Miller Motorsports Park: An Awesome Racetrack for all Reasons

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The glossy brochure for Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) claims that the entire complex is 511 acres, bigger than Disneyland. My assessment? For anyone who loves cars, this is Disneyland.

My first official visit to this world class racetrack built by car dealer and Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller was jaw-dropping. First, a little perspective: I grew up about eight miles from MMP, in the small town of Tooele. The area used to be pasture land and sagebrush, home to a few four-legged beasts like cows and horses. Now the site is home to four separate race tracks, a collection of grandstands, clubhouses, and luxury suites as well as two- and four-wheel beasts, with thousands of horses—the kind generated by internal combustion engines. 

The landscape is typical Utah high desert—arid valleys surrounded by spectacular mountains. Driving to Miller Motorsports Park from Salt Lake City takes you past the Great Salt Lake, heading west towards the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats. But it’s a mere 30-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City.

I’ve written about the racetrack before and have driven past it on my way to visit family in Tooele, but this was my first trip past the gates. I was blown away.  This is no small endeavor. My first clue was the four-story administration building, followed quickly by a gigantic paddock area with two huge grandstands on the left and the Kart/Supermoto (motorcycle) track on the right. And this is just one corner of the property.

My original intention for making the trip was to drive one of the race-prepared 325 horsepower Mustang GTs that MMP houses. They have a stable of these race-ready thoroughbreds for anyone who wants to sign up for the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School. But after looking at the price of the school—$300 for the two-hour “Mustang Experience” and $1,495 for the one-day High Performance Driving School—and questioning my ability to work a stiff competition clutch given my spinal cord injury, I decided to just go walk and gawk.

To explain, while I can walk slowly, I have a lot of colonus due to my cervical spinal cord injury, which makes it difficult to work a clutch, particularly a stiff competition pedal.) Currently, Miller Motorsports Park does not have any hand controlled or automatic Mustangs, but if there’s enough demand, perhaps that could change.

On the day I visited, there was no race going on. It was “Open Track” day, where anyone can pay $100, and with some brief classroom training, take his or her own wheels out on the track. I would have done this in a heartbeat if I still had my 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse. With 265 horses and great handling, it could have been a real kick. But, no I traded it in on a Mitsubishi SUV to accommodate my outdoor lifestyle. It just didn’t feel right to take my 220 horsepower Outlander out on the track with Porsches and Corvettes, especially for $100.

But I thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the sights, sounds, and smells of the collection of citizen racers who did show up. There was a range of automotive engineering, from a race-prepared Porsche GT-3, to a factory-fresh 480 horsepower Nissan GTR, to a couple of open-wheel Formula One type cars. There were several big-bore Corvettes, a Mitsubishi Evo, even a BMW M-5 sedan that was no slouch, with 400 plus horses under the hood. There was even a guy in his Pontiac Sunfire. I didn’t see him on the track, since he was sent out with the second group, the non-race-prepared group. They split the open track into two sessions, I guess so that the 500 horsepower cars don’t run over the 200 horsepower cars.

One of the most memorable aspects of visiting a real racetrack is the sound. There is nothing like the sound of a race prepared car. This day, the distinction for loudest car had to go to the Porsche GT-3. It was ear-splitting and mean. While I hate loud cars in town or when I’m tooling down a country road on my bicycle, I love the sound of a race car on the track. It just fits. You can hear them coming before you see them. 

I clambered up into the grandstand to watch the parade of citizen racers head out onto the west track; I was totally green with envy. Several Porsches were joined by two Nissan GTRs, two Corvettes, two open-wheel Formula One type cars, and even a couple of SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) race prepared Mazda Miatas. It was an eclectic group, to say the least. Out on the track, it was interesting to see the difference in power and agility as the cars would romp through a 180-degree turn right in front of me. You would see the Corvettes hit the brakes coming into the turn, then explode out with their incredible horsepower while the mini-Mazdas would glide through without a discernible change in speed, albeit much slower. All in all, it was a real kick to watch.

But perhaps the best part of the visit was the last part. As I left the paddock area, I stopped at the Welcome Center, which houses owner Larry Miller’s collection of Ford Cobras, GT40s and Mustangs.

All I can say is, ”Bring your bib.” I think I literally drooled all over myself as I wandered through this hallowed hall of horsepower.  Words cannot describe the pristine authenticity of this tribute to Ford racing machines. The centerpiece of this museum is a yellow and black GT40, one of the cars that “won” the 1966 Le Mans in the controversial “tie” between two GT40s. Around the room is a collection of Cobras, Mustang GT 350s, Mustang GT 500s and GT40s.  I’d still be there if they provided room and board.

Miller Motorsports Park cannot be described in one article. In addition to car racing, it also hosts international motorcycle racing, including SuperBike and Supermoto events, Kart racing (including rentals for the whole family), driving schools, even an off-road “rock crawling” course; where gnarly off-road machines attempt to climb near vertical rocky terrain. It’s one of the hottest extreme sports on earth, a sport pursued by Disaboom blogger Clay Egan, a quadriplegic superman who refuses to give up on anything.

For people with disabilities, Miller Motorsports Park is at the very least an unforgettable spectator experience. With the right equipment and training, it could be a great driving experience. To date, MMP does not have any hand controlled cars in its stable, but they’ll take you for the ride of your life in a Mustang GT with a trained driver. And who knows, if there are enough phone calls from PWD, maybe they’ll add a hand-controlled Mustang to the family. NASCAR has several drivers with disabilities, and Clay Egan competes like a maniac in Rock Crawling competition. Stay tuned, because this writer still has a goal of piloting a Mustang GT around the track. To learn more about MMP, visit www.millermotorsportspark.com.