HEN JOHNNY Miller ’ s dad , Jamie , traveled to races across the U . S . and beyond to tune for customers in a wide variety of doorslammer classes , young Johnny had to stay at home , studiously watching the live feeds to spot his dad in his trademark red ball cap . Johnny eventually started tagging along with Jamie , gradually increasing his schedule as he got older .

“ During high school , I was constantly out of school to go to races ,” Miller says . “ I would go to school when I was sick because I knew once racing season started , I would leave Thursdays and go to PDRA or whatever there was and go racing . Now , him and Mom both say , ‘ We probably should not have let you do that ,’ but I ’ m like , ‘ Look , I knew where I was going .’ The first time I went to the track , I was like , ‘ Oh yeah , this is what I want to do .’”

From his early days hanging out in his father ’ s chassis shop in Connecticut to his first outings at the track , Miller was exposed to high-level drag racing at an impressionable age . He picked up a lot from his dad , but others in the Pro Line Racing circle also took notice of Johnny ’ s interest in the mechanical side of the sport .

“ When [ Tim Davis ] was racing with DeWayne Mills back in the Radial vs . the World days , that ’ s when I really started going around a bunch and I was really interested in the motor side of it ,” Miller says . “ Tim took a bunch of time to teach me and pull me aside and show me things to pick up on . Tim ’ s always been that teacher to me . Tim ’ s my phone-a-friend if I ’ m at the track and have a question .”

Over the course of the last few seasons , Johnny has become his father ’ s right-hand man in the pits and at the shop . Together , they won the 2022 NHRA Pro Mod world championship with Kris Thorne , as well as numerous big races with Ken Quartuccio . Johnny works closely with Quartuccio , maintaining his ProCharged ’ 69 Camaro Pro Mod and serving as the car chief .

Quartuccio was the PDRA Pro Boost points leader earlier this season when he suffered a high-speed crash at the PDRA Northern Nationals in Michigan . The car severely damaged , but the Millers had it back on track just over a month later at the next PDRA race in Darlington , South Carolina .

“ Honestly , the big accomplishment recently was getting that car fixed in the 35 days we had ,” Miller says . “ That was a mad thrash . It came down to the last hour .”

The father-son duo attended more than 20 events together this season , crisscrossing the country to work with customers at NHRA Pro

Mod and PDRA races , as well as major radial races . It ’ s made up for lost time , as the elder Miller spent a lot of time on the road when Johnny was growing up .

“ That sucked because all my buddies ’ dads were around and my dad had to work , but now I would take that any day because now I ’ m closer to my dad than all my friends are ,” Miller says . “ They ’ re like , ‘ Oh , I can ’ t stand my dad ,’ and I ’ m out here traveling with mine every week and we never get like that . Plus , you have somebody from home with you when you ’ re gone . We were gone for 28 days straight at the beginning of the year . At least being together , that made it all better . I wouldn ’ t trade anything for it .”

Under the tutelage of industry veterans , Miller is learning as much as he can about what makes high-horsepower Pro Mods and drag radial cars tick . It ’ s all a part of his mission to one day become a tuner himself , but the 22-year-old realizes he still has a lot to learn .

“ I just don ’ t want to start [ tuning ] until I feel like I ’ ve accomplished and know every bit of a race car , inside and out ,” Miller says . “ My dad always says you can ’ t fix a car with just a laptop sometimes . You need to know every aspect of the car side before you can get to the tuning side .” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

134 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 185