by: Chuck Lemaster
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 | 3:00 PM
While announcing the UTV race in Florida, a new name came to the top of the screen, “Cody Miller.” Rodney Tomblin, who also announces Pro ATVMX races, said “I think I know that name!” Sure enough, it was the same Cody Miller who formerly raced the ATVMX series and is now contesting the GNCC series in Pro 4x4 and UTV. He just won his first 4x4 Pro race at the Camp Coker Bullet and followed up with a win in the UTV class to solidify his points lead there. GNCCRacing.com caught up with Cody.
GNCCRacing.com: Hi Cody! Congrats on a successful Camp Coker GNCC!
Cody Miller: I appreciate that! It’s been a learning year and we feel like we’re starting to catch on!
With a 4x4 win and a UTV win, I’d say that is a true statement!
[laughs] Yeah, my brother, Hunter, and myself have been racing for pretty much all our lives. We mainly did motocross, but we did some local cross country stuff here in Texas. We’ve hit some GNCCs here or there…maybe for a total of 3 or 4. But we are now committed to the series for this year and it’s been a lot of fun!
So it’s actually you and your brother that are doing these?
Yes! We are less than 2 years apart. He’s a little bit older than me. But, we’ve always been a team, Miller Brothers Racing. We’ve raced ATV Motocross from the time we were 9 and 10 all the way until I was 26 and he was 28. When we first got started, there wasn’t much opportunity for kids in ATV motocross, so my dad built a track at our house! We would go ride and eventually, hosted some races at our own track. It grew on us and we got faster and faster. We both won championships, went to Loretta’s and moved our way up through the ranks to ProAm and eventually Pro. I think my best finish ever for a weekend in the pro class was a 2nd place. No regrets! We had a great time and are still a team of two brothers out there making it happen!
So what brought you to GNCC?
Can-Am had picked us up for the 2008 and 2009 seasons on the ATV MX series. That’s about the same time that all the other manufacturers stopped supporting ATV MX and all the big guys started to retire. Dustin Wimmer, Pat Brown and a few others guys started to announce their retirement. I wasn’t quite ready to be done racing in 2010, so I went to New England and raced NEATV series up there for a couple years. Then for the past few years, Hunter and I have been doing the Texas series: TQRA and TORN. CanAm supported us to run those and we did very well! I won the UTV Pro class last year and Hunter came in a very close 2nd. Our lap times were so close and we always battled! But this year, Can-Am said they weren’t as interested in just the local series. The timing was right. We were hungry for competition and wanted to be back on the National Circuit. We put together a shoestring budget and said, “This is what we can do if we take our program to the GNCCs.” Can-Am agreed and so we get to come out and race the fastest racers in the country! I’m running the XC1 in UTV and Hunter is racing XC2.
Hunter has been having some tough luck, though?
Yeah, it’s crazy! We have identical machines and we both drive the same. He’s so fast but I think he got a lemon or something! Weird stuff keeps happening. His brake lines cracked and a clutch main bolt broke in Florida. He had some studs shear off when he was running 1st in the next race. If we get his machine to finish a race, I know he’s going to win and work his way up in the overall!
You are also racing the 4x4 Pro class. Is Hunter racing a second class?
No. That was something I wanted to try. I think we are going to get him set up for 2017 with a 4x4. This is a growing class and it’s the way the economy is moving. There’s not much support for sport quads, but the 4x4 is well supported by the manufacturers. I started racing them in the TORN series and showed up at a National last year and got smoked! I got passed by all the women, then the youth! But I learned a lot about parts and what it takes to build a raceworthy 4x4.
And your results are backing up that effort you’ve given to learning!
I’m still figuring it out! I got 4th in Florida and felt like, “I can ride! I’m competitive.” I made some changes and got 3rd. Then I had a couple bad races. One I was leading right up until 2 miles from the finish and a wheel fell off! I had sheared the lugs. But I knew I had the pace and that I could win. I had confidence coming into South Carolina and finally made it happen! Was a great weekend!
You parlayed that success to the UTVs, had an epic battle with Kyle Chaney and brought home the gold in that class, too!
That was definitely one of the best races of my life! Those kind of races are self-explanatory. Neither of us was faster than the other, but we were faster than everyone else! We passed back and forth so many times and neither of us could get an edge. It was a clean race…as clean as it could be! I’ve got some hanging body panels and he ended up breaking axles. I was nervous afterward because I wasn’t sure how he would react. We’re good friends off the track and we both ride for CanAm, but with a battle like that and breaking down, you never know. But he was all smiles and congratulated me! I really enjoy racing with Kyle and look forward to the next three UTV rounds!
Talk about your program for a minute. This can’t be easy getting from Texas for all the GNCC rounds!
My brother and I have been traveling all our lives it seems! The travel is what is. It’s not easy, but we’re used to it. And it takes a lot of people to get us where we’re going and able to do what we love. We have a reputation at the local tracks for being the “go-to” guys. In TORN, we are able to practice the day of the race. Guys will go out and tear up their side-by-sides and then come to Hunter and me to get going for the actual race! We travel with a full stock of spare parts, so as soon as practice is over, we are yanking out the toolboxes and working on everyone else’s car. Our sponsors recognize that and it makes them want to be a part of our program. We couldn’t be here without them, so it’s important to us to be able to give back like that!
Good point! And it doesn’t come without some work on your end, too. Do you have a 9-5 through the week?
Maybe not those exact hours, but my family does own a Decorative Art Glass Company. We do stained glass windows for churches. We do etched glass. Back painted glass is real popular right now…so I have a hand in some of that. We also own a cattle ranch and that’s my main thing. We have about 250 head of cattle and I take care of the herd, grow the hay and harvest over 2,000 bales every year. It’s work!
So you’re an actual cowboy!
On a quad! They eat less.
Last random question: When googling “Miller Brothers Racing” we came across an old Toyota commercial! Was that you and Hunter? (You can see it on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/17643286)
[laughs] Yeah! That was pretty cool. Toyota was looking for a local rider that owned one of their trucks. We stumbled across the opportunity through a track owner who recommended us. Hunter owned a 2007 Tundra at the time. Toyota came out, saw what we were about, re-wrote the script for two ATV motocrossers and spent about a week filming a 30 second spot! It aired for the Superbowl that year and we got some mileage out of it with some ATV Rider interviews and follow ups.
That’s pretty cool! Happy to have you and Hunter in the GNCC ranks. Thanks for taking time to talk to us. Who would you like to thank as we close this out?There are a lot of people behind us and I encourage everyone to check them out online. I’ll send you the hash tags.
#canamoffical
#Houser racing
#douglas wheel -Dwt racing
#maxxis tires
#elka suspension
#beard seats
#louis Powersports
#ssidecals
#evolution Powersports
#hmf exhaust
#dp brakes
#gates belts
#s3 Powersports
#tireballs east
#flyracing