As Kenny Miller begins his professional career as an engineer for an automation company, he’ll have to strike a balance between work and play. Fortunately, he still has time to win. He scored a victory last Friday in the USAC East Coast Sprint Cars at Georgetown Speedway in Delaware.
“My job requires traveling on the weekends because customers are businesses thatare not running production on Saturdays or Sundays,” Miller, 22, of Morgantown, Pennsylvania, said. “Part of being successful in racing is getting as much seat time as possible. It is tough not to race for a month or two and then win. That’s why I’m big into micros.”
Action Track USA doesn’t typically race on the weekends, but instead on Wednesdays. That’s perfect for Miller, who will compete at the Kutztown, Pennsylvania, track in 600 sprints.
Although it cuts in on the amount he races, Miller does find he can apply what he does for a living to racing. He works as a control engineer at Multi-Dimensional Integration in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“I’ve learned how important it is to stay hands-on, whether it’s working on robotics in the field or in the field working on my race car,” said Miller. “We have check sheets to break down weekly maintenance on the car. We take notes and keep track of everything—every racetrack, every setting—for use later this season or for races years down the road.”
While in college, Miller sat behind the wheel of a race car for 60 race dates. He anticipates his 2023 schedule will be about half that.
Kenny Miller competed at Georgetown Speedway only because he got off for a company holiday, Good Friday. His next time in the USAC sprint car may be two and a half months away.
“My job will take priority on the weekends,” Miller said. “So 600 racing on weeknights at local tracks is where you’ll see me.”
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.
