Racing champ shows prize rides in Auto Show

by Meg Sullivan
staff reporter

An Orland Park driver, who returned to auto racing only in 2006, won the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Championship Runoffs last September.

Matt Miller’s new racecar and the car in which he won the championship are both now on display at the SCCA booth at the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place through Feb. 21.

Miller, 39, the underdog in the race held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., came from behind to capture the C Sports Racing title by just .128-seconds over Jacek Mucha, of Canada, who also happens to be the inventor of Bubble Wrap. James French of Sheboygan, Wis., was third.

A Sandburg High School graduate who grew up in the Ishnala neighborhood in Palos Heights, said he has always been interested in motor sports, but had to give up racing for a while. “I was always interested — I was a swimmer in high school and I dabbled in it [racecar driving]. Kids always have dreams and mine was to be a racecar driver, but when I got out of college, I realized I was not going to be able to afford it, so I gave it up,” Miller said.

The president of Harry Miller Appliances in Alsip (named after his grandfather), Miller reached a point in his life where he could once again chase his dream.

“My wife [Maura] just asked me what kind of insurance policy we had,” he joked, adding that she was happy for him to be doing what he loved.

Miller explained that every year, the top 10 drivers are selected from each division in the nation, such as southern or central, to compete in the national championship. The top ten drivers are determined by point totals from five races.

“In 2008, I won my division, but didn’t go to nationals because I didn’t feel I was ready. Over the winter and spring, we figured out how to prepare a car and qualified for this years’ championship,” Miller said.

Going into the race, Miller said he was “the underdog by far” but felt really fast during the qualifying rounds [the drivers do laps to see who has the quickest lap time in order to seed them for big races].

Miller ended up qualifying with the second fastest lap time, which put him in the front row of cars.

“I wasn’t too nervous, it’s easier. I don’t get too nervous- it’s more nerve-wracking the night before a race,” he said.

Despite success in the qualifying rounds, the weekend wasn’t all smooth sailing. “During the final round of qualifying, we had a wheel failure-a rim broke and a wheel came off. We had to scramble around the night before, it was frustrating.”

When it came to race time, however, Miller was ready to put it all on the line. “Even though we were the underdog, we had the lead the whole time. During the second lap [of 13 laps in the 52-mile race], another driver passed me, but I got by him again,” he said.

Facing further battles from two other drivers [Mucha and French] throughout the race, he held on for the narrow, but thrilling victory. “They didn’t make it easy, he said. “It was all about maintaining a small gap. Some guys like to check out and leave people behind, but you may start to lose concentration,” he explained.

“Going into the finish, there’s a hill and I short-shifted going up the hill, but I still had control.”

“We had a really strong motor all weekend and I knew we were going to have a good start,” he said. “As long as we qualified toward the front, I knew we could get through Turn One near the front. We just needed to maintain a good pace and keep the car on the track.”

Miller said his car typically reaches speeds of 158 mph on the straight-aways and the races he competes in usually last about 25 minutes.

“My dad and my cousin were there for the win and when I called home, my wife was over the moon. Then she asked ‘So what time you getting home?” he laughed.

This upcoming season, Miller will move up a class from C Sports Racing to Formula Atlantic, a premier class vehicle, just one rung below Indy cars.

Miller said he would spend the next few months working on his new racecar, a Swift 016.a, with a custom engine by Mazda

“When you buy a new racecar, you have to take it all the way down and rebuild it,” he said.

He and his team will begin testing the new car in April so that it is ready to race in May. “There’s so much to it- you have to make sure the engine is right, the tires are working right. It’s a huge exercise. We’ve got data systems on the car that we’re tracking.”

Miller, an avid cyclist, keeps in good shape himself by swimming and cycling. “Racing is a really physical exercise. I train mentally and physically eight to nine hours a day.”

Miller has picked up some additional sponsorships due to his success, including Mazda, and Hoosier Tire and Havoc Motorsports in Crestwood.

This is part of the February 18, 2010 online edition of The Regional.

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