Last weekend, Andy Milliken competed with an old, two-link B-mod, with a solid pull bar, in the USRA modified class. The race took place during 42nd Annual Spooker Honoring John Stand at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma. Milliken finished third, proving that simpler may be better, when it comes to suspensions.
“Modified racing had become a money game instead of an ingenuity game,” said Milliken, who has raced modifieds since 1998. “The cost of technology has gotten out of hand.”
The Fort Smith, Arkansas, driver purchased a wrecked B-mod in 2019. He and his racer father, Larry Milliken, then began work on the 2012 chassis Xtreme Chassis.
The Millikens rebuilt the front clip and replaced the rear clip. They updated the suspension’s geometry to take in to account for how it operates on the track, aka the dynamic state, as many of today’s chassis do.
Milliken started racing the revitalized car in the USRA B-mod division at Tri-State Speedway in 2020.
“The first race out of the box, we were a full second faster than the second-place car in our heat race,” Milliken said. “We got DQ-ed for having roller rocker [arms]. So, we pulled them off and returned the next week. We won every heat race but one that season.”
Onlookers noted that Milliken’s B-mod often turned faster times than the premier class of modifieds.
“I knew we could go faster — all we needed was horsepower,” said Milliken. “This season, we dropped in a 302 Ford [347-cid] block with Cleveland aluminum heads.”
Unfortunately, Milliken spent much of the year chasing engine problems. He finally sorted those out by the end of the season. Last weekend, Milliken displayed the speed of his ride.
On the first night of the 42nd Annual Spooker Honoring John Stand, Milliken finished a respectable ninth among the modifieds. The second night, he took home third, behind second-place Jason Hughes and winner Jared Russell.
“The suspension handled the power with no problem,” Milliken said. “The handling was the same as it was with the B-mod engine. I can even throw more horsepower at it.”
The event proved that one could take his B-Mod-style rear suspension and compete with the four-bar cars in modifieds — at a fraction of the cost. Andy Milliken said he had roughly $10,000 invested in his car, including the modified engine and $450 for the initial purchase of the chassis.
“I’m doing this for the weekly racer who is intimidated by a four-link suspension,” said Milliken. “A two-link [suspension] has much less maintenance, but can have just as much speed and be a lot more fun to drive.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
