Sunday, July 4, 2004 (Reprinted from the Local Sports section of The Holland Sentinel)

Marc Miller finds his racing niche in Canada

NORTHERN LIGHTS: Holland
native Marc Miller has found his
place racing in the Canadian
Association for Stock Car
Racing.
Contributed

Holland native travels north of the border in CASCAR

By LEE LAMBERTS

Marc Miller has nothing against West Michigan. His family moved to the area when he was in high school and he still calls Holland home.

But when it's time to fire up his race car and fulfill his need for speed, the 28-year-old Miller heads out of the country. He travels to Canada as often as he can as a part-time member of CASCAR, the Canadian Association for Stock Car Racing.

"I've never really raced locally ... I've never run at Berlin (Raceway) or Kalamazoo (Speedway)," Miller said. "I've always been in some sort of traveling series. Even when my family lived in Virginia, I'd go somewhere else to race.

"I started racing when I was 11," Miller said. "I've raced karts and formula cars and now I've been racing in Canada for five or six years now."

Miller

Miller is not yet a full-time driver on the CASCAR circuit. Lack of sponsorship dollars has prevented him from running a full schedule of 12 races. He ran four events last year and was the top qualifying rookie in three of those races.

This year, Miller said he's shooting for five of the "higher profile" events so that people will see him and, perhaps, find some money in their racing budget for him.

So far, so good.

Last weekend in the Clarington 200 at Mosport International Raceway just outside of Toronto, Miller finished ninth. He was the top rookie in the race and the only American in the 26-car field.

"With our limited schedule, one car and one engine ... all in all it was a great result and a great weekend for us," Miller said of his team and its sponsors. "We're small and we have a limited budget and we're trying to build a program, but this is all we can do right now."

Many are convinced he can do the job, including his chief sponsor, Carhartt.

Miller painted his car this year to emulate that of 2003 NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth, who drives a gold and black Ford Taurus sponsored by DeWalt Tools. DeWalt also happens to be one of Miller's minor sponsors.

Though Miller drives a Chevy Monte Carlo, his winning attitude paid off last weekend.

"Our goal was to show that even with a part-time effort, we could compete with the best in CASCAR," Miller said. That included three-time CASCAR SuperSeries champion Dave Whitlock, who finished seventh at Mosport.

"I think we proved (Sunday) that we could do that," Miller said. "Now that we have a taste for Top 10 finishes, our goal is to run top fives at Toronto and Vancouver."

Miller plans to run his next race in the Toronto Molson Indy event on July 9 and 10. The CASCAR SuperSeries race runs Saturday with the Toronto Molson IndyCar race to follow on Sunday.

Miller's long-term plans could include a ride in the NASCAR Craftsman truck series, if his good runs in Canada continue.

"I'd be stupid to say I wouldn't want to run the trucks or in the Busch series," Miller said. "I'd love to run ARCA or ASA too, but I'm also realistic. I've never said I want to win a Formula 1 championship or something like that, but I've always felt I was good enough to race cars for a living. That's what I want to do."

Even if he has to go home to do it.

Contact Lee Lamberts at alan.babbitt@hollandsentinel.com or (616) 546-4271.