Derek Miller

Derek is a crate sprint driver who began racing in 2011 in the thunderstock class. He moved to the crate sprints in 2017 for five races and a full sprint season in 2018. Derek is racing for Terry Martin Racing, a team owned by his uncle Terry (Tunes) Martin. Derek discovered he was a third generation driver when another uncle told him one day that his grandfather, Maynard, raced Midget cars in State Fairs in the United States. Maynard took up the sport in the early 50s, likely to cope with PTSD after  flying Lancaster Bombers for the Canadian Air Force in WW2.

Derek’s father, Martin Miller, was a renowned mechanic in the area and was well-known throughout the community for having the fastest cars and did occasionally show up at the drag strip. Sadly, Derek’s father was killed in a car accident at age 26. The death sparked a fear that Derek needed to conquer. He made music fuelled by heartache and then one day just decided to start racing with the help of his uncle Tunes. They continue to work as a team along with Melissa Miller (Squeal), Derek’s cousin, who races thunderstock class. In 2019, Derek needed to deal with the lingering fear he continued to experience in the car and was shaken up pretty bad mid-season from a very bad crash. His car was destroyed but he was able to get a new car together for the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at the end of the season. Going in to 2021, Derek will need to shake down his new car and get some seat time behind that wheel so he has a fighting chance at a win in his fourth year of racing.

He’ll have to shake off some of that lingering anxiety from his crash to make a run at a checkered flag and he’ll need to get in the shop and learn more about the car so he can set it up better. In 2019, Derek was mainly on his own and struggled every week to get his car out on the track. It was exhausting, especially with the toll of performing music all over Canada and the US while working on the car and racing. He has been using the time off during the pandemic to build an iRacing Simulator to keep himself limber and he is spending time with a crew chief who will be showing him around the car and hopefully give him an edge in the next season.

• Team Name: Terry Martin Racing
• Car Number: #38
• Vehicle Class: Crate Sprint
• Racer Age: 44