Mike Kuhl
Mike Kuhl was born in Dayton, Ohio but raised in St. Louis, Missouri where in 1955 he opened his first business venture, Mike’s Garage, and where he first began honing his knowledge of how to build top rank cars. His first exposure to sanctioned drag racing was in 1954 when he traveled to Parks Air College in Granite City, Illinois at the age of 16 unlike a lot of today’s racers, he was hooked. In 1960 at the wheel of a 1940 Willie’s AA/GS coupe, Mike set the class record at the AHRA Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri at 132.00 MPH.
In 1964 Mike closed the doors on his garage in St. Louis and moved to Long Beach, California. Shortly after arriving in California he went to work at Louie Unser’s Engine Shop in Santa Ana, California, where he continued to explore the many ways to build strong-reliable race engines and where he was employed until 1970. Also, in 1969, Mike was competing locally with a Chrysler powered, (Woody) Race Car Engineering built, 392 engine AA/Fuel dragster with Steve Carbone driving; they won the Professional Dragster Championship event at Orange County International Raceway in Irvine, California.
In 1970 Mike opened the doors to Mike Kuhl Racing Enterprises where he began designing and building blown River Rat Big Block Chevy engines for ski boats. With his engine building business growing steadily, in 1971 Mike teamed up with Carl Olson as co-owner and crew chief of a Donovan 417 powered (Woody) Race Car Engineering built, rear engine AA/Fuel dragster. The team success that season was good winning the 1972 NHRA Winternationals, season opener, at Pomona, California giving them the opportunity to go on the road as touring professional racers. They lived on the road and competed at every NHRA and IHRA national event as well as many divisional events plus a lot of match races that were squeezed in between the “big” events. 1972 was a banner year for the pair, in addition to winning the Winternationals in Pomona; they also won the All Pro Series Championship race at Orange County international Raceway in Irvine, California, the IHRA Pro-Am Nationals in Rockingham, North Carolina, the Top Fuel Eliminator at the IHRA Nationals in Dallas, Texas, the IHRA Top Fuel World Championship, and closed the season winning Top Fuel Eliminator at the famous “Last Drag Race” at Lions Dragstrip in Wilmington, California. Their success as touring professionals along with sponsorship from Revell Models kept the team on the road for the 1972 znd 1973 seasons but for the 1974 season they competed mainly in the NHRA national events as well as the local South California race tracks. They continued their winning ways by taking home the top fuel eliminator win at the Bakersfield, California March Meet. Mike also became one of the exclusive members of the Cragar Five Second Club in 1974 along with Carl. At the end of the 1974 season Carl chose to retire from driving to pursue other interests and while the pair did run the car with a few other drivers, they decided to both retire from racing in 1976 and sold the entire operation to Englishman Clive Skelton.
The engine business was still going strong in 1977 but Mike decided to expand and open Mike Kuhl Superchargers where he built some of the best superchargers and related parts available. In 2001 Mike sold the supercharger business with the thought in mind of retiring, but in 2002 he founded Kuhl Klassics Restoration where he presides over the restoration of vintage race cars and boats. Since opening the doors at the restoration shop, Mike has completed restoration of his original 1968 RCE AA/Fuel dragster along with one of the 1968 Mr. Ed fiberglass race car trailers, completed a frame off restoration of a 1966 Ford F 100 pickup, and completed restoration of the 1968 original (Woody) RCE Tom McEwen Tirend Activity Booster car. In 2007 Kuhl and Olson were awarded the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion Lifetime Achievement Award. Mike also co-owner and crew chief of the Kuhl, Olson and Bowman A/Blown fuel rear engine modified roadster which competed for land speed records at the Bonneville salt Flats.