Keen on Cobras: Jazz owner to open Motorsports Park

About half a dozen of the small-block Cobras and a few of the GT40s are raced for Miller by Bill Murray — no, not the comedian — and stored frequently at Murray's shop in Longmont, Colo.

"Going into the shop is like going into a time warp," Miller said. "All he'll work on is Cobras, GT40s and Shelby Mustangs."

Last year, four of Miller's cars raced at five locales in Europe, including LeMans, Goodwood in England and Spa, Belgium.

At the 2004 Goodwood hillclimb, as it is known, upwards of 165,000 spectators were on hand for the classic-car motoring event held at the country estate of Lord and Lady March in the south of England.

Miller traveled, rubbed shoulders with royalty and returned home with lifelong memories.

"That's where the Cobras and the GT40s had their great victories," he said. "They had some big ones at Daytona and Sebring in their day, but the big ones came in Europe in the mid-60s."

This year, Miller was asked to send a couple of cars back to Goodwood. Others have been at Watkins Glen already and are scheduled to be at Daytona in November.

Miller does not race himself these days, though he does get into the dragon snake — CSX2036 — now and then.

He also drove one of the Cobras a few years back in an exhibition at Watkins Glen, a popular road course in the Finger Lakes region of New York that plays host not only to SCCA events but also major NASCAR races.

It was 3032, a real big-block beast.

"I said to Gail after, 'I cannot believe this car,' " Miller said. "You know, they talk about cars smoking the tires uncontrollably, and you don't get traction when you're under power like that.

"I said, 'In first gear, it felt like I was on ice. In second gear, it still felt like I was on ice. In third gear, it came down to where it was probably just snow, and fourth gear it was just wet.' I mean, in fourth gear you'd be going along 30 miles an hour — you're not even in your power band, not even close — and get on it, and the tires would just break loose.

"It's just a monster. I mean, it is really fast — and a heck of a rush. . . . It's always amazing to me how skillful the drivers have to be to just handle the sheer power of the car."

Yet it is not a need for speed, or even power, that drives Miller's affection for his Cobras. Instead it is the simple satisfaction of seeing, and feeling, performance expectations being met.

"If you got in fast Cameros or Firebirds or Mustangs or Corvettes — you'd say, 'Wow, this is something,' " Miller said. "But you wouldn't be ready for what would happen in a Cobra."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com