IMS Photo

Late to the party, and less eloquent than much of what I have read today, but please indulge me my thoughts regarding Robin Miller, Indycar’s voice in print and broadcasting. I find it ironic that during one of the best Indycar seasons in years we have lost two great voices of the sport within less than 20 days.

I knew Robin Miller for years before I met him. I may have read every story he put in the Indianapolis Star when it was a real newspaper. he covered racing, high school sports, and the pacers included. I liked his frank, forthright style. Euphemisms were for the other writers to use.

I’m not sure where Indycar would be today without Robin Miller. He helped drivers get rides in the series, he has pushed for races to get on the schedule, most recently Gateway, and his tireless touting of the series and the Indianapolis 500 have contibuted to the staus the series enjoys now.

We have lost a fierce Indycar advocate, a man who would help a struggling driver or team owner whenever and however he could, and someone who made the paddock and the media center come alive. I remember the first race for which I had media credentials at St. Pete how Miller’s charisma gave an energy to the compact crowded room. When Miller left, the stillness in the room was palpable.

I first actually met him in the IMS media center that year. I happened to be wearing one of the shirts I had purchased from one of his numerous fund raisers. We rode the elevator up to the fourth floor together.

“Nice shirt,” he said. I thanked him and introduced myself. After that he always greeted me with a smile. I felt comfortable going to him with questions which he always took time to answer. he didn’t seem to care what out let you wrote for, if you were in the media center, you were a comrade.

My best memories of Miller come from Portland. In 2018, the year the venue returned to the series, his fist comments upon entering the media center were about how little money had been spent on the place in 11 years.

The next year, I sat near him in the Portland media center as he took a call from A. J. Foyt. It was a cordial conversation about when Robin would release a story. He wouldn’t share the news with me at the time, but when it broke, I asked for a clarification and he calmly explained it to me.

Please don’t ask who will replace Robin Miller at Racer magazine. The answer is no one. Someone might take over the mailbag (I hope not), and someone might step into his reporting role. But replace? No way.