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By Robin Yasinsac-Gillespie
Norwich, NY driver Mitch Gibbs, a two-time Race of Champions [RoC] Dirt Modified Series titleholder who earned the nickname “The Showstopper” during a 40-year career, is the next driver to be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame. This year’s ceremonies will take place on Thursday, August 13 at the Hall of Fame Museum located on the grounds of Weedsport Speedway in New York.
Gibbs’ story starts like many others: at a young age he attended racing events with his dad, who sporadically drove a Late Model. He became passionate about it decades ago as he watched Hall of Famer Will Cagle get his car around the track.
“I remember going to Weedsport and watching Will,” said Gibbs about his fascination with Cagle’s talents and flair. “I always had an interest in what he was doing. I would be in the grandstands and by the time they would let you through the pit gate, Will would already have his car cover on.”
Curious and smart, young Gibbs managed to crack Cagle’s code quicker than most.
“You always thought he had a lot of secrets because he would cover everything up, keeping everyone guessing,” he laughed. “But now that I know how that works, it was probably just a head game.”
When Bob Gibbs packed up his racing gear for the last time in 1980, son Mitch gladly took over the driving duties in the family car.
“We both had to work really hard at it,” said Gibbs, whose father never made it to victory lane during his racing days. Initially, “I was too aggressive and I was too fast. I raced too hard and I didn’t realize that you have to slow down to go faster! Once I started doing that, things changed for me.”
And change they certainly did.
In 1984 he bought a newer Troyer car from Hall of Fame great Jack Johnson. And with that purchase, he got more than just a race car.
“We ran Fonda Speedway; so three or four times we went up early in the day, stopped at Jack’s shop and he taught me a lot,” recalled Gibbs, who could taste success but was struggling to find it. “He showed me how to set the car up—what I should be doing, what I shouldn’t be doing. But what I got most out of it was confidence.”
It showed.
That year he racked up seven wins and a 320 small-block crown at the “Track of Champions.” In the late ’80s he moved up to the elite Modified division, spent time on Central NY surfaces like Weedsport, Canandaigua and Rolling Wheels Raceway. And he started clicking off wins wherever he would roam.
During that time he worked for Johnson and former Pillsbury race team owner Jim Beachy. They were selling a lot of race cars and needed someone to assemble the cars up in a little shop in New Hartford, NY.
“Jack’s brother-in-law would do all the painting and I would do the mechanical side of it. So I learned a lot from that, too,” said Gibbs, who became a Bicknell dealer in 1986.
He ventured out from DIRT founder Glenn Donnelly’s popular big-block circuit and experienced great success at places like Afton, Thunder Mountain and under the NASCAR banner at Fulton and Utica-Rome speedways.
As the wins piled up—so did the car owners. He was triumphant with Ed Wilson, Skip Seymour and the Mirabito team.
“I raced for a lot of different car owners and that’s really hard to do,” Gibbs pointed out. “There were times I would drive for six or seven car owners in a year! I would get calls from people because they would have a dispute with their driver, the car wasn’t going good, and they’d call me to see what I could do with it. I did that quite a bit.”
Life was good—but busy. Gibbs ran a speed shop, he was a Bicknell dealer, he took over his dad’s automobile business. Plus, he was hitting the road racing a good five nights a week.
He was also ahead of his time in attracting attention. Before it became the “thing to do,” Gibbs hired a public relations representative for his racing efforts. A wise decision.
“His name was Aaron Boyce and he was a childhood friend of mine,” said Gibbs of the promotional mastermind. “He had an interest in that and so did I—he was a hell of a marketing guy! We put together some sponsorship deals that were unheard of back then. At that time guys were lucky if they got a couple thousand bucks from a sponsor—we were getting $30,000-$40,000.”
In 2002, the duo landed a dream situation: a sponsorship with regional chain Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, representing their 80+ stores. The lucrative deal lasted six years—a rich span filled with adventures, appearances and a high-style life on the road.
“I was on the road all the time and I didn’t like traveling at all,” claimed Gibbs. “But when we had that big Kenworth stacker and trailer I had two truck drivers, so that was great.
“I know that guys say you can’t make money racing—but I always did.”
Though Gibbs most often raced for others, he was listed as the car owner when he had the Nice N Easy arrangement.
“I like being a driver but I like being a car owner better,” said Gibbs, who went on to explain. “Being a car owner, I could control things; and along with my marketing partner, we could do things the way we needed to do them. Sometimes car owners don’t represent a sponsor like they should—but that was important to us.”
On track, Gibbs was partial to the smaller raceways, the bullrings. He is currently the winningest driver at Afton Motorsports Park, which still makes him smile.
“I’ve always liked the smaller tracks better,” Gibbs said. “They are harder to race—you don’t have a straight-away to think. It does impress me when I would see other guys’ names as the winningest driver [at other tracks] so it’s pretty cool to have that spot at Afton. I’ve always wanted to be that guy! I think Jeremy Smith is in second place with 29 wins and I have 70 so I think I’m pretty safe.”
Gibbs’ prosperous career ended in 2021 when he was 58 years old—not by choice but for medical reasons.
“I was in so much pain I just couldn’t do it anymore,” recalled Gibbs. “My lower back is in rough shape because of racing and I’ve had a bunch of concussions. From a past concussion at Utica-Rome, I had bleeding on the brain and I was never the same after that. It was time.”
He wrapped up his success story at Afton, racing for his good friend Cork O’Hara.
“It wasn’t an easy decision—I thought about it and thought about it,” Gibbs conceded. “There were times when I had to lay on the trailer floor before I could get in the race car. When you’re racing, your adrenaline is flowing so you don’t notice how bad the pain is—but there were times I’d have to sit in the car for 20 minutes after a race because I couldn’t get out.”
Gibbs is thankful for all of it: the 179 documented career wins at 15 tracks; the five championships at Afton, a pair at both Thunder Mountain and Five Mile Point, and one each at Fonda, Fulton and Utica-Rome speedways. He swept Five Mile Point’s Southern Tier specials in both 2002 and 2004; won Hagerstown Speedway’s 1999 Octoberfest 100; and has two RoC Dirt Modified Series titles.
His high school sweetheart, Dawn, has been by his side for 45 years; their kids—Heather, Danielle (married to racer Brett Tonkin) and Todd—were into racing and still are involved; granddaughter Chesnee is currently dating one of the sport’s latest sensations, Alex Yankowski, so it’s brought some new excitement to the Gibbs clan.
This is Mitch’s fourth induction into a racing Hall of Fame. He’s overwhelmed. He was added to the New York State Stock Car Association’s Hall of Fame in 2023. In July, he will join Afton Motorsports Park’s class, while the Midstate Antique Stock Car Club honors him in August, along with his induction to the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame.
“I’m happy,” Gibbs concurred. “I think about what we were able to do in racing—it was a unique way to live, it was fun,” he said. “The wins, the good times—how could I not be happy? I’m extremely flattered.”
