Drag Illustrated Issue 180, January / February 2023 | Page 112

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JAMIE MILLER

2022 was a career year for Jamie Miller , even by his own high standards . The renowned tuner capped off his 12th season at Pro Line Racing with an NHRA Pro Mod world championship alongside driver Kris Thorne .
“ That is the biggest thing I ’ ve done in my whole career ,” says Miller . “ It ’ s giving me goosebumps just talking about it . For family members who don ’ t quite understand what I do for a living , I relate it to winning the Super Bowl . And I have to thank [ Pro Line tuner ] Steve Petty . If it wasn ’ t for him giving me a shot and teaching me , I would never be in this position .”
Miller and the team started the season strong , winning the Gatornationals . They followed it up with a victory at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte . The team finished the season with four national event wins , including the season finale at the Texas Motorplex .
“ The momentum – I feel like those two races re- ally set it in motion ,” Miller says . “ We had almost zero failures . It ’ s very rare that you see things just fall into place and go as smooth as they did . We started the season with a win , we ended the season with a win , and we won a championship in between .”
Outside of NHRA , Miller was just as successful in the no-prep and radial worlds . Running the laptop for veteran driver Manny Buginga , Miller and company won all four Street Outlaws : No Prep Kings events they entered – three in the Futures class , and one in Outlaw Big Tire .
Miller then turned his attention to Buginga ’ s Pro 275 and X275 Mustangs , where they doubled up and won both classes at No Mercy 13 at South Georgia Motorsports Park .
“ That was a really cool deal for all of us ,” Miller says . “ I gotta give a lot of credit to Manny , because you ’ re talking a turbo combination compared to a blower combination . To go and jump from one car to the next , he never missed a beat .”
Miller got another historic win tuning Buginga ’ s Pro 275 car at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in Bradenton , Florida , when former NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown piloted the Mustang for the first time .
“ It ’ s like a story book weekend ,” says Miller . “ The guy comes out , he ’ s never even sat in the car , and he goes and wins the race . The fan base that got to see Antron in this kind of setting is great for the sport .”
Not satisfied with dominating all over the United States , Miller also remotely tuned for Isaias Rojas and Team Mech-Tech in Puerto Rico , winning every event in their Pro Mod vs . Big Block class , and capturing the season championship .
With all of Miller ’ s success professionally in 2022 , he is equally proud of a very personal accomplishment – getting to spend the season with his son , and co-crew chief , John .
“ It ’ s hard to even explain it ,” says Miller . “ To get to share our first NHRA win is such an incredible experience . The career side of this , where you ’ re traveling all the time , becomes monotonous . To have somebody there with you that is family , it definitely makes it a little easier .” – CRAIG COOK DI
PHOTO : TARA BOWKER
NOMINEES : TODD TUTTEROW / DAVID GRUBNIC / MARK INGERSOLL / STEVE PETTY / BRANDON SWITZER
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