Catching up with ... Steve Millen

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Steve Millen’s life could serve as an embodiment of

the American dream, coming over from a small country, making it big in

professional auto racing and now employing some 130 individuals at his

company, Stillen.

Now, the Newport Beach resident, one of the most diverse drivers of

all time who retired from racing in January 1996, has an autobiography on

the book market, titled “Millen.”

Millen, 48, returned recently from a promotional tour from his native

New Zealand, where the book has sold out. It has been available online

since Christmas.

The auto parts and specialty company, which Millen started 10 years

before retiring from auto racing, is traded under the brand name,

Stillen, and is covered in the second-to-last chapter of the book.

“The book is kind of geared for the different (auto racing)

enthusiasts, really,” said Millen, whose career included a wide variety

of racing disciplines, beginning with go-karts at age 8, then progressing

through the ranks of open-wheel and saloon car competition in the Far

East.

Millen journeyed to the U.S. in 1982 and immediately began to showcase

his driving skills and considerable versatility, whether it was trucks or

cars, on-track or off-road.

“Going from one success to another, it seemed that Steve Millen was

capable of driving anything on wheels, and doing it with true grit, as we

say in America, meaning with intensity and courage,” Road & Track

magazine editor Thos Bryant wrote in the book’s foreword.

Two major racing accidents ended Millen’s career, but from 1972, when

he began his international career, to 1995, he enjoyed one of the

greatest racing careers ever.

A racing legend in New Zealand, where more copies of his book are

being shipped, Millen became the winningest driver in International Motor

Sports Association GT Series history in 1995 with 20 career victories.

Millen, who won Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group Grand National

Sport Truck Championships in 1986 and ’88 at Anaheim Stadium, captured

the 12 Hours of Sebring three straight years prior to his career-ending

crash in April ‘95, when a pileup forced his Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo into

a bank at 170 mph at the Atlanta 500, fracturing his skull and breaking

his second vertebra.

In 1994, Millen returned from a serious accident to win the IMSA GT

Series, perhaps his greatest career highlight, because he strongly

considered retirement prior to getting back “in the cage.”

Millen fractured his skull in a horrendous 1993 crash, forcing him to

wear a medical halo, which was bolted onto his head, for three months.

“I was lucky to have raced so many different types of motor sports,”

said Millen, a member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from racing, Millen has devoted more time and energy to

his company, which had nine staff members in 1991, five years after

opening its doors. The facility near John Wayne Airport occupied

8,000-square feet at that time.

Five years later, Stillen had grown to 80 employees in a facility

requiring 43,000-square feet. By 1998, Stillen was up to 120 employees,

spread over 86,500-square feet.

“It is (going well) and it’s fun to be doing it,” Millen said. “It’s

almost like coming to work and doing a hobby. We have a lot of fun and

there are a lot of great people and talented people.”

The Stillen metalwork fabrication shop, design studio,

state-of-the-art injection molding facility and high-quality parts are

among the company’s bread-and-butter features. Millen and his longtime

business partner, Dave Schollum, design a majority of the company’s body

enhancements, which attracts customers worldwide.

“We have lots of stuff we’re working with, and the business is

growing,” Millen said.

“Millen” the book is available online at stillen.com and amazon.com,

or in person at Steve Millen Sportparts Inc., in Costa Mesa.