1962 Miller Sports Racer |
|||||||
The Don Miller H-Mod Sports Race Cars Our car was one of about 40 H-Modified class racecars designed and built by Don Miller (no relation to the Indy Miller cars) in California during the late 50s and early to mid-1960s. All were different, built to various specs and often owner finished. Our car was probably one of the last cars he built (more on this subject later). Mr. Miller's earlier cars were front-engined racecars, classified and raced as H-Modified in SCCA. The later cars were mid-engine, as is this car, and were classified as a D Sports Racer. Don worked as an aerospace engineer in those years (Douglas Aircraft). So, many chassis parts/tubes/fasteners, etc. probably came from their bins. The cars were all powered by the then-popular, highly tuned, 850cc Crosley (as in Crosley Hot Shot) motors and Fiat transmissions. Many of the brake components were also Fiat parts. For a nicely done history of the H-Mod era, please visit http://sports.racer.net/vintage.htm The Team Terrific Miller Sports Racer
This is the same basic engine as used in Formula Ford spec series. However the current engine is fitted with dual 40 DCOE Weber carburetors and a mild cam shaft, thus creating about 10 more horsepower than the spec FF engine. The transmission is the Hewland MK-8 four-speed transaxle. The car is capable of about 125+ mph top speed. The car is raced regularly by Diane Alder at Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing events as well as with other vintage club events around the country. In February of 2004 the car participated in the fantastic annual four-event Southern Festival of Speed races in New Zealand. Follow this link for a ton of, if not exhaustive, information on that one-in-a-lifetime adventure. The 1999 Purchase Of The Car In the the spring of 1999 the car was donated by it's prior owner, Terry Hefty, to a fund raiser for one of RMVR's members who was battling cancer. I was fortunate to be the winning bidder. At the time Diane had not yet started racing. But during the evening the cute Miller, aided by a few glasses of wine and urging from other lady drivers, caused her to say, "I think I'd like to start racing now." The RMVR Spring Driver's School was in two weeks. She was there and the rest is history. Below are the happy new owners of the car that fateful evening when we purchased the car. The 1999/2000 Rebuild At then end of our first season with the car, it was involved in a hard shunt (Diane wasn't hurt). The car was thus completely restored in the winter of 1999/2000. The following are some before and after photos. The left front was damaged significantly necessitating completely stripping the car down to the bare frame for proper repairs. But the results were worth it! In addition to the damage repairs, the cosmetics and a lot of small improvements were made. In its many years since that restoration, it's been a reliable workhorse of a race car. Click on any image to enlarge. |
|||||||
Before - The Miller's Livery As Purchased in 1999 | After The 1999/2000 Rebuild | ||||||
The Rebuild | |||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
The above three pictures on the left show how badly the car was damaged in 1998. The left front fender was basically torn off of the front body work. More disastrously, the left front corner of the frame was badly caved in as you can see in the middle two pics (on trailer at the track and in the shop after being stripped down to bare frame). The picture on the right simply shows how the engine compartment looked before the restoration. No damage there - just needed cosmetics. |
|||||||
At left, the frame was completely and magnificently repaired by J.D. McDermott's Front Range Motorsports and painted in a proper frame gray. After that the process of pop-riveting all new aluminum panels began (middle pictures) Then after most of the new panels had been installed, the engine/transaxle was re-fitted (picture on far right). The fiberglass repair to the nose was done by Vic Cooper, an absolute magician when it comes to composite materials as the finished car (below) clearly shows. |
|||||||
The Finished 1999/2000 Rebuild | |||||||
![]() Bob & Diane, it's first day on track at a Pueblo Test & Tune day.. This was before a new seat and a windscreen were fitted
|
|||||||
The Car As It Is Today |
|||||||
Racing at High Plains Raceway in 2012. |
|||||||
![]() |
An Historical Sidebar: At left are pictures of another Miller. Look familiar? This car, owned by Franklin "Rudy" Rudolph when these pictures were take, is documented as "The Last Miller" built by Don Miller in 1967. (Note: Subsequent research in 2015 by the new owner of this car, Jeff Awender, indicate it was probably built earlier than the1967 date indicated in Joe Puckett's book. In fact, he's pretty sure it was 1962.) Comparing pictures of Rudy's bare frame (taken in about 1998) and his completed car (which we saw at a Reno, NV race in 2007) show the very clear similarity to our Miller. (Click here for more pics of "Rudy's" really nice car.) Thus we now believe our car was probably built about 1962, |
||||||
2018-2019 Re-Do |
|||||||
Sadly, Diane's beloved Miller had a freak "incident" at our Race Against Kids' Cancer in August of 2018. You ain't gonna' believe this; it got rolled being towed back to the pits. Long sad story. Knackered it pretty good, all body work and frame were damaged. Diane was unhurt because she remained fully belted up in the car! Watch the video carefully in the upper right hand corner. Video was taken by the track's video system.
It was decided to simply do another full ground up on the car. A full restoration was done back in 2000, but that was 18 years ago now (Can't believe it!). Since then Diane has done 100 plus race weekends on the car! So rather than just patch up the damage, it will be taken down to the bare frame to refresh everything. Can't stand seeing it sit there all messed up. Plus, she loves the car!. |
|||||||
What a mess. Both front and rear fiberglass body work were significantly "deranged." |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
|||||||
Arrows point to the really serious damage. Roll bar pushed down into frame about 1/2". Rear upright broken (here being held together with a ratchet strap). At right, shows left rear broken upright, bent shock and bent trailing arms. |
|||||||
To see the detailed 2018-2019 restoration, visit the gallery on our SmugMug site with extensive pictures of the restoration process.. As seen below, the result is that it is back to its original glory. Actually even better given the new frame from the roll bar back.
|