Rod Millen grew up in New Zealand, traveling the country’s back roads to get to the beaches in search of the best surfing waves. “I came to enjoy sliding my car around those dirt roads,” Millen said in a Los Angeles Times interview, “It wasn’t long before the surfboard and roof racks came off, and the wider tires and sporty suspension went on. Since then, I have been hooked on racing.”
Starting his professional rally career in his home country of New Zealand, Rod won the New Zealand Rally Championship three years in a row, including the inaugural event in 1975. He continued his winning ways after moving to the United States, becoming a five-time SCCA National Rally champion in the 1980s, including three straight in 1987, 1988, and 1989. During this time, Rod also competed in international events with success at Rally Indonesia and Rally Malaysia.
In the 1980s, Rod also began racing the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series events, winning two events in 1988. He joined Team Toyota in 1991 and went on to win twelve main event titles and becoming the only driver in series history to capture three consecutive Grand National Sport Truck titles, 1992, 1993, 1994.
Rod had also set his sights on becoming King of the Mountain, competing in the Pikes Peak International Hill Club. He started competing at Pikes Peak in 1981. He won his first crown at Pikes Peak in 1994, setting a record for the fastest time ever recorded on the all-dirt course, a record that will never be broken, as portions of the course were paved the following year. Rod told the Los Angeles Times, “In all motorsports, that’s one event, where there are no guardrails and you race on a gravel road, where you’ve got to be very confident, and you’ve got to know the conditions.”
Rod didn’t seem to mind racing on pavement, returning to Pikes Peak to run the fastest overall time four years in a row from 1996 to 1999. Rod joined the celebration for the 100th Pikes Peak Hill Club in 2022, making the run in his 1998 King of the Mountain-winning Toyota Tacoma.
Rod’s talent as a driver also attracted the attention of Hollywood, and he was in high demand as a stunt driver. “Because of Rod’s off road and rally roots he became one of the most versatile drivers in the film business,” said Jeff Zwart of Zwart Design Group.
In the early 2000s, Rod competed in rally, hill climb, and enduro events, but he raced other disciplines off-road as well, having success in short course behind the wheel of a Pro4, and racing Baja behind the wheel of a SCORE Trophy Truck. He finished third at the SCORE Baja 2000, the marathon version of the traditional Baja 1000, doubled in length to commemorate the new millennium. Racing runs in the Millen family -- Rod would compete in Baja several times, with sons Rhys and Ryan, and Rod’s younger brother, Steve, also enjoyed a successful racing career.
Rod’s son Rhys said, “Racing was his start and his outlet of which he was very successful behind the wheel of multiple vehicles and multiple disciplines of Motorsport, but engineering was a pathway for his business to expand and grow. Building a successful brand led to Disney and military design and engineering that in return exposed him to new technologies and opportunities. To witness the peaks and falls, the rewards and near failures is to understand the man behind the wheel. His ‘press on regardless’ approach was as strong in the car as it was behind the desk.”
