- Rod Millen
Rod Millen (born
22 March 1952 ) is arally racing competitor and vehicle designer. [ [http://formulad.com/drivers.php?id=kt7j3b23 Formula Drift - Professional Drifting Championship ] ] [ [http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/3270/road-test-rod-millen-motorsportstoyota-racing-development-ultimate-celica.html ROAD TEST: Rod Millen Motorsports/Toyota Racing Development Ultimate Celica - Reviews / Road Tests - Car and Driver November 2000 ] ] He has raced in numerous genres of motorsport, includingrally racing ,off-road racing ,hillclimbing , anddrifting .Personal life
Rod Millen was born in
New Zealand . Millen is the father ofRhys Millen and Ryan Millen, and the brother ofSteve Millen . All have raced in various types of motorsports. Rod's son Ryan has raced with him in theBaja 1000 . [http://www.3autos.com/20061106/Dust-to-Glory-Toyota-FJ-Cruiser-Race-Truck-to-run-Baja-1000,11281/ FJ Cruiser Race Truck To Debut At The 38th Baja 1000] ;November 1 2006 , RetrievedOctober 13 2007 ] Early in life Millen was trained as a surveyor, but he decided to race for a living.Racing career
1970s
Millen began racing in the
New Zealand Rally Championship . He was the season champion in 1975, 1976, and 1977. Millen decided to move to theUnited States in 1978 to do rally races in the United States. He won the North American Race and Rally Championship in 1979.1980s
He repeated as the champion of the North American Race and Rally in 1980. In 1981 he won the SCCA PRO Rally, and he won his second series championship in 1985. [ [http://www.millenworks.com/html/company_history.htm MillenWorks - Driving Innovation ] ] He won back to back SCCA National Rally Championships in 1987 and 1988.
While winning his third straight SCCA National Rally Championship in 1989, he also won the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. In 1989 he raced against his brother Steve in IMSA's
24 Hours of Daytona . He won the GTU division of the race with codrivers Al Bacon and Bob Reed. He began competing in majorhillclimbing events, and in 1989 he won the Class C division at thePikes Peak International Hill Climb .Rod Millen competed in several
World Rally Championship events from 1977 to 1992. He was most active from 1989 to 1992, driving aMazda 323 AWD, codriven by Tony Sircombe. He placed second in the 1989 Rothman'sRally of New Zealand . [ [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=result&rallyid=182 RallyBase ] ] [ [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=profile&driverid=2893 RallyBase ] ]1990s
In 1990 he won the
Rim of the World SCCA PRO Rally event, and finished second at theRally Malaysia and theRally Indonesia . Millen returned to the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, winning in the Open Class in 1991 and Showroom Class in 1992. He moved to the open rally division in 1993, finishing second.Millen began competing in the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series, an indoor
stadium off-road racing series in 1991. He won two events in 1992. He won the series championship in the Grand National Sport Truck series in 1992, 1993, and 1994. In the 12 year history of the series, he was the only driver to win the series championship in three consecutive years. In his career, he had 12 victories in the series before it closed down. His success earned him a spot on the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) All-American First Team in 1992 and 1994.http://www.millenworks.com/html/aboutus/ch/Rod%20Millen%20Career%20Highlights.pdf]Millen captured the record for the fastest ascent of the 156 turn, 12.42
mile (19.99kilometer )Pikes Peak International Hill Climb . He broke the old record time by 40 seconds when he ascended the hill in 10:04:06 in 1994 in hisall wheel drive Toyota Celica. His record was broken onJuly 21 ,2007 byNobuhiro Tajima driving the Suzuki XL7 Hill Climb Special to a time of 10:01.408. [ [http://www.ppihc.com/ PPIHC Home Page ] ] [ [http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/21/monster-tajima-is-pikes-peaks-new-king-of-the-mountain/ Monster Tajima is Pikes Peak's new "King of the Mountain" - Autoblog ] ] Rod had the fastest overall time at the famous mountain four more times (1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999), but was unable to beat his goal of completing the climb in less than 10 minutes. Millen and his wife became the first husband-wife team to contest the hill. He also became the father-son (with Rhys) to win overall titles on the hill.Millen competed in the South Africa Stadium series in 1997, winning the championship. Millen returned to his native country New Zealand to compete in the first annual
Race to the Sky hillclimb in 1998 near Queenstown. He finished second overall in both 1998 and 1999.2000s
He began competing in the Pro-4 division in the
Championship Off-Road Racing Series starting with selected events in 1999. Millen's first win in hisfour wheel drive Trophy Truck in 2000 was at the spring Crandon race. He finished second in the season points standings in 2000 after winning atLuxemburg, Wisconsin ,Fort Dodge, Iowa ,Bark River, Michigan , andTopeka, Kansas . He finished second at the BorgWarner World Championship Off-Road race at Crandon that year.Millen competed in several additional genres of motorsport in 2000. He represented U.S. rally racing at the International Race of Champions at the
Canary Islands . He finished third at the Baja 2000 off-road desert race in hisTrophy Truck . The Baja 1000 was extended to 2000 miles that year. Millen won the SCCA Button Hollow 3 Hour enduro road race.He raced in the
Goldrush International Hillclimb in New Zealand in 2000, finishing second. Millen returned to the Race to the Sky hillclimb in 2001, and won the event. In 2002 he had his second consecutive win, and he finished second in 2003 and 2004. Rod has driven anRX-8 in theFormula D drifting series. [ [http://www.everythingdrift.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=30 RMR Reveals RX-8 - eDRFT.com | For All Your Drifting Needs ] ] He attempted to qualify for his first drifting event in 2005 but did not make the field. He competed at several events in 2006.Millen has competed in numerous
Baja 1000 off-road racing events, most recently finishing second in class in 2006. The team, with his son Ryan Millen as one of the drivers, finished the 34 hour trek through the desert 33 seconds behind the winner in what is considered aphoto finish . [ [http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/baja1000/baja_photo_finish.html So near, after so far] ;November 20 2006 ; RetrievedOctober 13 2007 ]Millen won the
Transsyberia rally 2007. With co-driver Richard Kelsey, they competed the 7,100kilometer s fromMoscow ,Russia toUlan Bator ,Mongolia the fastest of the 26 teams, driving one of 26Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia rally cars. [ [http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/10/transsyberia-rally-2007-reaches-the-finish-line/ Rod Millen takes Transsyberia Rally 2007] ; reprint ofPorsche article;September 10 2007 ; RetrievedOctober 14 2007 ]MillenWorks
Millen started Rod Millen Motorsports, later renamed MillenWorks, which began by preparing and later building Millen's race cars. The company now develops vehicles, high performance parts, and technology for racing, concept cars, and the military.
ources
External links
* [http://www.rodmillenstore.com/ Rod Millen Motorsport]
* [http://www.redbulldriftteam.com/ Racing Team]
* [http://www.millenworks.com Millen Works]
* [http://www.lextasy.com/rmm_rod_millen_m_14.htm/ Rod Millen Motorsport Parts]
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