By Gary Thomas
Rio Vista, CA – January 20, 2011…The Golden State King of the West Sprint Series is proud to officially announce the hiring of Dean Mills as the Production Manager for all video and television productions for the 2011 Season.
A California native returning to the West Coast after residing in Indiana the past 7 years, Dean Mills has been shooting video of sprint car racing for nearly three decades, having served as the official videographer of the Placerville Speedway (1984 – 1995), the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico (1989-1995), done a stint as the official videographer of the Jimmy Sills School of Open Wheel Racing (1993-95), worked with the Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) (1994-2002) as well as the All-Star Circuit of Champions (2004-2006), and had most recently been with the United States Auto Club (USAC), covering it’s National Divisions the past 6 years as the Official Videographer from 2005 – 2010.
A 5-time nominee for “North American Sprint Car Poll Media Member of the Year” and a recipient of the prestigious award in 2008, Mills returns home with high hopes for the series.
“I am expecting big things for the Golden State King of the West Series in 2011. The buzz surrounding the renaissance of this series, and Winged 410 Sprint Car Racing in California in general is resonating from Coast to Coast,” Mills declared. “I am honored that Dan Simpson and George Hague have sought me out and brought me home to make all this happen. I haven’t lived in NorCal in a decade and a half, and I am really excited to move back here and be a part of the great resurgence we are going to see with this series in the coming year”.
Mills has spent the past 27 years honing his skills in both the video and television realms, having been a regular contributor to the now defunct “Raceday” show on ‘TNN’, the “RPM2Night” show on ‘ESPN2’, while still an active stringer for SPEED Channel’s, ‘The SPEED Report’ and ‘Wind Tunnel’ shows. He has served as a camera operator for various World of Outlaws broadcasts on TNN, ESPN, ESPN2, VS., The Outdoor Channel and SPEED, worked on various shows for the NHRA and the Hooters Pro Cup Series, as well as been a shooter and segment producer for the Outdoor Channel’s ‘USAC Thunder Series’ in 2006.
Mills has been tapped to head up the production team with the intent on making a television show centering on the lives of the competitors, followers, and fans of the King of the West Series.
“We don’t want to call it a ‘reality’ show, because so much of those type of shows are clearly fake and rehearsed. They aren’t real. We want to make a show about the real lives of these racers, race teams and race fans. It’ll be real and unscripted, action-based television. I want this to be referred to as ‘Real TV’. There are so many great stories involving the Northern California Sprint Car scene, and we are going to show these people as professional racers. This will be the anti-Madhouse show. There is so much we can do with this. I can’t wait to get this party started.”
KWS Operations Manager George Hague acknowledges what a feather in the cap it is to have Mills in the fold.
“Dean has been a leader in the video realm in the sport of Sprint Car racing for many, many years. With emphasis on his recent viral video work on the web with USAC, as well as his live streaming on the net, we felt he was the only guy for the job. With his vision and understanding of the sport, as well as his knowledge of the history of this region, we believe he is the person we need to take on this groundbreaking expedition of creating a television show following the lives of the racers in our series. It’s been a real coup to bring him back to where he first started, to be a part of the KWS Series. We are looking forward to working with Dean to develop this show, and excited to see how it all comes together”.
The Golden State King of the West Sprint Series is a Winged 410 Sprint Car Association that races from Central and Northern California to Northern Washington, including Oregon and Nevada as well. In its 26th year of operation, Golden State has 27 events on it’s 2011 racing calendar.
For more information, go to the web at http://www.kingofthewestsprintcarseries.com.
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