Mills turns champ in rookie racing season

Dirt Track Fever El Campo's Charlie Mills (left) poses with the first-place trophy he won in his first year of racing the number 33 car at the Texana Raceway Park in Edna.

It is not often that rookies turn into champions in sports, but that is exactly what happened to Charlie Mills in his first year of stock-car racing.

Mills, a 1998 El Campo High School graduate, began the year hoping merely to be competitive but instead finished as the Bomber Class Champion at Texana Raceway Park in Edna.

"I never really thought I had the talent to do this, but it came a lot easier than I ever expected," Mills said in an interview with Monty Chamberlain, promotions director for Texana Raceway Park. "I was very nervous, but surprised how quick I got the knack of it."

The journey from racing fan to champion began 15 years ago when Mills traveled to Edna with his brother Butch to see local well-known stock car driver Adam Perks. On that night, Mills fell in love with dirt track stock car racing and continued to attend races as a spectator, always dreaming of competing.

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"Money was always a big factor holding me back, along with other priorities always ahead of racing," Mills said.

But in 2007, all of the key factors came together and in April, Mills made his debut at Texana Raceway Park.

Throughout the 2007 season, Mills was consistent and placed in the top five numerous times. On May 12, in just his third points race, he received top honors and was awarded the feature win. While his season did not start off with the intention of securing a championship, Mills could see the potential at the mid-season mark because by then, he was the driver with top points.

Toward the end of the season Mills started experiencing challenges which tested his sustainability in his championship drive.

The actual championship was not in the bag until the end of the final points night. Heading into that night, there were several factors determining where Mills had to finish, based on the where the second-place points contender might finish.

"I was on the edge right down to the last night of points," Mills said. "At one point in the season, I was pretty comfortable in the lead with points, but later in the season I had several nights of bad luck. Things like blown tires narrowed the gap between me and the rest of the field."

Mills is quick to point out that the championship is not his alone.

"I couldn't have done this without the help of my brother Butch and my good friend Chris Smidovec, both of El Campo. The support of my wife Jessica was crucial, and I'm very thankful to have her supporting me. Thanks to all my family and friends who came out to cheer me on."

He also expressed appreciation to his father, Galon, and family friend Kenneth Knight who were present every race night.

"Sponsors are also a critical component to operating a race team. In my case, I was fortunate to have several sponsors including Fuzzy's 1 Stop in Cape Caranchua, Long Branch Liquor in Garwood, Tree House Furniture, Silver Wings, The Alignment Shop, Quality Hot Mix, and The Computer Source, all in El Campo. Without them, we would not have been able to run the entire season and secure the championship."

The majority of information of this article came in a press release from Texana Raceway Park.