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Drive, He Said
Dwight Mitchell on riding the world's fastest motorcycles
by Kate Bernhardt
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 Dwight Mitchell lives on a quiet street in a New Jersey suburb not far from Newark. Nothing on the outside of this classic split-level indicates that anybody out of the ordinary lives there. But when the door opens, it becomes vividly clear. Dwight trained as an architect, and the house has been completely redesigned into a sleek and unique post-modern style.
Dwight says he's never had an ordinary job. He's been a military helicopter pilot, international computer consultant and entrepreneur, and, as a boy, turned his paper delivery route into a speed and accuracy competition (if the paper didn't land on the porch, he lost points). His list of passions reads like the programming schedule at ESPN2. He's a champion fencer, sky diver, mountain biker, tennis player, skier, golfer, scuba diver, and, most recently, motorcycle road racer.
With characteristic focus and energy, Dwight took up motorcycle racing only 3 years ago, and went from amateur to expert status in a single season. This past June he competed in road racing's ultimate event, the Isle of Man TT, for the second year in a row. While most modern motorcycle road races take place on controlled, closed-circuit tracks, The Isle of Man race happens the old fashioned way: on 226 miles of twisting roads through meadows and mountains on an island in the Irish Sea. It's the world's oldest road race, established in 1907.
"This is real road racing on public roads, and there's simply nothing like it anywhere in the world," he says. The race packs thrills, danger, and the beauty of its physical setting into a week of fun and speed that Dwight says is "Daytona and Mardi Gras all wrapped up into one." This year, Dwight put together Team USA -- a group of US racers riding together -- to go after the International Team award. It was the first time in over 80 years that there was an organized US team at the TT, and on June 9, the team captured the sought-after award.
"We're all racers, and by our very nature we always think we're going to win," says Dwight.
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In this video clip, meet speed-racing, world-traveling Dwight Mitchell.
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Dwight Mitchell
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