The motorsports world lost a giant August 25th when Robin Miller, champion of all things open wheel and especially INDYCAR, lost his battle with cancer and leukemia. He was 71, just a few months short of his October 29 birthday.
We all talk about people who are so dedicated to their love of racing that we say they, “eat, sleep, drink” it. Well, Robin Miller was that person who awoke each day to figure out what he could do to enhance open-wheel racing and its premier series.
While he loved the past of his sport – and his area of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s media center on the fourth floor of the building next to the iconic pagoda was always filled with those celebrating the history of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – he had an inner obligation to further INDYCAR, celebrate the upcoming stars and help groom new drivers for their ultimate positions of prominence.
I used to call Miller’s spot on the fourth floor “Animal House” because it was always noisy, had enough junk food – thanks for the Long’s donuts, Robin – to feed an army, and looked, at the end of each day, like it had been inhabited by yeah, animals. More fun occurred in that small area of what feels like an infinitely large room than anywhere on the hallowed grounds of IMS.
Robin Miller had been sick for a few years but made the trip to the Speedway this month for the INDYCAR/NASCAR triple header on the former Formula One road course. He received his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America during the weekend, instead of waiting until September for the official ceremonies in Michigan. HoF president George Levy must have known it was best to thwart tradition and make sure Robin got his due when he could appreciate it.
Robin Miller was born south of Indianapolis in the town of Southport. His dad took him to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1957 and he saw his first Indianapolis 500 two years later. He was hooked and became a go-fer for his favorite racing hero, Jim Hurtubise when he turned 18. He ran the pit board and performed other non-mechanical duties before being dismissed for ruining some paint on Hurtubise’s Indy car.
That was a blessing in disguise as Miller joined the Indianapolis Star shortly after that dismissal, a reporter for the city’s new pro basketball team, the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association. The folks Miller met working on stories about that team fashioned life-long friendships.
Robin Miller did drive in competition, in addition to writing and broadcasting about it. He bought a Formula Ford from Andy Granatelli and, after driving that, purchased a midget from Gary Bettenhausen, starting a 10-year run as a USAC racer. He had help from some very special friends with that endeavor, including Larry Rice, Johnny Parsons and the Bettenhausen brothers, developing into a quick enough driver to qualify fifth for the very prestigious 1980 Hut Hundred midget race on the Terre Haute Action Track. A blown motor stopped that quest for victory.
Not only did Miller fail to graduate from Ball State college (and he considered that failure an accomplishment of sorts), but his mechanical capabilities were, as he would tell anyone, laughable. Still, his decade as a racing driver gave Robin Miller quite the unique perspective on both the sport of open-wheel racing and the characters who inhabited that sport.
Writing for the Star, Miller developed friendships with some of the most historic Indy 500 racers, including four-time winners A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, with Dan Gurney, “Uncle” Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. He and Rahal Letterman Lanigan co-owner David Letterman were very tight.
In 2019, Robin Miller covered his 50th Indianapolis 500 and was celebrated with the emergence of the Robin Miller Award. He was the first recipient of that award, to be given annually to an unheralded individual who has brought unbridled passion and an unrelenting work ethic to enrich the sport. There might be other winners of this prize, but it’s doubtful any of them will live up to the legacy of Robin Miller.
As news of Miller’s passing made its way across both mainstream and social media, the tributes rang in from near and far. Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s monolithic timing pylon was rimmed in black, with a photo of Miller at its head, reading “Robin Miller 1949-2021. “Sums it up,” said the man who succeeded Miller as the Star’s motorsports writer, Curt Cavin.
“Racing has lost one of its most well-respected journalists and most beloved personalities” intoned Roger Penske, chairman of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stories – many of which are too off-color to be repeated – came to Facebook and Twitter in Miller’s honor; no doubt many more will be told into the next decade.
A lifelong bachelor, Robin Miller is survived by his devastated sister Diane, who lives in Arizona, along with his nieces Emily and Ashley. Decisions concerning interment and celebrations of Miller’s incredible life and career are yet to be determined.
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