By Carol D Haynes
Several years ago I was walking away from an interview with race winner Chris Perley in the pits when I heard two men commenting as they passed by the Vic Miller #11 supermodified. "That car was built by one of the smartest car builders going and most people don't even know him." I thought about that statement for a while and heard something this year to the same effect from racing legend Bentley Warren at Oswego after his third place finish in the ISMA Super Nationals.Bentley followed Chris Perley to the line - each driving a Vic Miller creation. Said Warren later "Vic Miller builds such a great car. He's old school, but it works. K.I.S.S.- keep it simple stupid. There's nothing trick. This is just a well-prepared car that runs. It was wicked fun to drive." I thought is was time to fine out more about this guy.
In the day and age of "trick' in the supermodified division, Miller is still old school and he prefers it that way. The name Miller is not bandied about with those of Clyde Booth or Brian Allegresso or the younger car building phenom Joey Hawksby. Miller, a simple guy with a signature cigar always present in his mouth, may not look the part, but he carries some hefty credentials that prove he can get the job done just the same.
Vic Miller is a transplanted New Englander who came to Plaistow, N.H. from New Jersey in the 1960's. His racing career started shortly after his move when he began competing at the Norwood Arena in 1965 in the Hobby Division. Speaking to Vic from his basement garage that houses his "simple" supermodifieds, Miller related some of the aspects of what would become a 40-year racing career as a car owner.
So Vic, you've never been behind the wheel in all those years? --- "I never had the desire to drive, said VIc."I felt that you needed to concentrate on the car or driving and I picked the car. Besides I probably couldn't drive anyway"
Vic didn't find a lot of success in the Hobby division and the driver of the car was, "Whoever wanted to try it. We had no idea what we were doing. We just picked up things along the way."
In 1967 came a switch to the modified sportsman division and a little more "limited success". Vic continued, "Jim Cheney was one of our drivers and we raced at Thompson and Stafford - anywhere in the southern Connecticut area. That's where most of the modified races were then. We went to Oswego a couple of times when they had the modified sportsman races up there."
In the late1960's Vic began "fiddling" with supermodifieds. Ollie Silva came next as a famous driver. Miller's modus operandi became buying old cars and rebuilding them to his liking. "I got together with Ollie in I think 1969 and he drove the car I had built." the restored 0 car that has made some laps in the last couple of years in memory of Silva, was one of Miller's cars. "We used to run a lot of races. I think one year we ran something like 80 races, running that modified here there and then going to all the supermodified races. We used to run like three, sometimes four time a week. There were a lot of races back then. I think we ran about four or five years. We were pretty successful."
Soon the two went their separate ways. "I built a car and Ollie ran that himself and we built another one similar to the one Ollie was driving and Donnie MacLaren drove it for a while and then a couple other people. I can't remember everybody."
Those early supers were ones that Vic bought and then built on. It was his learning curve. "We'd change this a little and that a little. We'd go to more offset. We just kept building new cars and improving stuff. Every year you'd put a little more offset in it. Then you'd have to redesign the car and build a new frame. I don't think there was a time when we changed anything radically except in the middle 80's. The 19-inch offset was coming in. Frank Barthell built one for us. That was when Eddie West was driving."
The Vic Miller cars we see today are offshoots of that car twenty years ago? ---- "Yeah, pretty much. They've changed a little. Not much.Thats still the same basic car we are running right now," said Vic as the sounds of crewman working emanating fron the background. "There hasn't been a whole lot change on them. We've straightened out the bodies a little, mostly to accommodate the new things that have come out - brakes, hubs, nosewings...things that we obviously didn't have back then. We changed whatever we needed to to make the cars run good. If we needed to put the new stuff on, we did."
Larry Record was another of Vic's drivers who gave him success in his backyard. "Larry drove a couple different years after West. He did real well for us. We won a bunch of point titles along the way at Lee and Star mostly. We'd always go to the Thompson ISMA race in the fall, but most of the time we would stay around here."
In 1992, Vic put the young Nate Boutwell in his car and the team continued to dominate at Star and Lee where they still ran the most. "Nate drove three seasons. We did run a couple of shows in New York at Lancaster and Oswego, but mostly ran at home."
In 1995, Nate wanted to do something different, like drive airplanes instead of cars, and Vic looked for another driver. "When Nate was leaving, Chris(Perley) had wanted to get out of his own car. He didn't have the help or resources to run it. Then Nate didn't want to run anymore so that opened the door for Chris."
The new team stuck with Vic's home-based competition agenda, but ventured when they could, into the realm of the ISMA traveling series. In 1995, a young Chris Perley took home the first Oswego Super Nationals $8000 check. It would be the first of three he would earn. In1996, the Miller-Perley team finished second behind ISMA champions Russ Wood. In 1997, the team was 19th in points, not running very many races as in 1998, when they ran only 7 ISMA shows but still had a win at Southern National Speedway. In 1999, they were 14th in points with 1 win out of the ten races that they competed in. And in 2000, they again only made 8 races, but had one win and seven top five in those events.
