Moles goals for the USAC Sprint Championship
Mitchell Mullis (Raisin City, CA) will find himself on the road to a title while tackling the full USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule for the first time in 2023 aboard Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports’ No. 19AZ. (Photo by David Nerbas)
SPEEDWAY, Inc. Right before his sophomore season begins on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship track, Mitchell Moles takes a week-long fishing trip.
Throughout the 2023 season, the Raisin City, California native will find himself in the hunt for a championship as he tackles the full series schedule for the first time aboard Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports’ No. 19AZ.
Moles is fresh from last year’s stellar USAC Sprint Car season in which he became the series’ premiere winner this past July at Huset’s Speedway, South Dakota and again later that same month in his first USAC Indiana Sprint Week win at the Lincoln Park Sprint.
The towering 6-foot-3-inch mole was soon informed by his consistently qualifying runs, as he recorded eight rushing times in 2022, which was the most ever by a USAC National Sprint Car Rookie.
Mules’ 11th-place finish in the points series wasn’t entirely indicative of his performance over the past season because he didn’t make his first start until May. Along the way, Moles has appeared in just 27 of 39 events, and in that time frame, the 23-year-old ex-fisherman led 107 laps and compiled six top fives and 19 top tens.
Now, with the USAC racing calendar year under his belt, Moles is ready to take on his biggest challenge with the series yet—the quest for the national title in the seat for the same team that won the 2019 series entrant with driver CJ Leary.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to do that,” stated Mullis. “I’ve never raced for points in a race car before at any level, so that would be great. (Team owner) Andy (Reinbold) and I press really well together and, as always, our goal is to win and not settle for anything less. We try. Winning to win the championship and that’s our goal.”
While the majority of Moles’ best performances came on wider tracks, he showed plenty of signs of brilliance over the quarter mile as he got his feet wet with the chain, finishing inside the top five at both Gas City (third) and Kokomo (fifth). However, among his goals next year is to find more consistency in all aspects, particularly in the “rings”.
After several seasons in winged sprint cars and mini-sprints, lessons were learned in droves during Moles’ first foray into the USA, and he witnessed an abundance of scenarios from the victorious variety to the pervasive first-year frustration. Now, entering year two, Moles is ready to take the next step in becoming a quality rider who can excel at any challenge anywhere, anywhere.
“The wingless cars are driven by the throttle,” Mullis explained. “Sometimes you don’t do it wide open. A lot of times it works out during the playoffs, but then, it takes time, and it took me a while to learn that. I just need to work on being better overall than any One more thing. My goal is not to be good at the fast half-mile that I’m best at, my goal is to be good at everything. That’s what Justin (Grant) does and that’s what Brady (Bacon) and CJ (Leary) do.
“They are good at all of them and that’s why they are national champions. You have to be good all the time, not half the time.”
Moles will make his 2023 debut with the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship with a week-long stint in Florida during February, starting with a pair of non-points special events at Volusia Speedway Park on February 13-14, followed by the first three races of the year at Bubba Raceway. Park on February 16-18.
“I just want to knock the thing over and get started,” Moles yelled. “Andy has given me great things with his Stanton Engines and Spike Chassis, which gives us everything we need, and I can’t thank him enough for the opportunity. I’m just going to try and have as much fun as possible and win some races.”