race car,” Micke says. “It’s 24/7 for him. Every-
thing is that race car. And that’s been my mindset
too. If we’re racing that car, that’s what we think
of 24/7. I’m always thinking of something to do
on that car. We both want to win.
“To be honest, that’s all that matters – to win
with that car,” he adds. “That’s the only reason
we’re there (at the track). We’re not there to have
fun and hang out with everybody. We’re there to
win. Period. Both of us have that mindset.”
Carter entrusts Micke with making the tuning
calls and piloting the car that Carter actually
drove on the streets of Kansas City, Missouri, in
high school. Meanwhile, he focuses on making
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sure the team has everything they need to con-
tend for event titles at the biggest races in drag
radial racing.
“Jason is unbelievable with sponsors,” Micke
says. “That’s almost a full-time job with him,
talking to the people who help us. And he’s
working on new products and working on getting
somebody to make a new trick part for us. I don’t
ever have to deal with that. Jason is over there
working on that stuff. All I have to do is focus on
the race car, and that helps a lot.”
A major component of Micke’s focus on the race
car is its status as the M&M Transmission “house
car” used to develop new ideas and products for
the company’s line of transmissions, torque con-
verters and shifters.
“That car has elevated our business,” Micke says.
“The benefit we have, at least in the transmission
and torque converter department, with us doing
everything ourselves, we can test and test and
test. Let’s say 50 percent of it doesn’t work, but
when that other 50 percent does work it’s a big
deal. That helps us a bunch.”
Micke also admits there are downsides to the
R&D program. He can be tempted to stay in test
mode when it comes time to move into race mode,
even though the two disciplines sometimes mesh,
resulting in headline-worthy performances that
get the phones ringing on Monday.
“Sometimes it hurts us because we’re out testing
so much stuff we lose a little focus or we’ll struggle
with the testing of it,” Micke offers. “It’s a dou-
ble-edged sword. I have to keep myself in check
because I’ll want to try all kinds of off-the-wall
stuff. At the end of the day I have to stop and we
still have to race the car.
“But they go hand in hand. The performance of
that car directly relates to sales of transmissions
and torque converters.”
If that’s the case, Micke’s performance at Duck
X Productions’ inaugural Sweet 16 at South Geor-
gia last March had to do wonders for the sales
of M&M’s transmissions and torque converters.
Micke dominated the event, qualifying on top of
the record-breaking 34-car qualifying order with
a booming 3.623-second pass in the ninth and
final qualifying session paired with a 221.20 mph
speed from a mid-week 3.677 lap.
He then charged through some of the most
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