Leigh Miller Racing

Leigh Miller Racing was a team in the Indy Racing League and the IMSA GT Championship owned by sportscar driver Leigh Miller. After competing at the IMSA Supercar Championship in 1993, Miller stepped up to IMSA GT, first with a Porsche 968 and a Porsche 944 Turbo for the GTU, before acquiring two Mazda-developed Kudzu prototypes for the WSC class and setting up his own team.[1]

With Paul Debban as his regular teammate, Miller finished 18th in the WSC standings for 1994, with a sixth place at Laguna Seca as his best result.[2] In 1995, the season started strong with a 5th-place finish in the WSC class at Daytona, further top 10 finishes at Sebring and Road Atlanta and another top-5 at Halifax with a variety of drivers, but he stopped competing after a crash at Watkins Glen. Despite this, he finished ninth in the championship standings.[3] Jim Pace and Cort Wagner would drive for the team for most of the season.

For 1996, Miller purchased two 1994 Lola-Ford Cosworth chassis from Dick Simon Racing in order to compete in the newly created Indy Racing League with Stan Wattles, who was part of the team at the Halifax race in 1995. The team was at the track since the second day of testing, and completed an extensive testing program during the winter.[4]

In the inaugural round at Walt Disney World, Wattles qualified in eighth place and run as high as fourth until he spun on cold tires after his last pit stop, crashing into the inside wall.[5] Two months later, at Phoenix, Wattles suffered a serious crash during practice, sustaining a brain hematoma and damage in his optical nerves, which ruled him out for the event and, also, for the Indianapolis 500.[6]

Before the team could set up plans for a replacement driver, Beck Motorsports reached them, in need of new chassis after splitting their partnership with Zunne Group Racing. Beck acquired the two Lolas and the rights for the locked-in entry for the Indianapolis 500,[7] although they never used those rights, as they already had a locked-in entry, and their second driver, Hideshi Matsuda, qualified as an at-large entry. Miller quietly retired from motorsports after Beck's buyout, and Wattles signed with McCormack Motorsports when he was fully recovered.

IRL Race Results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3
1996 WDW PHX INDY
Lola T94 Ford Cosworth Stan Wattles 17 13 Wth

References
  1. "All Results of Leigh Miller". RacingSportsCars.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  2. "IMSA World Sports Car Championship 1994 standings". DriverDatabase.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  3. "IMSA World Sports Car Championship 1995 standings". DriverDatabase.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  4. "Lazier, rookie Wattles get first taste of "Mickyard"". Motorsport.com. 1995-12-01. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  5. "IRL: WDW race notes". Motorsport.com. January 27, 1996. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  6. "Wattles Evaluated". IndyCar Racing Magazine. March 26, 1996. Archived from the original on November 6, 1996. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  7. "Becks take on daunting task as a family". The Indianapolis Star. May 17, 1996. Retrieved 2018-01-09.


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