Steve Millen (born 17 February 1953) is a retired

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

race car driver. In the 1970s and 1980s, Millen raced in

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

and

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

before doing stadium

off-road racing Off-road racing is a form of motorsports consisting of specially-modified vehicles including cars, SUVs, trucks, motorbikes, quadbikes and buggies racing in off-road environments (e.g. snow, dirt, mud, etc.). North America Desert racing Desert ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the

Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group The Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG) was a sanctioning body for an American short course off-road racing series that took place inside stadiums. Some events were televised, including on TNN and ESPN. History Mickey Thompson raced desert ...

(MTEG). He then began

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

, winning numerous championships in

IMSA Camel GT IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill ...

. Millen won 20 races in the series, including the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Racing career

Millen began his racing career in

in 1969. He then moved to the

series. He started competing in

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

in the mid 1970s. He switched to

in the

(MTEG) stadium series in the early 1980s. He won the 1986, 1988, and 1989 Mickey Thompson Off-Road Grand Prix Grand National Sports Truck Championships. He also won two

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

races in the series' inaugural 1986 season, that same year, he also participates in the last round of the World Rally Championship in the 21st Olympus Rally driving for

Toyota Team Europe Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH (TGR-E), formerly Andersson Motorsport GmbH and Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), is a fully-owned and controlled entity of Toyota Motor Corporation, based in Cologne, Germany, which provides motorsport and automotiv ...

, accompanying the Swedish drivers

Björn Waldegård Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle". Career Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a ca ...

and

Lars-Erik Torph Lars-Erik Torph (11 January 1961 – 23 January 1989) was a Swedish rally driver. He debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1980 and took his first points at his home event, the Swedish Rally, in 1984. Driving a Toyota Celica TCT, a Toy ...

. Millen switched to the

series in 1990. He was the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans Rookie of the Year. He won three races and took five pole positions in 1990. He had seven poles and five wins in 1991. He also drove for Allan Moffat Racing in the 1991 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst, partnering

Gary Brabham Gary Thomas Brabham (born 29 March 1961) is a former professional racing driver and a convicted child sex offender from Australia. He is the son of three-time World Formula One Champion Sir Jack Brabham and the brother of Le Mans winners Geof ...

in a

Ford Sierra RS500 The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...

but the car did not finish the race. Millen expressed interest in returning by no offer was forthcoming with the Moffat team seeing the return of the cars builder Ruedi Eggenberger in 1992 along with his ace driver

Klaus Niedzwiedz Klaus Niedzwiedz (born February 24, 1951 in Dortmund, Germany) is a former professional race driver and motoring journalist. Driver His greatest success came in the 1980s as a driver for Ford. Niedzwiedz rose to prominence when driving a Ford C ...

. Millen won the 1992 IMSA GTS championship in a

Nissan 300ZX The Nissan 300ZX is a sports car that was produced across two different generations. As with all other versions of the Z, the 300ZX was sold within the Japanese domestic market under the name Fairlady Z. It was sold in Japan from 1983 to 2000 a ...

Twin

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

car. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring and had top five finishes in the first four events before his 1993 season ended with injuries at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

. Millen returned in 1994, and won the IMSA GTS championship. He won the 1994 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, and was first in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1995, Millen won the 12 Hours of Sebring. He was invited to the

International Race of Champions International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an equivalent of an American motorsports All-Star Game. Despite its name, the IROC was primar ...

(IROC). He was leading the IMSA GTS championship, when he had a professional career-ending crash at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

. He had competed in three of four IROC races. Millen has the most all-time wins in IMSA GTS history with 20 victories. His 23 pole positions are also a series record

He has had several wins in occasional appearances in various series since his retirement. Millen also worked as a driver for commercials sometimes with Rod Millen, Rod and has appeared in a commercial for Honda, despite being under contract at the time to rival Nissan. He is also a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

as a stunt driver, which provided the healthcare he needed when he had his career ending crash.

Business career

He started Stillen, an aftermarket performance parts company specializing in Nissan and other performance vehicles in 1986. During the 1990s, Millen offered a line of customized high performance Chevrolet Suburban SUVs, and several modified Nissan special edition vehicles. Millen has also been active in designing and engineering race cars for hill climbing, notably the Pikes Peak and Race to the Sky hillclimb in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Racing family

Steve's brother

Rod Millen Rodney K. "Rod" Millen (born 22 March 1951) is a New Zealand racing driver, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rally racing, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touri ...

became a legend at the

Pikes Peak International Hillclimb The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing from the sta ...

. Steve is the uncle of

Rhys Rhys or Rhŷs is a popular Welsh given name (usually male) that is famous in Welsh history and is also used as a surname. It originates from Deheubarth, an old region of South West Wales, with famous kings such as Rhys ap Tewdwr. It is pronounc ...

and Ryan who both compete in motorsport events.

Motorsports career results

International Race of Champions

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold - Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Bathurst 1000 results

References

External links

Stillen website
*
ImagesProfile and results of Steve Millen
Rallybase.nl
rallye-info profile on Steve Millen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millen, Steve 1953 births Tasman Series drivers International Race of Champions drivers Indy Lights drivers Atlantic Championship drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Living people New Zealand racing drivers New Zealand rally drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 12 Hours of Sebring drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers

Racing career

Business career

Racing family

Motorsports career results

International Race of Champions

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Bathurst 1000 results

See also

References

External links