About MIKE BEST
Mike has lived in Athens, Ontario his whole life. Beginning with his mother Sandra McManus, and now starting his own life in 2008 with his soon to be wife Tina Mattice and daughter Michelle.. Mike has always had great interest in vehicles and how they work. His interest lead to his many years working at the local garage D&G Blanchard’s Garage, then lead to him attending Algonquin College to get his Red Seal Certificate as an Automotive Technician. Recently he used his education and years of experience and started a new stage in his life with a new career at 1000 Island Toyota in Brockville, Ontario.
Mike has recently started living his dream as a race car driver at the Brockville Ontario Speedway as a Rookie Driver, where he managed to pull off a top 10 finish on his first race!
Mike has recently started living his dream as a race car driver at the Brockville Ontario Speedway as a Rookie Driver, where he managed to pull off a top 10 finish on his first race!
410 Racing from dream to reality
Mike has worked on and had an interest in cars for as long as he can remember. He's always been curious about how they work and how they produce power and stability. When he was 17, he got his first job in the automotive field and his first real taste of vehicles and what performance they have. Ever since he’d always had the thought in the back of his mind, wondering if he could ever build a car and have success with it. Years went by and he continued to work and expand his knowledge of cars, how they work and what he could do to make them better, faster and reliable. His interest never slowed down as he continued to research and learn about vehicles and their performance ability. His interest to participate in a race grew more and more with his love in cars. A year ago he his soon to be wife, and their daughter started going to the Brockville Ontario Speedway as a Saturday night family outing. This fuelled his interest in racing more and more.
It was on one of their family outings he made a comment to Tina, his fiancée, that he would like to give racing a try. They looked into the rookie class, he felt with his knowledge and experience he should be able to be competitive in that class.
They started looking for a suitable car to begin his Rookie adventure. After some research he determined the best candidate for his race car would be a 1999 Chevy Cavalier Z-24. Having previously owned a few, he knew that they work well and he knows almost everything about them.
Once the car was home he stripped it down to nothing and started building it back from the ground up. After a few months of hard work and a lot of help from friends, family and sponsors, "Dirty's Demon" was born and ready to race on opening night at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, where he made his first top 10 finish coming in 9th out of 22 in the Rookie feature.
It was on one of their family outings he made a comment to Tina, his fiancée, that he would like to give racing a try. They looked into the rookie class, he felt with his knowledge and experience he should be able to be competitive in that class.
They started looking for a suitable car to begin his Rookie adventure. After some research he determined the best candidate for his race car would be a 1999 Chevy Cavalier Z-24. Having previously owned a few, he knew that they work well and he knows almost everything about them.
Once the car was home he stripped it down to nothing and started building it back from the ground up. After a few months of hard work and a lot of help from friends, family and sponsors, "Dirty's Demon" was born and ready to race on opening night at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, where he made his first top 10 finish coming in 9th out of 22 in the Rookie feature.