By Jane Smith
Butch Miller is a race car driver from Coopersville, Michigan born June 5, 1952. Butch has spent many years behind the wheel of one form of a race car or another. He has run in the Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series, a few NASCAR races and dominated in the old ASA Series.
Drivers feared him, fans loved him.
Recently Butch was interview by Jack Smith and Terry Wall on the Real Racin USA (www.realracinusa.com) show airing every Wednesday, the “O’Reilly ASA Fastlane”.
When asked how Butch feels about racing officials, Butch replied “racing should be a dictatorship. You must play by the rules although I have pushed the limit on the gray areas but I do believe a racer needs to go by the rules and cut it as close as you can cut it.”
When Brian Robbins began the ASA way back, Butch didn’t even know what the ASA was. But once he got into it, he loved it and would love to race again although he is busy now working with Sean Murphy of the new ASA Late Model Series.
When asked how the old ASA Series compares to the new ASA Series, Butch replied “the old ASA to the new ASA has been a very good move. The old series was very expensive to run but the new series isn’t so bad and definitely going in the right direction. I want to be part of it whether it is a Crew Chief or a driver.”
“In the new ASA Series, you better be right in tech although if a car is just slightly off on the body template, they don’t throw you right out but give you time to get it closer. It is more like Saturday night racing than NASCAR“, Miller ssid.
In 1985, Miller began running in the Busch Series. In 1986 he went to Victory Lane at Indianapolis Raceway Park. 1991 saw Butch run his first full season in Busch winning at Hickory Motor Speedway and finishing 16th in points. Butch was one of the original Craftsman Truck drivers when that series began in 1995 winning at Colorado National Speedway and finishing 4th in points.
In 1989, Butch almost had the pole for the then Winston Cup race at Richmond getting beat out by Bill Elliot but starting on the outside pole. “My fondest memory is of the first ever Craftsman Truck race where I was leading with four laps to go and had a flat tire. I could have been in the history books as the first ever Craftsman Truck driver winner but it just didn’t happen.”
Reminiscing a little Butch said, “I am a little jealous of all the new drivers especially at such a young age. Back when I first started going to races, you had to be 18 to even get in the pits and no women were allowed. Times have definitely changed where racers are younger and younger and we have women in the pits which I think is a good thing.”
When asked if Butch thought young kids racing was good or bad, he replied “If they are doing it because they love it, that is good. But a good number of kids do it for their parents and it is not what they want. You have to have desire to win not just talent in this field.”
“Working with Sean Murphy has been very good. He has the desire to win and also the talent. Sean is a natural. When he has a car that just doesn’t work the way it should, Sean will change his style of driving to make the car work and he does usually make it work.”
One important point to Butch Miller is how someone races. “If you can’t pass fair and square, you shouldn’t win.”
When asked if he liked the direction NASCAR is going, Butch agreed with a lot of other fans these days. “What I don’t like is the fines you get in NASCAR for saying what you feel. You say the wrong thing and you are fined. You act the wrong way, you are fined. The fans like the old Saturday night action but NASCAR definitely doesn’t.”
“I do however like the new Cars of Tomorrow that NASCAR has come out with. They look more like street cars and I think they are going in the right direction with the new car. What I don’t like is the fact that in NASCAR it is okay to wreck someone to pass and to me that is not racing nor winning a race from better pit stops.”
You can hear more of the interview with Butch Miller on the “O’Reilly ASA Fastlane” on www.realracin usa.
Join Terry Wall and Jack Smith as they pick Butch’s mind and memories.
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