Jerry Wayne Miller (December 10, 1937 – November 16, 2018) was an American racing driver from

Salem, Indiana Salem is a city in and the county seat of Washington Township, Washington County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,319 at the 2010 census. History Salem was laid out and platted in 1814. It was named for Salem, North Carolin ...

who excelled at

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

racing and made a 3-year foray into

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

. One of the top sprint car racers in the midwest, Miller attempted to complete rookie orientation for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

but failed to do so. Later that year he competed in his first Champ Car race, a USAC event at the

Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectator ...

and finished 9th in a field weakened by the founding of the rival

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

series that year. His single appearance was enough to earn him 25th place in the USAC National Championship. In 1980 Miller made his only CART start, a 14th place in the season-ender at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

. In 1981 he brought the same

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

powered King chassis back to Indianapolis to attempt to qualify for the "500" again. He completed rookie orientation that time, but failed to make the field. As the USAC/CART split continued that year, Miller made two more champ car starts, this time on the dirt oval events that had become a part of the USAC "Gold Crown" Championship, with finishes of 9th and 19th. He died in 2018.

References

External links

Jerry Miller at ChampCarStats.com
1937 births 2018 deaths Champ Car drivers People from Salem, Indiana Racing drivers from Indiana {{LouisvilleMSA-stub