Steve Millen

Steve Millen (born February 17 1953) was a New Zealand IMSA racecar driver. Millen has said that he was the only New Zealander to race full-time during the late 1970s. [http://www.freshalloy.com/site/features/interviews/millen/001/home.shtml]

Racing family

Steve's brother Rod Millen became a legend at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. Steve is the uncle of Rhys and Ryan who both compete in motorsport events.

Racing career

Millen began his racing career in hillclimbing in 1969. He then moved to the Formula Ford series. He started competing in rally cars in the mid 1970s. He switched to off-road racing in the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (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 races in the series' inaugural 1986 season.

Millen switched to the IMSA Camel GT series in 1990. He was the 1990 24 Hours of LeMans Rookie of the Year. He won 3 races and 5 poles 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 in a Ford Sierra RS500. He run ended in a DNF (Did Not Finish).

Millen won the 1992 IMSA GTS championship in a Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo car. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring, and had Top 5 finishes in the first four events before his 1993 season ended with injuries at Watkins Glen International.

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 LeMans.

In 1995, Millen won the 12 Hours of Sebring. He was invited to the International Race of Champions (IROC). He was leading the IMSA GTS championship, when he had a professional career-ending crash at Road Atlanta. He had competed in three of four IROC races.

Millen is the all-time winningest driver in IMSA GTS history with 20 victories. His 23 pole positions are also a series' record. [http://www.stillen.com/about_heritage2.aspx]

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

Business career

He started Stillen, an after-market performance parts company in 1986. 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.

References

* [http://www.stillen.com/about_heritage.aspx Biography at stillen.com]
* [http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=millest01 IROC statistics at racing-reference.info]

External links

* [http://www.stillen.com/ Stillen website]
* [http://www.motorsport.com/photos/select.asp?D=Steve_Millen Images]
* [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=profile&driverid=3481 Profile and results of Steve Millen] , Rallybase.nl
* [http://www.rallye-info.com/driverprofile.asp?driverid=737 rallye-info profile on Steve Millen]

Persondata
NAME=Millen, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=New Zealand racecar driver
DATE OF BIRTH=February 17 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=