On most race weekends Mitch King’s job is, first and foremost, to help his rookie driver have the best event possible.

From helping set up the car to giving advice on getting down the track, King enjoys his role as mentor to whoever is driving his second car at the time.

As for his second job, well King can also be found making laps during race weekends – wheeling a 300 mile per hour Top Fuel dragster alongside teammate and rookie Del Cox Jr. On most race weekends Mitch King’s job is, first and foremost, to help his rookie driver have the best event possible.

From helping set up the car to giving advice on getting down the track, King enjoys his role as mentor to whoever is driving his second car at the time.

As for his second job, well King can also be found making laps during race weekends – wheeling a 300 mile per hour Top Fuel dragster alongside teammate and rookie Del Cox Jr.

King, who fields two cars in IHRA Top Fuel competition, drives one and mentors Cox in the other and through five races this season he has both cars firmly in the top five in points. While Cox has been the star of the operation thus far with one win while battling Bruce Litton for the points lead, King has shown he is no slouch either, making quite a stir at the IHRA’s last stop at the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Claiming just one round win in his first four tries, King stunned the field last weekend with a shocking first round victory over Cox followed by another upset of Terry McMillen, placing King in his first career final against Litton.

While King wasn’t able to grab his first career victory, he was able to garner some extra attention to his operation and make a statement that his car can be just as competitive as the other top contenders.

“We had to go out there and race and it just so happened that I had the better car on that day on that track,” King said. “It was great for AFD (Alberta Fuel Distributors) who are long time supporters to help us up there. We needed to go out there and put on a good show for the fans and for all of the people who have helped us out. It was a great weekend.”

While it was a great weekend for King, his stunning first round upset of his second car left quite a sting in the garage as King’s victory helped Litton pull ahead by 84 points in the Top Fuel points chase.

“I thought I was going to get my head chopped off when I got back to the pits over here. Everybody was mad at me,” King said. “I told them we are going to race and they thought I was lying.

“But I did give him lane choice. I had lane choice and I gave him the good lane so I blamed it on them. They should have been able to get their car down the track.”

While the upset definitely left some mouths gaping and slightly hurt his own cars bid for a title, King admits that it isn’t always about Cox. While he loves helping his young drivers succeed, he is also a competitor first and foremost and when he pulls into his lane it is all about getting to the finish line first no matter who the opponent.

“I wouldn’t mind winning a race or two or a championship myself,” King said. “We feel like we have a car that can contend with the best of them. As it turned out Bruce and Richard seemed to have a handle on it at Edmonton, but a lot of the big horsepower cars were having trouble getting down the track. That is where my car does well, when there is a marginal track so that was my day to shine.”

Now all eyes will once again be on King and Cox, especially if they meet up on the track once again.

“We are here to try to win this race with Del or myself and we are going to go out and give it our best effort.”

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