So far you and Chris have done pretty well together. -- "Yes, he's done excellent. Here's right there at most of the races. You can't fault him for much."
Vic still works out of the shop in his cellar. "It's a small area. If something comes in, you have to take something out." Vic Laughed. "It's pretty jammed up in here. One car is not too bad, but we have two right now. The car that Bentley is driving and the one that Chris is driving. I guess we have always had the two but never drove them at the same time."
The key to the success that has come has continued to be that simplicity as aforementioned. "We still haven't changed a whole lot. We continue to put on the new stuff. we're getting better motors all the time. R&R (Rick Moore and Ray Blake) Engines has been with us since they started. R&R is one of the best in the business. More or less everyone on the crew gets involved in the changes we make. Something new may come up and we'll look at it and decide if it works on the car. Then we'll stick it on the car and try it for a race and then go back to what we had. Then we will put it back on and if it works, we'll stay with it. It's a trial and error process basiclly. This new stuff comes out and you don't know how it's going to work. Everyone says you have to try this or that. If you just put it on, you have no leeway if you want to get out of it. If it starts going bad, then you are in trouble. We like to stick with what works. Really there is nothing trick on these cars. People come over and look at them and figure that there is a lever or a button that you push to make them fast. It's just a basic car. The car that Bentley is driving is an exact copy to the one Chris is driving. We're just rubbing on a few things on Bentley's car right now; a few things we found. This isn't a back up car; it's just a new car that's an exact copy. All the parts off that car can just bolt on the other one. When we started building it we weren't going to build a complete car. We were just going to build a frame and the pieces so if we wrecked the other car, we could just run it. But Eddie Shea kept telling me that we ought to get that other car finished."
"So we put it together. We weren't even really going to run it. But we did run it a couple times this year at Jennerstown and Toledo and it just sat until Bentley drove it at Oswego. He was supposed to drive it at Oxford too. But, then we went to Star when Oxford rained out. He did such a good job, so we are taking it to Thompson because we know that he likes to run down there."
"We don't really want to keep running two cars though. Like in that last couple of weeks, I've had a bunch of guys come over and ask me to drive it next year. But we just really want to run the one car. Most of our crew has been with us twenty years or so. There's Scotty Leclair, Phil Rice Sr. and Jr., Jim Curtis - they've been around since the days of Larry Record. Then there are Leo Shea, Mike Woodworth and Andy Head who came on board with Chris. Chris comes down at least once a week. He's pretty busy with his kids and the Marina. But he comes down on Tuesday nights. We usually have enough help but he comes down and does the welding. He's a really good welder. We usually save all the welding projects for him."
Does Chris make a lot of changes as a driver? - "No, not really. We've run most of the tracks before and we keep good notes. If the car ran good, we go back to that setup. If we struggled, then we make changes. Like at Sandusky, we had a problem. For the last few years we've been going over the notes, trying to figure what we did wrong. We played around with different setups. It wasn't until this year that we had something that looked like we could be competitive. Before if we finished sixth or seventh, we thought we were doing good because we had been so terrible out there. Most of the time we'd say when the race is over, thank God we are done with that. Sandusky is one of those tracks that if you're nor running right up front, its tough. Those Ohio guys are tough. It's tough racing in the back with them. This year we got real good."
What are some of the special moments that come to mind in those ten years? --- "It's been a good ten years. Chris won those three big Oswego shows that paid $8000. He won a Jennerstown race when it paid really good money. He is usually right on top of it when we had all the big paying races. Those stand out. Most of the time when we were racing we didn't have anyone helping us out. The car had to pay for itself. I put what I could into it. And that's the way we ran. That's probably the reason we didn't run a lot of outside shows. We just didn't feel we had a real strong motor sometimes to be up there. we used to have one good motor and we'd finish up there real good. Then Eddie Shea offered to help and we have three good motors now."
In the "Shea years" the record speaks for itself, proving what a good sponsor can do to bring a team to the next level. From 2001 to 2004, the Miller - Perley has been forth, second, and first (twice) in ISMA points. They have accumulated 13 wins to date and in 2004, Chris was only out of the top ten once, a 19th at Toledo. In 2002 and 2003, Vic was voted Mechanic of the Year by the ISMA membership and from 2002 -2004 the team was named Crew of the Year. Perley was also honored with various awards and the Most Popular Driver for four years. Chris also currently is tied for fourth with Joe Gosek on the all time ISMA feature win list; a stat that came entirely from his Vic Miler days.
