05/15/2026
My Dad, James Michael “Mick” Baker passed away peacefully on Friday, May 8, 2026.
Founding Mick Baker Race Cars in 1978, he built and raced drag cars for many years. His passion for drag racing is where my love for racing began. His favorite category was Pro Stock.
He was a master craftsman, a perfectionist, and his ingenuity was unmatched. Anyone that knew quality would rave about his skill.
As kids, my brother and I had the opportunity to go to so many drag races, going behind the scenes at test sessions, helping teams pass out gear to the fans and chasing down the John Force trailer for Jolly Rancher candies. As a 12 year old boy one of my greatest memories was looking out at his shop and seeing Warren Johnson’s tractor trailer parked outside.
I always had a passion for art. One of my favorite things to do was to take transparency paper, overlay it on the photos of the cars my dad built, and create my own paint schemes on those cars. Hard to believe that since 2006 I have had the opportunity to support my family by doing that very thing - all because of you, Dad.
In 2006, when I met John Force for the first time, he asked me if racing was in my blood. I told him as a kid I slept on the floor of my dad’s shop while he worked on the cars. When I told my dad I would be working for a funny car team, as a true pro stock guy, his comment was, “those cars tear up the track!”
I worked for John Force Racing the next 14 years.
More important than the racing or the career he chose, my dad poured in to his family. He didn’t have an easy road, but as kids we never knew it. He fought for us. He loved us. He didn’t tell us much how proud he was of us. He didn’t have to. You could see it in his eyes.
Some remember people by songs they like or hobbies they had. Every time I’m around a pro stock, I try to get close enough to smell the inside of the car. That smell brings me back to my childhood and watching my hero use his hands to create something from nothing.
Love you, Dad.
