NEMA’s Jim Miller Eyes Strong Finish
Brockton, MA — Jim Miller has been around long enough to know making predictions is folly. The 25-year veteran heads into the Northeastern Midget Association traditional season-enders – Seekonk Speedway DAV Memorial Oct. 9-10 and Thompson Speedway’s World Series Oct. 15-17 – with his usual strategy.
“I race from week-to-week” he says. “I race as hard as I can with what I have and, in the end, I take what I get.” A checkered flag at either would be sensational for the three-time NEMA winner, the last coming at Oxford Plains, ME in 2001.
Miller is part of the often unsung corps that forms NEMA’s strength. At the point where “there is nothing I have to prove to myself,” the 54-year old carpenter nevertheless comes into the final two races hoping to cap off a “decent” season with a strong top-seven finish in the point standings. He finished eighth in 2009, his first season after a seven-year hiatus. That “stat” is clouded, however, because he gave up his car at the Marilyn’s Passion race to Russ Stoehr.
He’s hoping his strong fifth-place run at the Angelillo Memorial will “provide a shot in the can.” Coming from mid-pack, it was one of three top-five finishes this year including a second at Stafford Speedway. He led much of the latter race.
Miller is one of three drivers with a season-best second this year, the others being Erica Santos and Barry Kittredge. Santos, in fact, was a strong second at NEMA’s last outing at Waterford.
It is, of course, the near-misses that stick in a driver’s memory as much as the wins do. The memory of a second in the 2001 DAV when he was knocked out of the lead late in the race is still vivid and uncomfortable for Miller.
“If there’s a track I’ve always felt owes me one it’s Thompson,” Miller says. He had an epic crash on the five-eighths while still a relative newcomer in 1989. He was leading at the 2000 World Series when a “barrel valve screwed up” and he came home third. “Thompson is a true test for the Midgets,” says Miller who had a seventh there earlier this season.
The point battle – Russ Stoehr and the Dumo’s Desire team lead Randy Cabral and a Bertrand Motorsports by a scant 22 points – takes the spotlight heading into the final two races.
Every one of this year’s feature winners – Chris Leonard, Adam Cantor, Lou Cicconi, Chris deRitis and Jeff Abold in addition to Stoehr and Cabral – will be at Seekonk.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR