Ak
Miller is a legend among racers. Which means that he doesn’t
need to embellish his exploits, for we do that for him. Ak’s
done about everything a racer wants to do. He’s raced the
dry lakes, Bonneville Salt Flats, Pike’s Peak Hill Climb and
road races in Italy and Mexico. Elected President of the
SCTA(Southern California Timing Assoc.) and Vice President
of the NHRA (National Hot Rod Assoc.) and a member of the
Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. Ak has his share and more of auto
racing honors. Yet he is more than just an award winner,
elected official or quick and speedy racer. It’s the twinkle
in his eye, entrancing smile, ready wit and charisma that
gets you off balance and makes you fair game for this lively
and charming fellow. Stories and tales surround him and grow
larger and complex with the years. This has given rise to a
colloquial expression, “that’s Ak” meaning a story
Bunyanesque or too far fetched to be true, but those who say
this are mistaken for he has never had to create a tale; he
has lived a life many of us only dream of.
Born Akton Moeller, in Denmark, eighty-one years ago, his
family immigrated to Southern California when he was just a
small child. He worked in various garages as a youth and for
Hannah Nixon, in their store in Whittier, back in the
1930’s. Ak remembers seeing Richard Nixon studying at the
old secretary desk in the store and asking Ak to bring him a
candy bar and to “help yourself as well.” RMN was already a
practiced politician! Years later, when visiting the White
House as a member of a racing contingent, Ak found himself
teased and everyone doubted that he had ever known the
President. Nixon strode in and grasped the hand of his old
friend and said, “Ak, did you bring me a candy bar?”
He followed his brothers, Lawrence and Zeke, to the dry
lakes in the 1930’s and began a love affair with racing that
lasts to this day. He was a charter member of the
Roadrunners, one of the original car clubs that absorbed the
Muroc Timing Association and formed it into the storied SCTA,
in December of 1937. Ak raced whatever was available, even
an old derelict model-T that was abandoned in the desert. He
would remove the battery after racing the old heap and was
always surprised to find it still there when he returned for
the next meet. It didn’t set any records, but it gave his
car club valuable points toward the season’s championship
trophy.
Ak had wanted to join the Army Air Corps during WWII, but
was transferred to the infantry and sent to Europe to fight
in the Battle of the Bulge. Surrounded, in freezing weather,
with no support, he was forced to fight merely to stay
alive. He came upon a German officer cooking a steak, cut
from the flank of a dying cow and so overcome by hunger, one
having food and the other without, that they shot at each
other for the food’s sake. Ak was quicker that day, winning
the steak and a prisoner. He was less fortunate when
frostbite ended his war and sent him back to England, unsure
whether they would amputate his feet.
Returning from the war, Ak rejoined the SCTA and served as
it’s President, and with his close friend and fellow
Roadrunner’s club member, Wally Parks, served as Vice
President of the newly formed NHRA. But his heart was in
Land Speed Racing and he returned to Bonneville, where over
the years, the Miller/Lufkin/Carr Team set and reset
hundreds of records. In 1953-54, Miller campaigned a
modified T-roadster in the Mexican Road Race. Quick on the
turns and curves in the mountains, the little roadster would
surrender it’s lead in the straight-aways, but still placed
8th in 1953 and 5th in 1954 against factory supported teams.
Miller left his garage in the 1960’s to work for Ford and
run in the Mobil Economy Runs. He was a terror at the Pike’s
Peak Hill Climbs, winning nine times in his class, with Ray
Brock as the crew. Still working at his garage, this legend
of a man will stop what he is doing, sit you down and regale
you with another of his amazing stories and, as I have said
before, they are all remarkably true.
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