Ever since the race debut of the Datsun Fairlady roadster in the mid 1960s, Nissan and Datsun sports cars and sedans have routinely appeared in the winner's circle at America's race tracks. From the Trans-Am-winning BRE 510 of John Morton, to the IMSA champion Z's and sedans driven by Bob Sharp and Don Devendorf, its rich racing heritage has always set the brand apart from Toyota, Mazda and even Honda. That legacy would continue and reach its pinnacle during the late 1980's and early 1990s when Nissan won several championships in the International Motor Sport Association's (IMSA) GTP, GTO/GTS and GTU categories against formidable factory-backed opposition from Porsche, Jaguar, Toyota, Audi, Ford, Mazda, and Chevrolet.
One of the key forces behind Nissan's IMSA success' during that period was a New Zealander by the name of Steve Millen. Prior to joining the nascent Nissan GTO program in 1989, Steve had established himself as an all-around driver in the mold of Jimmy Clark and A.J. Foyt, capable of winning in anything with four wheels, whether it was stadium trucks, rally cars, formula racers, midget cars or sports cars. However, Steve's best and lasting achievements came behind the wheel of the Clayton Cunningham-prepared GTO/GTS 300ZX. During his seven seasons with this factory-backed Nissan team, Steve captured a GTO/GTS record 23 pole positions and 20 wins on his way to two driver championships in 1992 and '94. Among those wins were overall victories at the Daytona 24 hour ('94) and Sebring 12 hour ('93-'95) endurance events. Steve also competed successfully at Le Mans, taking both Rookie of the Year honors and the race lap record in 1990 driving the Nissan R90CK prototype, and racing his famous number 75 300ZX to a class victory and 5th overall in the 1994 race.
After retiring from motor sports in 1995 following a serious racing accident at Road Atlanta, Steve directed his competitive energies to building his successful after-market and tuning company, "Stillen Motorsports". We visited Steve recently at his expansive facility adjacent to John Wayne International Airport in Costa Mesa, California, to learn more about this Nissan racing legend and his recent Nissan project cars.
FA: Your biography (authored by Jon Addison) provides an inspiring account of your career, but it doesn't quite spell out what caused you to go racing. What makes Steve Millen tick?
SM: The competitive spirit is what got me going and what kept me going. It comes in different forms in one's life, and mine was directed towards racing. I was exposed early on to vehicles, both the mechanical as well as the driving aspects. I've been single-minded most of my life about cars. "Passionate" would be a good word for it.
FA: Many of your compatriots, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, among others, also left New Zealand to make their mark in motor racing history. Is there something in the waters down there that aspiring racers may want to know about?
SM: The roads that we were brought up on are true "driver's roads", and I believe that's what makes New Zealanders good race car drivers and gets them interested in competitive driving. Of course, New Zealanders aren't only known for motor racing. They've been very successful in all forms of sports, e.g., football, yachting, golf, etc. Although it's a small nation of only 3 million people, the people are very
competitive.
FA: You've successfully competed in practically every form of motor sports that you've put your mind to. It's the rare race driver that excels in so many different categories. What do you attribute to your success?
SM: The weather is quite varied in New Zealand, and the only way to really be racing all the time is to go rallying or off-road in the winter and to do road races in the summer. At the time in New Zealand, I was the only professional driver racing full time, driving for the works GM rally cars in winter, and the Formula Atlantic and road cars in the summer. It was a desire to race all year round, and to do that, I had to do the different disciplines. When I came to America, my interest was in single-seater and road racing, which I had done much of in Southeast Asia. But when I came here, I had no money, and because beggars can't be choosers, I had to take the best role I could at the time, and that was to race for Toyota in the Mickey Thompson off-road series. It was a good opportunity to learn about corporate America, and to get some exposure, so that I could use it as a stepping stone to get back eventually to where my heart lay, which was road racing.
FA: You basically took the path of road racing, while your brother Rod pursued rallying, off-road and hill climbs, becoming a legend at Pikes Peak. Still, it must have been quite a sibling rivalry growing up, both of you being very competitive and successful.
SM: We actually rarely competed with each other, probably not until he was with Mazda and I was racing for Toyota in the Mickey Thompson off-road series. We really came up against some competitive situations. They were fun, and we ran each other hard.
FA: There is a picture in your book showing your truck on two wheels using Rod's Mazda to keep from flipping.
SM: That was at a stadium event in San Diego. I had passed him on the inside, but was carrying a bit too much speed, and the truck went up on two wheels and I leaned up against his truck and he propped me up! The high point of the rivalry was in 1988 when the championship came down to Rod and me. I went in with a slight points lead, but then he qualified quicker than me, taking valuable points, so there was a good deal of back and forth which made it a lot of fun.
FA: Having tasted all varieties of racing, which did you find the most challenging and the most enjoyable?
SM: The purest form of racing is single seaters, because there isn't as much of a compromise in building the vehicle as with sports or saloon cars. Setting up a formula car is the ultimate challenge. In terms of enjoyable, my best memories were with Nissan's IMSA program. There are such a variation of races: Sprint races, 3 hour races, 6 hour races, 12 hour races and 24 hour races. And so many different tracks. That was a really fun time.
FA: Of the 24 hour races, you competed very successfully both at Le Mans and Daytona. Those are quite different from your usual 3 hour sprints. Any memories from those events?
SM: The three big races, Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, really stand out to me. Twice we ran at Le Mans very competitively. Daytona wasn't a race I was particularly excited about, but to win it overall was fantastic. Sebring was more of a driver's race. It was 12 hours, so it was more competitive as you ran it harder, and the track itself was more interesting. Le Mans is much more interesting than Daytona because each lap is longer; an 8 mile lap, doing 11 laps on a tank of gas. So it's always interesting, going into the night, coming out into the morning and then into the afternoon. Le Mans is fantastic.
FA: Le Mans is quite unusual in that it's laid out over public roads around towns. The fact that you were up against some of the best drivers in the world must have motivated you to be at your competitive best.
SM: The course is out in the countryside, over main arteries, so the roads aren't the smoothest in the world. I don't know what it is about the place, but it just keeps your adrenalin pumped up for the whole 24 hours. It's one of the biggest races in the world, and so it's just a thrill to go there every time. When it came to retiring, there were two things that made it difficult to make the decision. One was not returning to Le Mans, and the other being not doing the IROC series, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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