Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Millen Hopes to Truck His Way to Indianapolis

The road to Indianapolis and the 500 has as many on-ramps as the Hollywood Freeway.

Once, the only way there started in a sprint car or midget, where the drivers sat up straight in the seat, forearms bulging as they fought to control their machines.

Then Jack Brabham introduced the rear engine car to the Speedway, paving the way for European road racers in the ‘60s and the invasion of American sports car drivers such as Mark Donohue and Peter Revson in the early ‘70s. Rick Mears added a new path in 1979 when he won the 500 after early training over the bumps and jumps of Baja, the Mint 400 and Riverside’s off-road course.

Now Steve Millen, a one-time road racer and rally driver from New Zealand who now lives in Irvine, is plotting his road to Indianapolis from yet another direction. Millen drives trucks--fast trucks whose only load is speed.

Saturday night, in the Rose Bowl, he will demonstrate his talents in the fifth of Mickey Thompson’s Off-Road Championship Grand Prix series. Millen has won three of the previous four short-course races, driving a factory-backed Toyota SR-5 pickup. He also won the last race in 1985 at San Bernardino’s Orange Show Stadium for a four-out-of-five record.

Millen, 35, may be one of the most versatile drivers in the country. He is also driving in the new American Racing Series, a developmental series for prospective Indy car drivers, and in selected IMSA road races in whatever equipment is available.

He won the first oval race he ever drove, other than a few quarter-mile midget races back home, in the ARS opener at Phoenix. Last Sunday he drove a Porsche Tiga in the Times/Ford six-hour race, and a year ago, in a Firebird, he won an IMSA GTO race in Columbus, Ohio.

Millen does not understand the fuss over his versatility.

“It’s a different society here,” he said. “In New Zealand, a doctor or mechanic or lawyer does all the facets of his profession.

“Not here. America is the land of specialists. Each one has his own little area and this attitude carries over to race drivers. In New Zealand it is no big deal to switch from one type of racing to another.

“Over here, if you’re not careful, you find yourself in a certain category. For instance, when I won the ARS race in Phoenix, I was labeled as an off-road driver. I think of myself as a race driver, period.”

In New Zealand, Steve and his younger brother Rod, now a prominent rally driver living in Newport Beach, drove anything on four wheels.

“Before I came to America, I won in Formula Fords, Formula Atlantics and anything else they had in New Zealand or Southeast Asia,” Steve said.

“I couldn’t go any farther, so it was time to move on. I brought my car to Long Beach in 1981 for a Formula Atlantic race and I knew I wanted to come back. That’s why I came to Southern California, when most drivers from my part of the world, like Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon and Geoff Brabham all went first to Europe.”

Since arriving to stay in 1982, Millen has had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.

He was driving in a rally in Arizona, where he finished second overall in a Datsun production car. Cal Wells, head of Toyota Precision Preparation, was there and was impressed. Wells invited Millen to be the No. 2 driver to Ivan Stewart on his truck team.

“I had never even seen an off-road race,” Millen said. “I figured it was probably like driving in a rally. I knew I could drive on loose gravel, dirt or asphalt, so I took him up.”

He adapted well. Since Thompson started his stadium series, Millen has been second twice, to Stewart in 1983 and 1984 and third last year to Roger Mears, in a Nissan, and teammate Stewart.

This season Millen won the truck class at Indianapolis, Detroit and Houston, and won his heat in San Diego, but he finished sixth in the final as Sherman Balch, in a Nissan, was the winner.

Last October, in a street race in Columbus, he took a ride in a car whose driver was listed as TBA. Steve Millen, the driver To Be Announced, won the race.

Like Wells at the Arizona rally, Jim Trueman was watching at Columbus.

Trueman, who owns the Mid-Ohio race track and Bobby Rahal’s Indy car, signed up to drive the ARS series. When he became ill shortly before the Phoenix opener, he remembered the impressive ride Millen had made a few months earlier.

“When Trueman called, I was a little apprehensive of racing on a big oval,” Millen said. “Chris Amon is a friend of mine, and I had talked with Alan Jones, and both of them had their problems. I really didn’t know what to expect.

“The first day I just drove round and round, getting the feel of the place. I have never gone to a race where I felt so uneducated. For one thing, I had never driven where you never touch the brakes.”

Versatility has its drawbacks. One day last week, Millen tested an off-road truck early in the morning at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino, drove to Riverside to practice in the Porsche GTO car, drove back to Glen Helen around noon for more testing and then back to Riverside in late afternoon to qualify the Porsche for Sunday’s race.

“The most dangerous part was driving on the freeway, back and forth between Riverside and San Bernardino,” he said.

Earlier this week, Millen was in Milwaukee testing Trueman’s ARS car for the second race of the series June 1. Today he will be at the Rose Bowl testing Thompson’s course for Saturday night’s race.

