Mitch Wright Joins NOLA Motorsports Park

NOLA Motorsports Park, the new driving and race facility under construction in New Orleans is very pleased to announce that Mitch Wright will join the company as its new General Manager.

"Mitch was our number one choice to run NOLA Motorsports Park", said facility owner Dr. Laney Chouest, and having him on board to develop and run NMSP is a major step forwards in the development of organized motorsports activity in the New Orleans area at the NMSP".

55 year-old Mitch Wright is currently Race Director for Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, where he will remain until the end of this season before moving to New Orleans. He joined Miller before the internationally recognized track opened and was directly responsible for introducing major events such as ALMS, AMA and Grand-Am and most recently he has managed the World Superbike week-ends that earned Miller the award for Race Organizer of the Year in 2008. As important, he also created and ran local track racing championship series for karts, motorcycles and cars which have become a staple activity at Miller. He has generated many track access activities for users ranging from casual fans to some of the world's most accomplished professional riders and drivers, all of which have enabled the track to develop a whole new motor sports culture in a market that had very little organized motorsports activity.

While Mitch's contribution to the stature of Miller has been immense, his contributions to motor racing in other fields have been just as impressive.

Prior to joining Miller, Mitch was Vice-President of SCCA Pro-Racing, where he had responsibility for the entire Sports Car Club of America's professional racing activities. These included the World Challenge Touring Car and GT Championships which he took over in 1999 when the series had little stature and which he quickly developed into the very successful and competitive Speedvision Championship series.

He is an accomplished racer, having won 16 car and kart racing championships. He spent two seasons racing in Europe and has raced a wide variety of cars in America. Many of these he built and developed himself, developing a reputation that led to his being recruited by SCCA Pro-Racing in 1997 to be their Technical Manager, from which position he rose through series management to lead the company as its Vice President.

"I have known Mitch since he joined the SCCA in 1997", said Alan Wilson, NMSP's track designer and the development consultant to Dr. Chouest. "He is a good friend and is absolutely the best person that NOLA could find to build it into a nationally recognized facility. Mitch is the ultimate race enthusiast, who knows more about the motor sport than anyone else I know. As a hands-on competitor building and racing his own karts and cars he understands what is needed to help people get into the sport and really enjoy it, and as a pro he knows how to make events successful and how to make them fun for fans".

Mitch will join NOLA full-time at the end of October this year and will be responsible for developing all forms of track activity, ranging from Club member’s events to autocross, kart, motorcycle and car racing series and to the eventual promotion of professional level events. Mitch will also be active in developing all levels of amateur driving experiences, both racing and non-racing with his extensive background and knowledge of track safety systems and safe operating procedures.

"Having Mitch Wright at NOLA Motorsports Park is a major step forward", Laney Chouest notes. "He brings instant credibility to our program, immense knowledge, and a stellar reputation. More than that, he is a really good guy who will become everyone’s friend and that is very important to our goal of becoming the most driver-friendly motorsports facility in the country".

Mitch is married to Lynda, who is a teacher and Mitch's greatest supporter.

We welcome them to New Orleans.