Millen Has His Eyes on Tall, Winding Challenge

Track’s four-minute mile doesn’t often come up in conversation in auto racing circles, but that’s the analogy that is perhaps best suited to describe Rod Millen’s next assault on Pikes Peak in Colorado.

When the 75th Chevrolet Pikes Peak International Hill Climb takes place July 4, Millen, a New Zealand native and Newport Beach resident since 1979, will be trying to break the 10-minute barrier on the 12.42-mile course.

“Three years ago, that [anticipation] didn’t exist--we were so far away from it,” Millen said of the 10-minute barrier. “Now that we’ve gotten so close to it, everyone--even more so than myself--sees it as a very important milestone.”

Millen, a five-time winner through 13 races, sheared 40 seconds off the record in 1994 with a time of 10:04.06.

Millen said the record could fall under less than perfect conditions, and that he will know halfway up the ascent from 9,390 feet to the finish line at 14,110 just how close it will be. And he said this should be the year to break 10 minutes.

He said the whole package, from the B.F. Goodrich tires to the four-cylinder, 2.1-liter engine from Costa Mesa-based Toyota Racing Development, “is much better than when I set the record in 1994.”

Engineers at Rod Millen Motorsport in Huntington Beach have created “an inverted airplane” effect that forces his Toyota Celica down on Pikes Peak’s winding road, which is made up of loose dirt and gravel and has no guardrails. It will provide better grip and more speed through the corners.

The weather, too, plays an important role. At such elevations in Colorado Springs, Colo., the weather changes in minutes--varying from 90 degrees at the start to snow at the finish.

“There’s times in your motorsports career when you need to be patient,” said Millen, 46. “I’ve spent the majority of my racing career on long-distance endurance rallies. There are times when you go fast, there are times you wait for the conditions to improve so that you can go fast. Pikes Peak is one of those events. You can’t set the record when the conditions are against you, and you would be foolish to try.”

More ideal conditions exist in Millen’s other racing venture, the North America Touring Car Series. He will compete June 21 at Portland International Speedway in a support race for the PPG CART World Series, and the final two races of the 11-race series, at Vancouver and Laguna Seca.

“Our idea is that this is preparation to learn more about the series and how to design a winning Camry for 1998,” Millen said.

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Max Papis of Newport Beach came off his best PPG CART World Series finish of the year--11th place for the Arciero Wells/Toyota at the Detroit Grand Prix--and promptly left for France to squeeze in the 24 Hours of Le Mans before this weekend’s race in Portland, Ore. Along with Didier Theys and Gianpiero Moretti, he finished sixth in a Ferrari 330 SP Prototype, 40 laps behind the winner.

The Detroit race was huge for Toyota and the two local racing teams. Juan Manuel Fangio II was 10th and P.J. Jones 14th for Dan Gurney’s All American Racers of Santa Ana, driving Toyotas; and San Clemente’s Hiro Matsushita was 19th for Santa Margarita-based Arciero Wells in a Toyota.

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Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, driving the first of two off-road races he will compete in this season in the SCORE Desert Championship Series, delivered the goods June 7 with his 14th career victory in the Baja 500.

Stewart debuted a prototype Toyota T100 V8, designed by Costa Mesa-based Toyota Racing Development, for Santa Margarita-based Precision Preparation Inc., to capture the Trophy Truck division and overall four-wheel title. On the weekend after his 52nd birthday, he finished in 9 hours 48 minutes 54 seconds, averaging 45.027 mph over the 470.4-mile course. San Clemente’s Jeff Lewis took second, 30 minutes later, in a Chevrolet.

Martin Henderson may be contacted at (714) 966-5904.