michael dietel                      

                                                                  michael@procontroldriving.com

MICHAEL H DIETEL

Michael spent his early years in Mittenwald, a small German town located in the beautiful Bavarian Alps. It was through skiing in this scenic location that he learned to appreciate the delicate balance between raw speed and careful technique, regularly spending an entire day climbing in the surrounding mountains, only to get one exhilarating ride back down. Little did he know that the skills he gained here were about to be applied in an entirely new manner.

As a teenager, Michael had the good fortune to move with his family to a town near the famous Nürburgring race track. It was his frequent visits to the “Ring” that ignited his life-long love and passion for motor-sports. The “Ring” also provided the perfect educational playground for Michael, as he carefully honed his driving skills on that famous track to get his first driver’s license.

Michael immigrated to the United States in 1962, making his home in Riverside, Southern California. This continued a tradition from his time in Germany, providing him perfect access to yet another race track... the now sadly defunct Riverside Raceway. Michael enjoyed his time here, but noticed a growing desire to spend some time pursuing his original passion, downhill skiing. He didn’t have to look far to find the perfect place, spending the next few winters in Mammoth Mountain working as a ski instructor during the seasons of 1964-65 and 1965-66.

Desiring to explore another area of interest, Michael joined Trans World Airlines as an International Flight Purser in July of 1966. He ultimately flew International flights up until his retirement in early 2000, where he ended his career in the lead position of Flight Service Manager. One important thing that the airline life gave Michael was the mobility and time to never venture far from his love for driving and instructing,

Michael was instrumental in creating the many BMW Club driving schools in California, reaching a major milestone when in 1974 he took a group of 30 fellow BMW driving enthusiasts to Germany to take part in the BMW sponsored 3 day driving school at the Nürburgring. His life had now come full-circle. Michael still returns to this event every year, having now instructed there for over 30 years. 

Throughout the late 70’s and 80’s, Michael ran a well regarded BMW tuning shop in Southern California under the name of Dietel Enterprises. This was widely known as one of the most exclusive grey-market BMW shops of the time, having imported and legalized most of the exotic BMW M1’s to reach the west coast. Designing, building and modifying breathtaking automobiles was a dream come true for Michael, but it was not enough... it was time to professionally race them as well. With this in mind, Michael got his SCCA and IMSA competition licenses and raced in several SCCA and IMSA races (GTU and Firehawk series) throughout the 1980’s, many of which were held at his beloved Riverside Raceway.

In the spring of 2006 Michael was again drawn to the track, and co-founded the ProControl Driving Academy at Reno-Fernley Raceway. After only one year in operation, the success of this school prompted him to further co-found the PCDAUSA, LLC in November of 2007, which is quickly becoming one of the primary driving academies for preparing new drivers for their Nevada Driver’s License qualification.