Like Father, Like Son: A Testament to the Miller Family's Drag and Drive Legacy
Scott Miller made an incredible post about his dad Jack Miller. I wanted to preserve this post while also providing a little more history as well. It’s so great that we are entering a time in history with racers like Jack and Scott who have been doing Drag Week for 20 years.
Jack is a staple of Drag Week and has one of the baddest Mustangs on the property anywhere. - Mike
A Testament to Drag and Drive
A testament to Drag and Drive: I always wanted to write down my dad's and mine progression in the Drag N Drive experience. What is hard for me to fathom is my dad started doing these events when he was 58 years old. I am only 55 years old now and I appreciate what it takes to do these events for this long even at my young age. My dad is an iron man in my opinion in this sport. He is 79 years old and still can get in and out of the car better than me, and will always be the heart and driving force in our cars and efforts. So here is our journey:
2005 My dad, Jack Miller, started his “street car” fever entering Hot Rod Magazines “Pump Gas Drags". He entered his 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback powered by a twin blown 488" FE engine. Transmission problems occurred but he did finish the event. Even though this was the first year for Hot Rod Drag Week somehow Jack did not realize the event even existed so he did not participate in the first Drag Week. Funny side note, his Mustang was used for advertisement for the inaugural Drag Week
2006 Jack entered and competed in Pump Gas drags again. This time he blew up one of the superchargers.
2006 Jack also entered his Mustang in Hot Rod Drag Week and came in second place and also was the fastest Ford at the event. [Finishing the week with an 8.85 Average - Best ET 8.847 at 160 mph]
2007 Jack was at Pump Gas drags but this time 4 injector drivers would not work past 3000 rpm so the mustang was only performing on 4 cylinders. He ran in the mid 9’s still and finished the competition.
2007 Jack also competed in Drag Week and once again came in Second Place after being in 1st for 4 days. Thursday run at Cedar Falls he grenaded the Powerglide and spent all night at a local transmission shop repairing to the best he could, then drove all night arriving at Cordova the next morning by 8:00 am. However, the transmission would not make a full pull and therefore Jack came in second place, but did finish. He did receive the Fastest Ford at the event. Our buddy Fast Eddie Ensor loves reminding us of coming in second.😂 [Second in Pro Street Power Adder Class: Finished the week at 8.701 average - Best ET 8.434 at 168 mph. Jack’s average landed him 7th Quickest Overall of Drag Week]
2008 Jack competed in Pump Gas drags and finished.
2009 was a year off
2010 Hot Rod Drag Week, Jack entered his R-code 1968 Cougar in Daily Driver and finished. The car has an FE 428” engine. This car is original. Jack’s dad bought it for him off the showroom floor at a dealer in West Virginia. When Scott was 2 years old he was teething and took a bite out of the passenger door vinyl and the teeth marks are still there today. [30th in Class at 12.624 average, with a Best ET of 12.512]
2011 was a year off
2012 Hot Rod Drag Week, Jack once again entered his 1968 R-code cougar into daily driver and finished the event. [24th in Class at 12.365 average, Best ET of 12.270]
2013 Hot Rod Drag Week, Jack entered his son’s 1968 XR-7 cougar with an FE 502" NA Big Block. A blown head gasket caused him to not finish. [Best ET before DNF 10.045]
2014 was a year off
2015 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and placed 2nd in their class. [Jack submitted an 8.909 pass on Day One in the Red Mustang, but dad’s 1968 Mustang burned a piston on the first run. He loaded his Mustang into the trailer and grabbed his pickup and spectated the rest of the event. The team ran mid-9s all week in the XR-7, completing with a 9.486 average, Best ET of 9.341 at 142mph]
2016 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and took 2nd in their class again. [Street Race Big Block Naturally Aspirated Class behind Curt Johnson (His 4th Class Win) by just 0.18, with a 9.170 average, with a Best ET of 9.13 at 143 mph]
2017 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and Won 1st in their class. [First Class Win in Street Race Big Block Naturally Aspirated, Quickest Pass so far at 9.101 at 145mph, Quickest Average for Cougar at 9.250]
2018 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott entered his1968 XR-7 Cougar and Won 1st in his class. Jack entered his 1968 R-code Cougar in Street Machine Eliminator class and finished. Both Cougar’s entered and finished the event. “2018 DW has been my favorite so far because dad and I both entered our 1968 Cougars, my XR7 and my dad’s original R code 428 Cougar. Lonnie was able to get us lined up together and race each other for a great picture and video. It was great.” - Scott
[Scott wins Street Race Big Block Naturally Aspirated the Second Time, Finishes with a 9.252 Average and a Best ET of 9.129 at 146 mph (a new high MPH at Drag Week). Jack would submit mid-12s all week; except on Day Four, turning in a 16.4, resulting in a 13.4 average]
2019 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and Won 1st in their class. [Street Race Big Block Naturally Aspirated Class Win with 9.212 average and two 9.0xx passes, Quickest Pass so far at 9.026 at 149 mph, Fastest MPH of the Week was 149.51]
2020 the WUHAN FLU!!
