Multi-car teams have always been the way to go in the highly competitive world of motorsports.

From oval racing to drag racing and everything in between, multi-car teams have always had an advantage on the field thanks to information and part sharing and that is exactly the impact that team owner Mitch King had hoped for when he started up a multi-car team a few years ago.

Beginning with a two car operation three seasons ago, King has had a ton of success in a very short amount of time. Over the past two seasons King and company have recorded seven wins and a Top fuel World Championship coming in 2008.

This season King is once again having a banner year as rookie driver Del Cox Jr. finds himself second in points with three wins and King is fourth, making it to his first career final round back in July.

But while Cox tries to give Mitch King Motorsports its second consecutive IHRA World Championship and King tries for his first career top-five finish, the big story this weekend doesn’t surround either driver’s championship hopes.

The real story this weekend is the debut of King’s third car, completing a dream that even King didn’t think would ever come to life.

“It is not something that we planned,” King explained. “We just decided to get a third car and we picked up this brand new dragster 10 days before Indy and we debuted it there. It just kind of happened.”

King debuted the new dragster at the U.S. Nationals last weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis with rookie Ron August behind the wheel. With the dragster fresh off the lot, August hopped in the car and got his license a few days before the event and then made his Top Fuel debut at one of the biggest drag races in the world last weekend.

“We took Ron to the test session at Indy and he ran some solid numbers in Del’s car and we got his license and took him to Indy and put him in the new car,” King said. “This thing is brand new and we are very excited about the opportunities that this opens up for our team.”

Despite not making the field, August was able to pick up valuable seat time and now the 40-year-old from northern California will try to qualify for his first event this weekend at the Amalie Oil North American Nationals.

“He wanted some seat time and we were able to bring him over here. I am sure we are going to see a lot more of him this year,” King said.

Ironically, the new ride was actually purchased for King and the original plan had August driving King’s aptly named “Slinky” dragster. Instead, King will have to wait one more race before he gets to make his first pass in his all-new dragster.

“The car was actually built for me. It is my very first new car and I haven’t got to drive it yet,” King said. “We are looking to give Ron some seat time, but I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel. It is one bad machine.”

If all goes as planned, King will finally get a chance to compete in his new dragster in two weeks at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals in Maryland. He will give up his current ride to Rob Bruce who will be the next driver to compete in a Mitch King backed dragster.

Right now, however, King has only one thing on his mind – keeping Cox in the hunt for the title and helping August learn the ropes.

“We have got a brand new crank in Del’s car and we hope to keep Del out front and in contention for this championship,” King said. “Right now my car is the experiment. We have been stealing parts off of ‘Slinky’ to put in the new car, but we will get it put back together and hopefully get all three cars in the show.”

If he can do that, King has the potential to put three cars in the eight-car field giving Mitch King Motorsports quite an advantage over the field. 

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