Rod Millen

22/3/1952

Record updated

Over the past 30 years Rod Millen has developed an unmistakable reputation as a leader in rally racing. Trained as a surveyor in New Zealand, Rods first interests of surfing, sailing and beach buggy driving soon changed into a love for car racing. "I came to enjoy sliding my car around on those dirt roads," said Millen. "Pretty soon, the surf board and roof racks came off and the wider tires and sporty suspension went on. Since then I have been hooked on racing". In 1978, after becoming the first driver to win three consecutive New Zealand Rally Championships, he moved to California to compete against the top U.S. rally drivers. A year after moving to Southern California, Rod claimed his first North American Race and Rally championship. His success continued in the SCCA PRO Rally series, the Asia/Pacific series and then the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, winning the Division C Championship in record breaking time. In a short period of road racing in 1989, Millen earned the GTU Division victory at the IMSA 24 hours of Daytona with co-drivers Al Bacon and Bob Reed. In 1991 Rod Millen joined Toyota's off-road racing program and dominated the Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing series, earning 12 main event victories, 15 top qualifying times and became the only driver in the 12-year history of the series to win three consecutive Grand National Sport Truck titles (1992-94). Millen's most recent claim to fame is a 14,110ft. mountain of Pikes Peak or "Millen's Mountain". He owns the overall championship and the record for the fastest driving time up the mountain, in his All-Wheel-Drive Toyota Celica Turbo up the12.42 mile, 156-turn dirt road with a time of 10:04.06 (set in 1994). Millen has earned three records driving at the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb and has earned hill greats such as being part of the first husband and wife team to contest the hill, being part of the famous father-and-son winning combination with son Rhys Millen and winning the hills overall title six times. He went on to do the same thing in the Open Division in 1991 and the High Performance Showroom Stock Two-Wheel Drive Division in 1992. Among many other title acquisitions listed in his career highlights is his win at the Race of Champions in Tokyo in 1997. There he took the 1997 title win against world rally title holders Miki Biassion from Italy and Marku Alen from Finland. Motivated by his success as a driver, Rod founded Rod Millen Motorsport (The name was later changed to MillenWorks) to support his various racing endeavors. As his skill as a driver became more recognized in the international race and rally community, the capabilities of his team became more and more prominent in the racing industry. Known for its expertise in successfully meeting the challenging conditions of race and rally, MillenWorks has become sought after to provide that same technology development, successful engineering and design support to not only race and rally teams around the world but also car manufacturers, government agencies and other companies that require specialized precision engineering. Rod's talents are varied and recognized in many forms. He is also sought after by advertising agencies who have utilized his precision driving skills in many car manufacturers television commercials. The most satisfying accomplishment was the event that gave him the "King of the Hill" title. "I grew up in New Zealand reading about the Pikes Peak event, and it really is the ultimate hill climb" says Millen. In 1998, Rod Millen and the team at MillenWorks designed and built a new Toyota Tacoma racing truck to campaign the 76th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb event. The Pikes Peak Tacoma, as it was known, went on to take the unlimited class honors in 1998 and 1999. Rod Millen is as fast as ever, winning the Race to Sky hillclimb in New Zealand in 2002 and posting the fastest time at the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. Rod also finished second at the 2003 and 2004 Race to the sky hillclimb in Queenstown, NZ.

rodmillen.com