- November 22, 2024
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Mike Mangum pulls his emergency brake and whips the steering wheel to drift his modified BMW across the asphalt. That acrid puff of black smoke from the burning tires? He loves it, but he acknowledges, “It’s an acquired smell.”
The 31-year-old racing enthusiast began a new high-adrenaline journey Nov. 14 when he opened his own small business, Mangum Motorsports. It’s great because he has no boss; on the other hand, he has no paycheck unless cars roll into the shop.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” he said with a grin during a Nov. 19 interview.
The full-service repair shop does everything from oil changes to complicated engine work. It’s also a specialty speed shop, offering “everything from mild to wild.”
Mangum’s passion for all things automotive started when his parents bought him a junkyard engine and a junkyard Ford Ranger and challenged him to put the two together and make it work. He was 14. He dove right in and fell in love with it. That led him to working in other shops and going to WyoTech in Wyoming and then in California for more training. He’s ASE and A/C certified and has a degree in automotive service management.
Along the way he got into drag racing and gunned an Eagle Talon at 145 mph to cover a quarter mile in 10.9 seconds. Next he picked up autocross and worked at the technical aspects of course driving. After one autocross race, he saw a drifting event and got a ride with another driver, both in and out of control, spinning left-then-right and pumping out plenty of burned rubber.
He has since competed in drifting himself and is looking forward to his next competition next year, with his BMW.
Meanwhile, he’s welcoming customers to his shop, in the Steel Rail Industrial Park, which is off Otis Hunter Road (between Whiteview and Royal Palms parkways). The address is 3240 Steel Rail Drive Unit B, Bunnell. Call 386-313-0363 or search for Mangum Motorsports on Facebook.