“I know it may sound strange, but I have no difficulty jumping back and forth, even though the two have very different driving positions,” he said. “In the truck, you are high off the ground, in a vertical sitting position. In the ARS car, you are low to the ground, in a lying down position.”

The truck is Millen’s No. 1 priority, but his success at Phoenix on the oval has thoughts of Indianapolis dancing in his mind.

“Is there a race driver anywhere in the world who doesn’t fantasize driving at Indianapolis? I’m no different. Now, though, I’d like to turn my fantasy into reality.”

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Sam Ermolenko, America’s leading international rider, will return from England next week to ride Wednesday night at the Inland Speedway in San Bernardino, Thursday night at Ascot Park and Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds. . . . With no British riders on hand this week, Alan Christian, Mike Faria, Brad Oxley and the other regulars will battle among themselves on local tracks.

DRAG RACING--Don Garlits, with his world-record 270-m.p.h. streamliner, is entered in the 28th running of the Coors Bakersfield Fuel and Gas meet this weekend at the Famoso drag strip north of Bakersfield. Garlits introduced the revolutionary top-fuel dragster at Gainesville, Fla., and ran 272.56 m.p.h., adding another speed barrier to his collection. Garlits has won the Bakersfield event three times, in 1965, 1971 and 1979. He will face defending champion Gary Beck, Larry Minor and Southern Nationals champion Dan Pastorini. Qualifying is set for Friday and Saturday with eliminations starting at 11 a.m. Sunday.

ONE LAP--One of motorsports’ unique events, the Uniroyal One Lap of America road rally, will start Saturday in Detroit for an 8,000 mile non-stop run across the country and back. A record 130 teams have entered the run, which is scheduled for only one overnight stop, next Wednesday in Redondo Beach at the Portofino Inn. Defending champion is John Buffum, nine-time national rally champion, who will drive an Audi.

SPORTS CARS--Most of the same cast that ran last Sunday in the Times/Ford Grand Prix of Endurance will be at Laguna Seca this weekend for the 23rd annual Nissan Monterey Triple Crown. The main event is a 300-kilometer race for Camel GTP cars. . . . Jack Baldwin, GTO winner last week, will be racing for a cause. When the Norelco Cup--and it’s $1,500 award--was presented to Bruce Jenner at Riverside it was a thorn in Baldwin’s side. “I drove 4 1/2 hours and Bruce drove about 1 1/2 hours, and I spotted him a lap (with mechanical problems) and caught him and won--and they gave him the award for the best individual driving performance,” Baldwin said. “What race were the judges watching? I feel like it was a real slap in the face.” . . . Six-hour winner Rob Dyson, who won the Norelco Cup for GTP drivers, may skip Laguna. Dyson’s regular driver, Drake Olson, will be back from Europe, ready to step into the Porsche 962 with Price Cobb, who shared the seat with car owner Dyson at Riverside. . . . Amateur racing will take over Riverside this weekend with the California Sports Car Club holding regional championship races. Entertainers Christopher Cross, Lorenzo Lamas and Perry King are scheduled to drive.

OFF-ROAD--A new 101-mile course south of Las Vegas has been laid out for the 19th annual Mint 400 scheduled for May 9. For the last 10 years the course has run north of the city, but it was moved to improve spectator visibility. . . . Motocross promoter Mike Goodwin and Marty Tripes, who won the first two Superbowl of Motocross races held in the Coliseum, plan to promote five or more stadium races next year with a $20,000 minimum purse, plus two outdoor events. The stadium races will be held on Sundays, after a national motorcycle supercross.

SPRINT CARS--California Racing Assn. cars and drivers will close out a four-week stand Saturday night at Ascot Park before embarking on a two-week swing through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Jeff Heywood, who left Alex Morales’ team earlier in the season while leading in CRA points, will return this week in Kathy Lewis’ DSD Special, which is in third place in owner standings.

STOCK CARS--Defending two-time modified champion Ken Sapper will go for his second straight win Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. Also set for Saturday, at 6 p.m., is the ego challenge for amateur drivers who want to test their skills on Saugus’ flat oval in their own street-legal cars. . . . Although winless this season, Marcus Mallett leads the Curb Motorsports series going into Sunday night’s feature race at Ascot Park.

MOTOCROSS--The 10-race U.S. Suzuki Spring series will end this week with races Friday night at Ascot Park and Sunday afternoon at Otay, Mexico.

RALLY--After the favorites dropped out early, Richey and Howard Watanabe drove their Toyota Corolla to victory in the Rim of the World Rally last Saturday. Sixteen of the 36 starters finished the 12-hour event held in the Angeles National Forest.

OTHERS--A national sand drag competition, rained out April 6, will be held Sunday at the Don Brown track near Glen Helen Regional Park, north of San Bernardino. . . . Three-quarter midgets will race Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.