{"id":34161,"date":"2020-02-03T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=34161"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:08","slug":"champion-in-a-challenger-marc-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2020\/02\/champion-in-a-challenger-marc-miller.html","title":{"rendered":"Champion in a Challenger: Marc Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marc Miller is no\nstranger to racing; he\u2019s been at it for decades. And if you\u2019ve been in the Dodge world, you\u2019ll\nlikely recognize his name; he\u2019s been part of the Dodge Viper IMSA program and,\nmost recently, he\u2019s taken on championship form in the Trans Am TA2 class,\nwinning the whole shebang in 2019 in his #40 Prefix Dodge Challenger.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got to sit\ndown with Marc and ask some of the common questions … and some that aren\u2019t so\ncommon!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DodgeGarage: Tell us about racing as a whole; why do you\ndo it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Miller: Racing for me has been a source of passion,\ndirection and constant reminder to work hard for what you want. I was hooked at\nage 11 when I saw a go-kart on a trailer in our neighborhood and convinced my\nDad to take me to the track to learn more about it. Thanks to that family for\ngetting us started and my parents for really supporting that passion until I\nwas 18 and that was the end of the financial line for them. But by then, I had\nalready prepared myself to always continue down the path of becoming a pro\ndriver. Everything<\/strong>, and I mean EVERYTHING you possibly can learn from engineering to\nbusiness, communications, marketing and kinesiology can be a huge asset in the\nracing industry. Mostly, I am extremely competitive and with all of the\nvariables necessary to succeed in racing, I find it a challenge to dig for every\npotential ways to improve.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marc
He became a race fan as a kid, so Miller makes sure to pay attention to children at the track <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DG: TA2 is clearly the spiritual successor to the original\nTrans Am series, with multiple manufacturers battling it out. However, you’re\nthe lone Dodge. What’s that like?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: I admit, I felt like I carried a lot of\nresponsibility, but to take a different approach and turn it into a regular\ncontender is more my style than going with the flow. Having raced the Dodge Challenger\na few times previously, I felt there was more development we could do to\nimprove the situation and make it a regular winner. The pressure was definitely\non to do that, but Stevens-Miller Racing was up to the task and I was as well.\nEven more difficult is when you make one brand stand out, the other competitors\nand the series start to try to limit your success and that happened this year\ntoo. We were able to rally though and still score two more wins and podiums the\nlatter part of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DG: How do fans react to your Challenger?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: The Dodge and Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> fans are some of the greatest\nin the world. Hugely dedicated and knowledgeable, but the typical stereotype is\nthat Dodge owns the dragstrip only. Each track we raced at this season, though,\nmore and more Dodge fans were showing up at road course events and more fan and\ntrack day groups dedicated to making their cars track-worthy have been\nsurfacing. It definitely gave me an added boost to represent the brand and\nthose fans well and we accomplished quite a bit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge
The Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Demon isn\u2019t the only Dodge that can pull the front wheels off the ground! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DG: As you point out, Dodge is really big in drag racing,\nthanks to cars like the Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Demon and the Challenger 1320… But we’re seeing more and more Challengers at\nroad course track days. How do you reply\nwhen folks say Challengers can’t go around corners?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: I say, look at all these Challenger and Charger\nowners who take their car to the track regularly and tell them that! These cars\nare heavy, but they are powerful and robust. A few mods to help them get air to\nthe brakes lighten them up a bit and put on some more aggressive track\nsuspension and you have a great track-day beast that stands out from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DG: Speaking of factory “specials”, we have seen the likes of the Challenger ACR\nconcept car. Let’s dream for a moment:\nWhat would you like to see in a factory-built track day Challenger?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: Well you can’t have a Dodge racecar without a\nHEMI\u00ae<\/sup>, so that is a must. But the biggest gain would be weight reduction. Some\nlightweight composites, composite downforce pieces similar to the Viper ACR\nExtreme Aero and a hefty weight reduction in the street variant and the\nChallenger would go a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marc
