"Bone Bucket" Returns to the Drag Strip, Makes First Pass in Years

Once a show stopper at almost every major event, "Bone Bucket" has been off the radar for a few years now. Mitch says he retired the beast five or six years ago, so it's been a while since the bare bones, blue-eyed "kart" has seen any action outside the garage. Now it's time to race "Bone Bucket" again, so Mitch brought it to Texas Motorplex to renew his license.

Before he was able to do that in his own dragster, King had to make a run in a top fuel dragster. Everything went smoothly, and Mitch posted a cool 5.03-second quarter-mile sprint at 224 mph (306.5 kph).

With that in the bag, Mitch hopped into the "Bone Bucket" and went for a 1/8-mile run to update his license. He makes a smooth, hassle-free 4.2-second sprint that allows him to return to NHRA competitions.

Of course, "Bone Bucket" is actually quicker than that. Mitch says he can pull 3.6-second 1/8-mile runs and 5.5-click quarter-mile sprints. Pretty impressive given that "Bone Bucket" is an old-school dragster with a pedal clutch, manual shifter, no air bottles, and no assists. It's "more fun to drive and a lot less work," he says.

Built on a funny car chassis, "Bare Bones" still sports the iconic skull graphics. Both the blue-eyed skull and the tiny green skulls were airbrushed by a tattoo artist some years ago. It looks unique among other standard-livery racers. The engine is a "left-over from a top fuel car," so there are some changes compared to when "Bare Bones" was being raced heavily a few years back.

I'm definitely looking forward to Mitch returning to the drag strip for official events. Remember, he's the kind of guy who likes to set the drag strip on fire before burnouts. Oh, and he also tied "Bare Bones" to the ground for a burnout for his 60th birthday (you can check that out at the five-minute mark).