Pilot, designer, builder

Car and plane technology author Dennis Simanaitis once described the Vincennes, IN native as a combination of Formula 1 car racing legends Ayrton Senna (driver) and Adrian Newey (designer). Miller was a multi-time national champion Formula 1 pilot who designed and built his own conventional and “pusher” air racers. He took up flying as a teenager, then served three years in the Army Air Force during WWII. The former crop duster flew his first air race in Cleveland in 1949 and participated in almost every Formula 1 racing event for the next half-century. He designed and built all of his own racers, including his #14 JM-101 Little Gem (1949-1960) and his unique, mainly composite JM-2 and JM-3 single- and two-seat pushers from 1973 on. He won his first race in 1954, and the Formula 1 National Point Championship three times. In 1984 he set two FAI class C-1.A closed course speed records. He won his first Reno race in 1990. He was still entering Formula 1 events in 1996 — at 74.