Catchfence

When it comes to passion and picking talented drivers from the hordes of hopefuls out there, there are few people in NASCAR that can match Mike Mittler.

Mittler is the owner of a machine and tool company in Foristell, Mo., and a part-time Camping World Truck Series owner/crew chief. He’s best known for the list of drivers who have wheeled his trucks early in their careers. Among his graduates are Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Justin Allgaier, and two deceased drivers, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper.

Early on he helped build parts for Rusty Wallace’s short track cars.

“We won a lot of ASA races together,” Wallace said in a 2005 interview. “He was one of my major mechanics. He made all the special pieces, the trick parts that made the car go fast.”

McMurray said Mittler, a machinist by trade, puts the same attention to detail into his racing projects as he does at his day job. “He wants everything to be perfect,” he said.

Edwards said Mittler’s work ethic is an inspiration to him.

“You can look at people’s hands and tell how hard they work,” Edwards said. “Some people have clean hands, some have real dirty hands, and there are some people like Mike who are missing the ends of a couple of fingers. He’s a hard, hard worker.

“He can come in the morning at 8 a.m. and work all day at Mittler Brothers Machine and Tool and make the money he goes and spends from 5 o’clock to midnight working on the race car.

“He can build the engines, set up the trucks, drive the hauler, probably drive the race car too.”
“I learned a lot from him about digging deep and not using excuses.”

- RacinToday.com