Professional Rally driver and drifter extraordinaire Rhys Millen has been racing cars for more than 12 years in the professional circuit, capturing numerous titles and world records throughout his career. Within the Millen family lays a rich racing heritage that dates back to the early '70s when his father, Rod millen, became an automotive icon, building and racing high-powered vehicles. At the same time, Rhys was no slouch himself. At the young age of 12, Rhys was a force to be reckoned with as he rose to the ranks of number three in New Zealand where he professionally raced mountain bikes. Presently, Rhys Millen has taken the helm of his fathers shop, Rod Millen Motorsport, and continues to enthrall customers and automotive enthusiast with high performance products and the high level of excellence you've come to expect with the name Millen.
2NR: At what age did you begin your illustrious racing career?RM: Well technically I began my career not racing cars, but bikes at the age of eight, eventually progressing to mountain bikes at the age of 12. I raced bikes professionally in New Zealand till I was 17 then finally made my move to the U.S. in 1990.
2NR: Do you recall the first time you jumped into a car and raced competitively?RM: I first began racing cars at 19 years of age in 1992. The fourth event since my introduction to rally racing took place at Pikes Peak Hill Climb where I won the open rally division.
2NR: Wow, that's impressive. At 19 most boys are busy cruising the malls looking for chicks. What vehicle did you use to take that checkered flag?RM: The car was my fathers old Group B all-wheel-drive Mazda RX-7 (FD3s). My three previous races, before I raced in the FD, were all local rallies in which I raced in a 2.2-liter turbo MX-6 that I built. Now this car had a locked front differential. Not by choice but makes it very interesting when you're trying to turn. It's not too bad if you're just doing straight quarter mile drag racing, but when you're trying to slide the car around, it's a handful trying to compensate for the torque steer.
2NR: After your first taste of victory, did you continue to pursue the rally racing circuit?RM: (Smiling) Well, from there I got some support from Toyota and we rallied a GT-4 all-wheel drive All-Trac Celica in 1993. We did that for a couple years, competing in U.S. rallies and Pikes Peak. Then in '95 we moved into the Supra (JZ80) with support still coming from Toyota but concentrated only on Pikes Peak for the next three years till '97. It was during that time we smashed the previous record at Pikes Peak. At the same time I took over the shop (Rod Millen Motorsports) from my father and started a full lineup for the Toyota models, progressing to the Lexus' at a later time. In 1998 I teamed up with a company called UPRD (Under Pressure Research Development), which is no longer in the industry, and raced the company's Nissan Skyline R33. In 1999, when the company dissolved, I ended up buying UPRD's EVO 6.5 project car. With the car in hand I began talks with Mitsubishi, sold them on plans for a rally program and was with them for the next two years. I was finally able to break from the long rally campaign last year and began concentrating on building a long line of street products for the EVOVIII at my shop RMR (Rhys Millen Motorsports).
2NR: You caught most people off guard when you began attending drifting events. What propelled you to get involved in the drifting scene within the past year?RM: Well one of the employees here, Eric, has an '86 Corolla (Hachiroku) and has always been an avid enthusiast of the drifting scene. He suggested one weekend we take the rally car (EVO 6.5) out to the inaugural RS*R drift event in Irwindale. At the time we were fresh off a rally event a month before so the car was just sitting there, not really dirty, but still in rally mode. So basically we decided, "Hey, what the hell, why not?" and took it out to the Irwindale track and proceeded to slide around. In the process we gained a lot of attention from fellow drivers and media publications. We at RMR were more than impressed with the amount of exposure we got from that one event.