Growing up in California during the 60s and 70s didn’t hurt either. According to Ben (and honestly, history agrees), it was about as cool as it gets. Places like Famoso Drag Strip weren’t just weekend entertainment—they were front-row seats to horsepower-fueled history. Somewhere between the roaring engines and the smell of burning rubber, Ben’s artistic direction was pretty much locked in.

 

Life eventually expanded beyond sketchbooks and speed. He got married, had two sons, and in 1994 made the move back to Oklahoma. Along the way, he spent about 38 years hanging drywall—proof that you can build walls by day and tear them down creatively by night with a Sharpie and a wild imagination.

 

By 2009, Ben took his monster-infused hot rod art on the road, hitting car shows and drag races to sell his work. It was, as he puts it, the best of both worlds—fast cars and freaky characters living in perfect harmony. A self-proclaimed “Nitro Freak,” he even joined the Funny Car Chaos tour, where he peddled his art to people who already appreciated loud engines and even louder personalities.

 

Over the years, Ben became a familiar face at events like Stray Kat 500, Starbird’s, The Round Up, Greasarama, Hot Rod Reunion, March Meets, Kustomville, Midnight Mass, and the Cool Wheels Car Show. He kept coming back—not just for the cars, but for the people. Somewhere along the way, strangers turned into friends, and the whole scene became a second family.

 

In a particularly cool plot twist, Ben even flew to Germany for the Kustom Kulture Forever show—because apparently, monster art and hot rods are an international language.

 

Artistically, he credits influences like Ed Roth, Kenny Youngblood, and his high school art teacher Bob Bitner for helping shape his style. These days, he’s been featured in Cartoons Magazine for over a decade, where he brings the Nitro Billy cartoon to life—presumably with just the right mix of chaos and charm.

 

Now working mostly from home, Ben keeps busy with commission work and holds the title of licensed Rat Fink artist and magazine illustrator—basically meaning he made a career out of the very thing that used to get him in trouble as a kid.

 

While he loves drawing hot rods, his real passion lies in creating monster characters crazy enough to drive them—especially bizarre, wooden, hillbilly-style rat rods that seem pulled straight from some wonderfully weird corner of his brain. His favorite real car? A 1970 Cuda. His favorite to draw? Whatever wild contraption his imagination cooks up next.

 

His tools of choice include Sharpies, colored felt-tip alcohol pens, and occasionally One Shot enamel—though he’ll be the first to tell you he’s not a pinstriper, just a guy who knows how to make ink behave.

 

Ben also makes a point to encourage young artists, offering refreshingly simple advice: draw for yourself, have fun, and don’t take it all too seriously. Coming from someone who turned doodling into a lifelong career, that advice carries some weight.

 

Now at 68 years old, Ben Mitchell is still drawing, still learning, and still proving that getting sent to the office might just be the first step toward doing something right.