“Texas Trey” Mitchell is the 2010 ARBodies.com Most Popular Driver PASS South regular scores a commanding win in the popular Speed51.com contest
Wimberley, Texas (January 13, 201) – According to the contest organizers, over 40,000 race fans voted in the 2010 edition of the Speed51.com ARBodies.com Late Model Most Popular Driver contest and after the votes were tabulated, “Texas Trey” Mitchell was declared the winner.
The obviously popular Mitchell will receive a brand new ABC “Package A” kit from ARBodies.com for winning the contest. ARBodies are among the most sought after stock car racing bodies in the racing industry and are worth nearly $3.000.00.
“It feels good to know that so many people from all over the country voted for me,” Mitchell said. “We came pretty close to winning last year, but I am proud to say that a Texan won it with another Texan, JT Schild, among the top three. I just want to thank everyone for taking the time to vote for me and JT.”
For the past two seasons the personable Wimberley, Texas, native has run up near the front in the PASS South Super Late Model Series, finishing a strong fifth in the 2010 final PASS point standings despite running one less race than the rest of the drivers who finished in the top ten.
Mitchell caught the racing bug at fourteen, competing in four races in his Allison Legacy Mitchell Motorsports ride at the very end of the 2004 season at Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas, not far from his hometown of Wimberley. In spite of his brief season, he proved a quick learner and was named the “Most Improved Driver” in the series that year.
With the racing bug fully implanted, in 2005 Trey started his first full racing season in style by breaking the track record in the Allison Legacy season opener at Red River Speedway in Wichita Falls, Texas. Although 2005 saw no wins, he was in the lead pack all season with seven second-place finishes – more than good enough to win the coveted “Rookie of the Year” honors.
In what many saw as a daring move, the 16-year old made a huge jump to the highly-competitive asphalt Pro Modified division in 2006. The move took him from a relatively calm 120 horsepower scale-model stock car to a fire-breathing, low-slung , open- wheel modified, but it didn’t take the high school athlete-scholar very long to learn the ropes. In fact – and to most everyone’s astonishment – the youngster recorded a win in his rookie season at one of the most demanding, half-mile, high-banked tracks anywhere – San Antonio Speedway – making him the youngest winner ever in the Texas-based Pro Modified division. With that impressive notch in his belt, Mitchell was named “Rookie of the Year” for the second year in a row.
The following season, Mitchell raced his Pro Modified at Houston Motorsports Park, picking up three wins, six top 5’s and 9-top 10’s in 12 starts at the 3/8-mile concrete and asphalt oval, almost winning the championship except for a costly wreck during the season finale.
Mitchell, who combines his studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with his racing career, says he will be putting his new ARBody to good use in 2011.
“We are planning on running the whole PASS South schedule this season – this time without missing a race,” Mitchell said. “We have a great team and the best part is that we have learned a whole lot about all the tracks that were new to us over the past couple of season. To me the PASS Super Late Model Series is the best Super Late Model group in the country with a first-class group of drivers and teams. Like a lot of other drivers, I hope to move up the racing ladder – paying my dues along the way – and eventually land a ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, so the awesome experience I am gaining now is invaluable.”