John Mickel (born 28 January 1971) is a British professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver and commentator. He has raced in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of thr ...

in the United States and the Pickup Truck Racing Series in the United Kingdom. He was also a commentator for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

' coverage of NASCAR racing in 2008 and 2009.

Racing career

Mickel, a second-generation driver, began racing at the age of ten in

Ministox Stock car racing in the United Kingdom covers a number of different oval racing formulas. Contact is allowed in UK stock car racing, that is, if you are unable to pass an opponent using speed alone, you are allowed to push or hit your opponent in o ...

and won his first championship two years later. He soon moved to

Superstox Superstox is a type of single seat formula racing, similar to Sprint car racing developed in the 1960s in the United Kingdom. Racing is 'contact' whereby drivers can use the front bumper to help dislodge any car in front. Like most other form ...

where he was named both World and European champion. He joined the SCSA-Europe tour in its inaugural year in 2001, where he won the series' first championship. In 2002, Mickel began racing part-time in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

. After failing to qualify for two races in the Craftsman Truck Series in the No. 09 for Midgley Racing, he began racing in the

American Speed Association The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt a ...

in 2004. He also planned to make his

Nextel Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

debut that same year in Travis Carter's No. 66 car for the renamed TorqueSpeed Carter team in select races throughout the season, but the deal fell through. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Mickel returned to the Truck Series and did make his debut in the series after qualifying for the race at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, driving the No. 4

Dodge Ram The Ram pickup (marketed as the Dodge Ram until 2010) is a full-size pickup truck manufactured by Stellantis North America (formerly Chrysler Group LLC and FCA US LLC) and marketed from 2010 onwards under the Ram Trucks brand. The current fi ...

for

Bobby Hamilton Racing Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia is a disbanded NASCAR racing team. It was owned by four-time Winston Cup winner and 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Bobby Hamilton until his death on January 7, 2007. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was given owners ...

, starting 35th and finishing 29th. Mickel had attempted to make one other start that season for Hamilton's team at

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in the team's No. 05 truck, but failed to qualify, in part because it was a fifth part-time team for BHR with no owner points. The next season, he ran the final five races of the Truck Series schedule leasing owner's points and equipment from the No. 07

Green Light Racing SS-Green Light Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 07 Ford primarily for Joe Graf Jr. and the No. 08 for primarily for David Starr. They also have a tec ...

Chevrolet. His best finish was a 20th at Atlanta. He was scheduled to run with Green Light full-time in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, but instead

Tim Sauter Tim Sauter (born October 13, 1964) is an American race car driver. He has competed in the American Speed Association, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the Busch Series, and the Winston Cup Series. He is the son of Jim Sauter (racing driver), J ...

got the ride. During preseason testing at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

had reported that Mickel would instead begin the season in the No. 63

MB Motorsports MB Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was based in Foristell, Missouri, and was owned by Mike Mittler until his death in 2019. The team was one of few to ...

truck, and the sponsorship he brought would allow him and the team to run the full season, but this did not end up happening. For 2008 and 2009, Mickel raced in selected rounds of the

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Pickup Truck Racing Series. He ran the multi-race winning truck of

Paul Poulter Paul Poulter is a racing driver. He has raced the #74 pickup since 2005 in the UK Pickup Truck Racing series. In 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 2008, he signed a contract to drive the #40 Chevrolet Silverado in the Craftsman Truck Series f ...

but with a different engine. On 31 January 2010, Mickel won the inaugural ASA Transcontinental Series Free State 500 at Phakisa Freeway near Welkom, South Africa in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, having qualified fourth for the 207-lap 500-km race. He took the lead on the last lap after a close and clean race. In March 2010, Mickel (a
Mickel Motorsport
started the 201

season in car No. 4, also running car No. 14 (the CPC sponsored car, driven by Paul Musselle) and car #39 (driven by Jess Gwynne). On 28 March 2010, it was announced that Mickel would make his NASCAR comeback, returning to the Truck Series again with the TorqueSpeed team, but running by themselves instead of partnering with SS-Green Light or another existing team. No other details were announced besides the fact that the team would run a part-time schedule of around ten races that year with a full season run planned in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. This also never ended up happening, and Mickel would not make another start in NASCAR.

Career history

*2019 Legends Racing UK - 3rd place *2018 Legends Racing UK - Champion (becomes UK career top points scorer) *2017 Legends Racing UK - Champion *2016 Legends Racing UK - Champion *2015 Legends Racing UK - Champion *2013 Legends Racing UK - 2nd place *2012 Legends Racing UK - 3rd place *2011 Legends Racing UK *2010 CPC Legends Racing UK - 4th Placed Overall *2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck SS-Green Light Racing *2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Atlanta Motorspeedway Texas Motorway Speedway *2004 ASA races Charlotte & Atlanta Raced British built SCSA car (shipped from the UK) *2001-2006 SCSA-Europe Inaugural Champion in 2001 *1999-2001 Legends Car Championships Champion - World and British Legends Cars Champion - World Series Legends Cars World Legends Champion (Sears Point, CA)

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

References

External links

*
Driver Profile at Mickel MotorsportDriver Profile at TorqueSpeed
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickel, John 1971 births American Speed Association drivers English racing drivers Living people NASCAR drivers Sportspeople from Cambridge ASCAR drivers