By Brad Faria:

In the middle of a week in March of 2024, my son John called me to ask if I was interested in going to a Cars and Coffee on the Great Highway in the large parking lot just South of the Cliff House in San Francisco. My son lives near there and he wanted to drive his ’74 Chevy Step side truck to check it out as he had been having problems with the cooling system. The problem ended up being a bad hose clamp. It was one of those clamps that tighten up real good, then a little vibration makes it loosen up a small amount and a leak develops. With that fixed it was Road Test Time! 

The Cars and Coffee was on Sunday morning. I got to his house about 7:30 a.m., his garage door was up so I parked my truck and went into his garage. He looked over at me and said, “Hey are you ready?” “Yep,” I said. “I am.” He said, “Well hop in, let’s go.” I got in and he did as well. He started up the truck and backed out of the driveway closing the garage door as we backed out on the street. We went up to the stop sign and hung a right toward the ocean

 After a few stoplights and stop signs, we made a right on the Great Highway. You could see the Cliff House off in the distance and also the parking lot on the ocean side full of cool cars. John saw the entrance, made a left into the parking lot and saw a place just up on the left. As he stopped I got out as he wanted to back in like the rest of the cars. I helped him back in and get parked. He got out and popped the hood open and plenty of truck lovers were waiting to see what was under the hood.

 John started talking to a couple of guys and I said, “Hey are you OK?” He said yes and I said, “I’m going to take a walk around.” He nodded as I turned and walked away. After I started walking down an isle of cars, I remembered what I had been thinking during the week after John had called and invited me to go with him. I was thinking I would ask around to some of the older guys that were there, hoping to hear a story or more about Mike Mitchell.

 To me, Mike Mitchell was half the Drag Racing Connection in San Francisco. The other half was Ted Gotelli who owned Gotelli’s Speed Shop in South San Francisco. Ted Gotelli ran a top fuel dragster and Mike Mitchell ran in the Gasser Classes with childhood friend Alex Hamberis. They had a ’33 Willys with a small block Chevy Engine that ran great! Strolling along looking at all the nice cars, I saw an older grey-haired guy. I stopped and asked him if he grew up here in San Francisco? He said, “Yes, I have spent my entire life here.” I asked how old he was and he said 67, as I recall. Then I asked him if he knew of Mike Mitchell the drag racer? He said, “No. Who is he?” I said he raced a ’33 Willy, and with partner Alex Hamberis, also ran a Topless ’69 Corvette and later a Barracuda Nitro funny car. He said, “No, I’ve never heard of him.” I was a little stunned. However it would get worse.

The next guy I would talk to – there weren’t that many older looking guys – was a man that had all the elements of looking like a drag racer. I thought to myself this guy has got to know him. He had a Pomona Drag Races T-shirt on under his unzipped jacket and a San Francisco Giants ball cap. I said hi to him. “Do you have a minute to talk?” He said “Sure,” so I asked if he lived here in San Francisco. He came off as a very proud citizen of the City by the Bay, as I looked on in amazement. He said he was born and raised here in San Francisco all of my 69 years. Only a year younger than myself. I thought, he’ll know Mike. So I asked, ” “Have you had any contact or known of Mike Mitchell the drag racer?” He said no I don’t recall that name. I told him how he raced a ’33 Willys with partner Alex Hamberis and then went on his own with a Topless ’69 Corvette. He was nicknamed “The World’s Fastest Hippie.” He just said, “No, I don’t know him.” I just said, “OK, well nice talking to you.” I turned and walked away.

Well, here I am walking back to the truck stunned by the fact two grown men almost my age that are car guys and spent all their lives living in San Francisco don’t know “The World’s Fastest Hippie.” “How could this be?” I said to myself.

I remember being at Fremont Drag Strip when I was about 21. I was talking with the Del Rio Brothers Wayne and Tony and John.

“Pretty Boy” Lopez as Mike Mitchell walked up and said hello to all of us. Tony started talking right away and asked him how he was doing. Mike told us how the National Hot Rod Association asked him about his Topless Corvette AA/GS Car and said they would like to have it for the Museum in Pomona. Mike said he didn’t want to miss out on a chance like that. He found the car in Wisconsin and said he brought it back to get it back in its original condition. 

Years later, I was at a car show and Mike came over to me and said he wished I would have called him as he said he would have helped me get my car down the track. He was talking about the Trans Am Funny Car I bought in 1990 and flipped it over on the very first burnout because of a miscue from a crew member. I appreciated he said that as it was a tough experience for me to go through. Having good people to help you run your car is as important as anything on or about your car. After that, I wished I would have gotten to know Mike  better as he was one of the guys that had gone from Blown Gas Cars to Nitro Funny Cars who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. It took me awhile but I finally did it myself. 

As I continued walking around in my cloud I heard a voice, “Hey Dad.” I turned and looked and it was my son, John. He said, “Are you ready to go? The place is almost empty.” We got in his truck and drove back to his place. I got out and said “Goodbye. Thanks for taking me to the cars and coffee.”

As I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge all I could think of was how could you be a car guy who grew up in San Francisco in the ’60s and ’70s and not know Mike Mitchell “The World’s Fastest Hippie?” I sure do and I’m glad I got to know him. RIP Mike.