you sell that car you loved so well and buy that French piece of whatever it was?
I'm getting married, dad. He says, you're doing what? I says, I'm getting married, but I had to
tell my father that I was getting married because I crashed the car and totaled it with 84 miles on
the odometer. One last story. One of the projects I did for this consulting company,
and I did some, it was called chase car work. It was requested by some of the car companies
and some of the highway companies. I was in a chase car filled with all kinds of cameras,
lasers, stuff like that to put this document of how fast was traffic going in the 50 mile
an hour zone on average. Anyway, it was a two-person job and we had this big Chevrolet that was
loaded with all this equipment, so it had some suspension upgrades on it and it had little
narrow tires on it. Probably weighed 500 pounds more that was billed with. There was a lady,
it was the other part of TV with one thing and she says, why don't you show me some racing
corners? Make this car corner like a race car. I knew I'd pop a wheel off and I tried to explain
her that this car is not capable of acting like a race car, but she was very upset,
she thought I was faking it and she badmouthed me for how easy he says his race car driving was.
Yeah, but I never had interest in going fast on the street. Okay, I'm going to tell you one
story, nothing to do with racing. I am probably the most unbegetted person you will ever meet.
My father was the exact opposite and when I was a young kid somehow I knew that this was wrong,
but I was born and raised in San Francisco and I went to public high school and until I was a
senior in the San Francisco High School, I had never been in a school with a black kid. The
first day of school by senior year, it was a big deal. My God, there's a black kid here. His last
name was also Mitchell and I wanted to show people that I was not prejudice and we'd walk down all
together to do Mitchell's and he was a football player which helped us so he could take care of
himself and all my life. In fact, the two people today here who are my base age are both black.
It's who you are, it's not what the color you are. My father used every bad word, every N word,
any Italian word, Jewish word, anything. As an insurance broker, he would not insure Asians,
he thought they were all terrible drivers. I mean, I went by dad, but unless you're
quite Caucasian or something like that, he wouldn't have anything to do with you. Anyway, that was
what else was subject. Thanks for joining us for today's episode. If you enjoyed the show,
please subscribe, comment, like and share with your friends.
Feel free to send questions or suggestions to the email in the description of the show.
Special thanks to our sponsor, Circuit64. 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 captivating stories from his racing career, including his unexpected stint as a drag racer and his experiences with concourse events. He reflects on his emotional journey following the loss of his wife, intertwining personal anecdotes with insights into his automotive passions. The conversation touches on his meticulous approach to car restoration and memorable moments from his racing days, including humorous mishaps. With contributions from Bill Patton and Jerry Woods, this episode offers a blend of nostalgia and heartfelt storytelling that resonates with the Porsche community.
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: -Winning the Lazar Blanchard PCA award. -Winning the Manhattan Concours PCA award. -Wrecking a Renault. -Doing Chase car work.
