Mystery Driver #46 The always pleasant to converse with Mike Mason poses next to his self owned/funded former Tom Faxon & Mark Fluery Wild thing, #26.  By the time this picture was taken, Mike had had quite an interesting road to get to this point in his career.

Mike started out as an always on the throttle small block street stock competitor know for his heavy foot in the carburetor driving style that got him noticed by those in the open wheel ranks.  After longtime LV competitor and multi sportsman winner Mike Dolan called it a racing career, car owner Ed Simonek was looking for a pilot for his potent #26 cars, and Mason got the call.  Mike may have had an inside track, since the two were neighbors, but Mike’s aggressive style won over Simonek, and the two paired up to try their hand at the modified division.

Mike handled himself well, but with the under funded and underpowered LV head motor, the team had limited success.  When Corrections officer Ed Simonek himself decided to call it quits, Mike had the desire to continue racing, and purchased the aforementioned Tobias car from Faxon, and went sportsman racing, thus racing in all three divisions in an unusual sequence.  Mike was a vibrant part of LV, and on many nights did it all, towed the car to the track, unloaded it, changed the tires, tuned up the car, and of course drove it, without nary a crew member to help him out!

Those guessing Mike as the Mystery Driver were:

Bill Chuckta
Steve Fifield, who commented on Mike's distinguished "mullet"
Mike Visconti
Arnie Ainsworth
Mark Labrum
Jeff Fitzpatrick
Steve Forward

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