Mark talks about the science of racing while going over data from a race<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DG: While you had 4\nwins and 8 podiums<\/strong> this year, it appeared there were a lot of guys who\ncould win on any given weekend. Tell us\nabout the level of competition in the championship<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: The great thing about Trans Am and TA2 in\nparticular is that it is full of talented and hard-working drivers and teams.\nNot every driver would run all the races, so periodically you would have other\nprofessionals, NASCAR regulars or young guns all jumping in to have a go. I\nfelt we had a car that could be on the podium nearly every weekend and a car\nthat could win races quite a bit. That made me especially proud considering the\nlevel of competition at each event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DG: Your car has been compared to Sam Posey’s Trans Am\nChallenger of the ’70s. Tell us about\nthat!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: Well, many things have changed in 50+ years of\nTrans Am racing. Where the Sam Posey Challenger was based from a showroom stock\nstreet car and built into a Trans Am racecar, we utilize a Howe Racing\nchassis, full tube frame to start. The heart of the car though still remains a\nHEMI V8. The Posey car was 340ci with three 2-barrel carbs, while we utilize the\nbig 392 with a series-mandated AEM-controlled throttlebody. Cars now are\nlighter, have more power and more suitable racing suspension while also using\nbetter aero and tires. While all this is different now in Trans Am, the soul of\nthe series still seems the same to me. It is one of the last places you can see\nthe “Big Three” duke it out on the race track and there is something\nspecial about that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Racing
Laguna Seca\u2019s Corkscrew in Sam Posey\u2019s legendary #77, the original Trans Am Challenger! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DG: You’ve had a great history with Dodge, including time\nin the Viper program. What makes the\nbrand successful in motorsports?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: Success in motorsports is due to several\nvariables. Great engineering and the right mix of passion and support. It\nreally helps when you have a lot of support behind you, but passion goes a long\nway. I got my start in both GT racing and Trans Am in a Dodge and led laps in\nmy first 24 Hours of Le Mans, so I have always had a soft spot for Dodge, SRT\nand Mopar products and people, mainly because of those opportunities given to\nme. That was the type of passion that, shared by Stevens-Miller Racing, was a\nmajor help in keeping focused on bringing a Trans Am title to Dodge again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DG: Dodge has won plenty of championships, but tell us why\nthis one is special.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: It is true, Dodge has had championships – but in\n53 years of Trans Am racing, this might be the first outright pro-level title\nwhere a HEMI-powered Dodge competed in each event scoring points to win a\nmajor Trans Am Championship. For me, that is what I set out to accomplish, and\nlooking back at drivers like Sam Posey and Dan Gurney who made similar\nattempts, I am even more proud of our team that we were able to accomplish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge
Pushing the limits at Mid Ohio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DG: Finally, on the rare occasion when you’re not racing,\nwhat do you do for fun?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MM: I enjoy racing so much I try to do more of it. I\nraced in four different series in 2019! But living in West Michigan, there are a\nlot of activities for me to do with family. Lake Michigan has beaches and water\nsports. I love spending time with my family – and I love projects either around\nthe house (DIY projects are addicting) and doing restoration projects on\nmotorcycles and cars (I have three in progress).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marc
Victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marc is already gearing up for a\nreturn to the Trans Am series TA2 championship in 2020. His excitement is contagious and you can\nfollow him on his social channels: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc Miller is no stranger to racing; he\u2019s been at it for decades. And if you\u2019ve been in the Dodge world, you\u2019ll likely recognize his name; he\u2019s been part of the Dodge Viper IMSA program and, most recently, he\u2019s taken on championship form in the Trans Am TA2 class, winning the whole shebang in 2019 in his #40 Prefix Dodge Challenger.  We got to sit down with Marc and ask some of the common questions … and some that aren\u2019t so common!  DodgeGarage: Tell us about racing as a whole; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":34163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/marcmillertransamfeature.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34161"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34210,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161\/revisions\/34210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}