It's
Miller
Time
When Larry H. Miller
does something, he
does it big, and he does it right. l.4iller owns
several professional
sports teams - includinS the
Utah
Jazz
NBA team - as
well as an
empire of automotive dealerships.
So it's no wonder that
the budget of his latest
endeavor,
a world-class motorsports
facility outside Salt Lake Ciry Utah, has grown
from
$7
miJlion to over
$80
million at the time
of
its
openin8 in the
beginning of April.
lnliller has one of the largest
collections of
Shelby Cobras in the world, and originally
started Miller
lvlotorsports Park
as a
place
where he and his close friends
could
"drive
themselves
silly." l'4iller hired world-renowned racetrack
designer Alan Wilson
to
desiSn the circuit, as well as
be the
general
manager of the
facility, From there,
things snowballed.
"We
started it out as a
place
where myself
and some of my friends
that
drive my race cars
could have fun," said lYiller.
"Then
things
iust
kept
grow-
in8, and at one time,
we hit a
point
where we had to make
a decision. We
were spending a lot of money, and we
had to decide if we were going
to
go
all our or
iust
build a track, and
call
it
a day, As
you
can see, we went all
out," he laughs.
We
recently visited the track, and
were able to
get
a first-hand
look at the
impressive faciliry The
main road circuit can
be
run
in four different configu-
rations, ranging from
2,2 miles to the full I 9-turn. 4.s-mile layout.
The
track features a 50-foot wide, 3500-foot long
main straightaway,
with
corners ranging
from 40- to sO-feet
wide throughout.
The
track also incorporates some innovative features
never
used on U.S. racetracks in the
past,
such as a hardened lO-foot
wide
dirt road that follows
the entire length ofthe track on
either side
and will allow safety vehicles to safely drive to
acci-
dent sites without ever entering
the track. And they will
have
two ambulances as well a5
a
helicopter
onsite for all competi-
tive-racing activities, from club level all rhe way up-
We ran
the west course for
our one-day test with Honda
and
found it
to be wide. fast and billiard-table smooth. lt
was
70
APR\L26,2006
CYCLE
NEWS
(Above)
Miller's Director
of
Motorcycle Progromr Don
Solomon
consuhs sofely
suggeslions wilh
Hondo's Joke Zcmke.
When Lorrv H. Miller doec
something, 6e does it
righr,
[op]
rhe
beouritul
pit
goroge
complex ot lhe new
Miller
I otorsports Pqrk.
I
I
LI
I I
nappe'ni ng-s in
lvloiopiUatins
l
Z
;
z
a
t.
tt
!
I
I
:;-{
:
r
\
ffi
n
.Y
I
t
a