2021 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and took 3rd in their class. Tried the Holley Sniper efi setup, didn't perform like we liked, but we tried. [SRBBNA class with a 9.56 average and Best ET of 9.325 at 143 (their slowest average in the Cougar)]
2022 Sick Week, Jack and Scott entered Scott’s XR-7 Cougar and had a epoxy come out and bent a valve and only made it through day 1, did not finish. [Day Two submitted a 9.167 pass at 148 mph]
2023 Sick Week, Jack and Scott entered Scott’s XR-7 Cougar and had a lifter stick and only made it to day 2, did not finish. [Day One submitted a 9.043 at 149.58, the Fastest MPH so far]
2023 Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott and Jack entered Scott’s 1968 XR-7 Cougar and took 3rd in their class. Our good friend Darron Ambro should have had 3rd place. [Curt Johnson returned to the class for his 5th Class Win at 8.75 average. Scott in 3rd at 9.256 average (3rd Quickest Average) and a Best ET of 9.089 at 146mph]
2024 Sick Week, Jack and Scott attended but didn’t race, we followed in Sickward. [Sick Ward is for attendees that want the experience without the stress of racing.]
2024 Hot Rod Drag Week, Jack and Scott entered Jack’s 1968 Mustang Fastback but this time with a Sonny’s Racing Engines 762” NA engine. Scott thought it was a small block and blew it up on the 2nd day.😒 [Pro Street Naturally Aspirated for the first time. Day One was the only pass submitted and Scott ran it down at 7.86 at 167 mph]
2025 Sick Week, Jack and Scott entered Jack’s Mustang and had oil pressure problem and only made it to day 3, did not finish. [Scott put down a 7.774 at 176mph on Day Two]
2025 Hot Rod Drag Week, Jack and Scott entered Jack’s 1968 Mustang Fastback with a Sonny’s Racing Engines 762” NA engine and finished 1st in their class. [Pro Street Naturally Aspirated Class Win at 7.969 average with Best ET of 7.925 at 174mph]
2026 Sick Week, Jack and Scott entered Jack’s 1968 Mustang with the 762” engine and on day 0 of test and tune spun a rod bearing and decided not to compete.
2026 Hot Rod Drag Week, I will be running my 1968 Cougar with a new 429” NA SBF. I will run Street Race Small Block Naturally Aspirated. My dad is copilot.
2027 Sick Week, My dad’s 1968 Mustang’s engine is being refreshed and hopefully we can run that for Sickweek 2027. We run a Sonny’s 762” NA Hemi engine in that car.
Drag and Drive Accomplishments
So we have participated in 22 events.
First Place 4 times
Second Place 4 times
Third Place 2 times
The moral of this story is make memories with family and friends, be thankful for the successes and learn from the failures, and thank those who help create events where we can do this and immortalize them by announcing hosting.
Heartfelt thanks to David Freiburger, Mike Galimi, Brian Lohnes, Tom Bailey, Luke Nieuwhof, Matthew E Frost, Adam Dorey, Michael Narx, Derek Putnam, John McGann
To have the opportunity to spend the time and create memories with your dad is awesome. We look forward to catching up with these guys at Hot Rod Drag Week in a few weeks.
Do you have a story you’d like to tell? Send us an email - dragdriverepeat@gmail.com
