A memorial party celebrating the life of SK Modified competitor Jay Miller will be held on Sunday July 12th starting at 1:00 P.M. at the residence of his dad, Hall of Fame Racer Ray Miller. Jay passed away unexpectedly on July 15, 2008. The memorial celebration  will be the one year anniversary of Jay's death.

Jay grew up around the sport of auto racing, just like his father before him. It seemed destined, as it was the family tradition, dating back more than a half-century. His grandfather was a veteran of the ARDC midget circuit in the 1950s. His father, Ray Miller is a NEAR Hall of Famer, with many victories during his career at Stafford and the old Riverside Park in Agawam. Among his accomplishments are a win in the 1981 Thompson 300 and a win during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s inaugural season at Waterford before he retired in 1986. Ray was honored in 2002 with induction into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame.

When Jay Miller got behind the wheel, he found victory lane at Riverside Park and later at Stafford in the Pro Stocks. But victory lane seemed harder to find for Miller. In fact, at times, the future of his career seemed in doubt.

A 2003 neck injury saw Miller sit out the remainder of the season before returning to Stafford in 2004. Finding himself amongst teams with larger budgets, Miller focused on the Waterford Speedbowl for the 2005 season. An eye injury in 2006 forced Miller to miss most of the 2006 season as well.

But Jay Miller was a resilient person, willing to get back behind the wheel despite these setbacks. Back in the saddle again in 2007, Miller was contending for wins. Earlier this season, one of racing’s nice guys got his first SK Modified victory.

“He was a dedicated racer. He came back from a race track injury and came back from an industrial injury on the job. He just stuck to it and his first victory in a modified came 2 or 3 weeks ago, said Pete Zanardi, a lifelong friend of Miller and Waterford Speedbowl consultant.

The Millers are a familiar family to the fans at the shoreline 1/3 mile. But his lone Speedbowl checkered flag may stand tallest among all of the races this season. “I’ve been in a lot of press boxes. It universally made everyone happy and you don’t see that a lot with the press,” said Dykes. “I can’t emphasize enough on that victory, his fist modified victory, was very, very well accepted by everybody - the fellow competitors and everything else.”

“The night he won was such a celebration,” said Zanardi. “He was gracious enough to go out and let each of us be a part of it individually. I was really impressed with that. People that knew him a long time, Jay gave each one of those recognition, even if it was just a couple of seconds. We went away able to have a little tiny piece of that victory, all the guys that knew him a long time.”

Thanks to Nick Teto of YankeeRacer.com who wrote this story in 2008.