Leonard T. Miller
Encyclopedia
Leonard T. Miller, a native a Lawrenceville
Lawrenceville
Lawrenceville is the name of several places in the United States:*Lawrenceville, former name of Alleene, Arkansas*Lawrenceville, Georgia*Lawrenceville, Illinois*Lawrenceville, Indiana*Lawrenceville, New Jersey**The Lawrenceville School*Lawrenceville, Ohio...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, graduated from Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
in 1983 with a B.A. in Business Administration. He has achieved many accomplishments in aviation and motor racing and as an author.
Upon graduating from Morehouse, Miller earned his private pilot’s license at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport is a municipal general aviation airport located in Chamblee, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta. It is operated by the local government of DeKalb County, Georgia, and is also known commonly as Peachtree-DeKalb Airport, or simply PDK. Other names include Peachtree...
in Atlanta, training in a Cessna 152
Cessna 152
The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed tricycle gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use.-Development:...
. He had conceived a passion for flying at age 14. His first flight instructor was a former member of the Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....
.
Miller took a job as a salesman with Frito Lay in Philadelphia in order to finance the required flight ratings he needed to earn to qualify as a commercial pilot at Mercer County Airport
Trenton-Mercer Airport
Trenton-Mercer Airport , formerly known as Mercer County Airport, is a public airport located in Ewing, New Jersey, four miles northwest of the central business district of Trenton, a city in Mercer County, New Jersey...
in Trenton, New Jersey. To accumulate flight hours, he piloted a single-engine plane while broadcasting live traffic reports over the Trenton-Princeton corridor from a single-engine Beechcraft for radio station WHWH
WHWH
WHWH is a radio station in Princeton, New Jersey, serving Trenton, New Jersey which is owned and operated by Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC.WHWH signed on September 7, 1963. The call letters stand for founder Herbert W...
in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
. He later was hired by Flight Group, Inc. in Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States northwest of Philadelphia and southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the...
to fly cargo at night across the eastern United States in a twin-engine Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
310-R.
In 1987 and 1988, Miller was a pilot for Alleghany Airlines and Business Express, flying a Shorts 360
Shorts 360
The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:...
to and from regional and national airports in the northeastern United States.
He was hired by United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
in 1989 as a DC-10 flight engineer. Later, as a pilot, he has flown the Boeing 737, 757, 767, and 777 throughout North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
In parallel with his flying, Leonard T. Miller is president of Miller Racing Group, Inc. (MRG), a second-generation auto racing team. His father, Leonard W. Miller
Leonard W. Miller
Leonard W. Miller is one of two black motor racing pioneers living in the United States.- Early life :Miller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in its suburbs. His lifelong love of automobiles began at age five in 1939, and he began secretly tinkering with his family’s 1937 Ford in...
, was the first black to enter a team in the Indianapolis 500, with Vanguard Racing in 1972. Beginning in the mid-1990s, MRG has primarily fielded black drivers in NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, ARCA
Automobile Racing Club of America
Automobile Racing Club of America is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. The current president of ARCA is Ron Drager. The ARCA RE/MAX Series races stock cars similar to those seen in past years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and indeed most cars...
, and Formula BMW Americas. The following companies sponsored the team during this period: General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia ...
, the wristwatch brand Wittenauer, Sunoco
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
, and Lincoln Electric
Lincoln Electric
Lincoln Electric is a company in Euclid, Ohio, United States that manufactures arc welding equipment and consumables, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting equipment and robotic welding systems. They are a worldwide leader in production of welding products and have 39 manufacturing locations, including...
. Miller’s team delivered Dr Pepper’s first corporate win on July 7, 2001 at the Coastal Plains Speedway in Jacksonville, North Carolina
Jacksonville, North Carolina
Jacksonville, North Carolina, is a city in Onslow County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the population stood at 70,145, which makes Jacksonville the 14th largest city in North Carolina...
. In 2003, he received the Quartermasters “Trailblazer Award” from the Quartermasters Drag Racing Team in Clinton, Maryland
Clinton, Maryland
Clinton is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Clinton was formerly known as Surrattsville until after the time of the American Civil War. The population of Clinton was 26,064 at the 2000 census. However, as of 2007, there is an...
for his continuous development of African American race car drivers in motorsports.
Miller and his father were the first African American team owners to win a track championship in the history of NASCAR. This was during the 2005 season in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series. Franklin Butler was their driver, piloting the Millers' Chevrolet late model stock at Old Dominion Speedway
Old Dominion Speedway
Old Dominion Speedway is a 3/8 mile NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and drag racing track in Prince William County, just south of Manassas, Virginia . The Potomac News reported in August 2006 that the track had been sold and that it would be leveled by developers in around a year...
in Manassas, Virginia
Manassas, Virginia
The City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county...
.
In 2006, Miller recruited a champion go-kart driver, Joel Jackson, from Kingston, Jamaica to compete in Formula BMW Americas on road racing circuits in the U.S. and Canada.
He has also adapted his father’s autobiography, Silent Thunder, into a screenplay. In 2007, the screenplay was the 5th place finalist out of 1700 entries from 14 countries in the American Screenwriters Association’s prestigious International contest.
In September 2001, Miller penned the vignette "Stranded: A Pilot’s Story" in the book 09/11, 8:48am: Documenting America’s Greatest Tragedy, published by Book Surge. The book was featured in London, England at a post-9/11 stage play adaptation where he and editor Ethan Casey
Ethan Casey
Ethan Casey is an American print and online journalist who has written or edited five books. He was founding editor of the online global affairs magazine BlueEar.com and is founding co-editor of PakCast , a weekly podcast about Pakistan's relations with the West...
were in attendance.
Miller has also co-authored his auto racing autobiography Racing While Black: How An African-American Stock Car Team Made Its Mark On NASCAR with ESPN: The Magazine senior editor Andrew Simon, published by Seven Stories Press, New York in February 2010.
AutoWeek
AutoWeek
AutoWeek is a fortnightly automotive enthusiast publication based in Detroit, Michigan. One of 32 titles published by Crain Communications Inc, its parent company, AutoWeek is unique as the only consumer title among its sister publications....
magazine listed Racing While Black as one of the top twelve books to read in 2010 in its January 11, 2010 issue.
Leonard T. Miller and Miller Racing Group, Inc. have been covered in The New York Times, AutoWeek, Circle Track & Racing Technology, The Hollywood Reporter, African Americans On Wheels, USA Today, Reuters news service, and other publications.