Those skills quickly came in handy for Minga. “My parents got me this Volkswagen [Beetle], and I had to build it,” he says. “My dad gave me this book, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive (The Idiot Book). It was a real bitchin’ book: it was a funny, easy tutorial. I learned how to build engines and do everything with my Volkswagen.”
A few years later, Minga started working at Mark Stahl Race Prep in Chula Vista. “Mark was a champion of the sport, so I learned from the very best.” Working with Stahl opened a lot of off-road doors for Minga, including an opportunity to race in the Baja 1000 and help build copies of the Chenowth 1000 in Mexico.
By 1987, Minga had won his first official points championship in the SCORE/HDRA Challenger class. Shortly after, he joined the BFGoodrich family. “That was the team to be on. They had the best product, they had the best pit support, and they had some of the best mechanics,” he says.