Eddie Shea has been important to the team, hasn't he? --- "We're right on top of things all the time now. Ed's always saying, 'better call Rick and have that motor freshened if you have a lot of races on it'. He keeps track of us even though he doesn't come all the time. As a matter of fact he can't make Thompson this year so he called me up and he called the engine guy up to remind him that we were going to Thompson and make sure you're down there in case they need you. Ed's wicked good at those kind of things. It's made a big difference. We can run good all the time now instead of just picking and choosing. We feel that we can go to most of the races and be pretty strong. Ed keeps us right on top of everything."
What do you think of the Star Classic where you lapped everyone? --- "That was a funny deal really. We were running real good, but a lot of times, you run good but the cautions come out and the field bunches. This time, the yellows didn't come out as much. I think we looked a lot better than we were. We had all those green flag laps and were able to keep going and keep moving by everybody. We were able to keep the pace up. Woody and those guys were a little off and we were on a little bit more. That's all it takes on those little tracks. You can lap a lot of people in a short time. We were able to stretch it out on the green."
Going into Thompson World Series and the ISMA finale you have four wins and are 11 points behind Pat Abold for this year's title. How does a third straight title look to you? -- "I think it's a real stretch to win that race and the title. Pat is running real good. We'd be lucky to finish ahead of him and even if we win the race, I don't think he is going to far behind us. I think what hurt us was not running at Oxford Plains. We missed that race. That's a place we run good at. Waterford hurt a lot. Pat was second and we were next to last. We were leading at Sandusky and dropped out. Pat won it. Those races make the difference. Whatever we do Sunday will be good but it will be a stretch to win a third title. We'll do our thing and go racing. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn't there's nothing you can do about it. It's not like anybody did anything wrong. The pile up at Waterford was not Chris' fault and breaking a rod end at Sandusky, was no one's fault. Those two were the ones that did us in."
You've had some legends driving for you. How would you rate Chris as a driver? -- He's real good. He's on top of his game. He's easy to work with. The whole crew is kind of easy going. We don't have many disagreements. If someone gets mad we just don't pay attention. They get over it.
Ever aspire to move on to another division? -- "Chris likes to play around with the midget. He played around with the pro stock for a couple of years. The car wasn't really that competitive. They didn't have all the pieces. They have a better car now. I guess the driver got hurt recently and Chris has driven it a couple times since then. He drove it the Thursday before Oswego and finished second at Thompson. He may drive at Thompson this week. Then he won the midget show at Oswego. But I think we all want to stay the supers first and foremost."
Any plans for next year? -- "I'm sure it will be the same deal. We are not going to run two cars. We'll just do one and have Bentley run a couple races if he wants to. The other car is more or less if we need it. Or if there is a wreck, we have the other to run the next race. It takes the heat off the guys. If you pile one up, you can't expect them to take the week off to fix it."
You've put it forty years as an owner-builder. Ever think about quitting? -- "I take it year by year. You look back and say, it's a lot of work, but what else would you do? Besides we have a lot of fun doing it. It's pretty easy for me now. Twenty-five or thirty years ago I did it all - change tires, build the cars, built the motors. I put a lot of time into it. I don't have to do that now. I have a lot of help and we all work together. Seems to work out pretty good. If it got to be like a job and it was drudgery, I wouldn't want to do it."
Are you as much of a penny-pincher as the crew kids you about? -- "I don't spend money on things that don't make the car go. If the lettering's off or something like that, I just let that go. Or I'll patch something that's not critical. We don't really waste a lot of money. We put it into wheels, motor parts - the important things."
Tell me a little about your work and your family -- "I work as a machinist at A.W. Chesterton. I'm married to my wife Lana. We have one daughter, Stephanie who has two children, Sophia and Stevie, who are four and eight. They aren't racing people. Stevie wants to start coming but my daughter thinks it's too loud. They live about a mile or so down the road. Lana will go to Oswego and the races around here, but she doesn't go to the ones farther away. She puts up with me going but she will be happy when it's over.
Who are the sponsors on the car? -- Shea Concrete Products, R&R Competition Engines, Perley's Marina, Barrett Transportation, Hardy Transportation, Jack Cook Enterprises.
The voices from the garage beyond begin chiding Vic for putting something together wrong and it was time to go."They're starting to blame me for things", Vic laughed, "I better go"
And with that, our talk ended. Vic Miller rejoined his crew working on the 0 and 11 that will race this weekend with Bentley Warren and Chris Perley aboard. You couldn't ask for a better driver combination, but then you couldn't ask for a better car owner and team either. They will be competitive and enjoy themselves no matter what the outcome. And if one of those drivers should win the race, the car owner will unabashedly take his place, a short cigar in hand or mouth, in victory lane beside his driver and crew.
