Thickstun had experienced the full range of emotions the sport can offer. In 1984, he lost his 24-year-old son, Jeff, in a sprint car crash at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Leon Thickstun soldiered on. He won sprint car titles at the Paragon Speedway and in 1999 his son, Rocky, claimed the same distinction.
“I really had not talked to Leon too much,” Scott said. “I knew Rocky because we raced at Paragon quite a bit. I was there one Saturday night just spectating and Leon wanted someone to test his car out. After I did that, he asked me to come race it next week. That‘s how it went.”
Settling into his new ride, Scott had immediate success.
He brought a smile to his owner‘s face by taking the Paragon title in 2012 and ‘13. By the conclusion of the 2018 season, Scott had brought home four championships, while rival Josh Cunningham had won five Paragon track titles.
For a host of reasons, Scott believed it was time to make a change.
“Leon and Karen Thickstun kept my career moving forward when my dad decided to retire,” Scott said. “Leon, obviously, has a wealth of knowledge with sprint cars and it was an honor to keep the Thickstun name in the winner‘s circle. It was a good parting. In fact, we still talk once or twice a week.”
In 2019, Scott only raced a handful of shows spread over several owners, including Thickstun. A late-season opportunity with owner Jeff Miller proved significant.
Miller‘s grandfather, Wayne Miller, lived in Salem, Ind., but relocated to Albuquerque, N.M in 1943. He began racing in the region and by 1952 was the New Mexico Motor Racing Ass‘n champion. During an area where classic Southwest style supermodifieds held sway, Miller raced against tough customers. Casey Luna, John Capels, Al Unser and Buddy Taylor all won NMMRA titles.
Wayne Miller was badly hurt at Arizona‘s Manzanita Speedway but remained active as a car owner. One of the top guns to sit in Wayne‘s car was his son, Jerry. In 1966, Jerry Miller ended Buddy Taylor‘s streak of NMMRA titles at eight.
To pursue his racing dreams, Jerry and Sue Miller moved to Indiana. Like so many who had made the pilgrimage, Miller hoped to crack the starting field for the Indianapolis 500.
In 1979, he was on Grant King‘s driver roster at the Brickyard but did not make a qualification attempt. Later that summer he posted a credible ninth-place finish at The Milwaukee Mile.
Two years later, he was back at 16th and Georgetown Rd., but failed to qualify with Norm Hall‘s Luxury racers team.
Miller found more success racing Championship Dirt Cars around the Midwest, but he was badly hurt in a sprint car during the inaugural 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio‘s Eldora Speedway in 1981.
Jeff Miller remembers these glorious years well. Along with his brother Jerry Jr., the family towed the race car from town to town. It was heady stuff.
To no one‘s surprise both boys had the urge to race and progressed to sprint cars. In the late 1990s, Jerry Miller Jr. was seriously hurt at Bloomington but made a full recovery.
While Jeff Miller concentrated on building his concrete business, he still had racing equipment in his barn, including his father‘s old championship car. At one point, racer Gary Hayden approached Miller about purchasing a sprint car that was in storage but learned it wasn‘t for sale.
“I put this old DRC together,” Jeff Miller said. “I had it forever. I got it done in 2010 and it just sat there. Gary came by and wanted to buy it. I don‘t sell anything, but I told him he could race it.”
That was a good enough reason for Miller to get back into the game. Not long after Hayden was suspended at Lincoln Park Speedway, Jake Scott called Miller.
Scott made trial runs at Paragon and North Vernon and when things went well, it paved the way for more races together.
“Jake and I sat down in the winter during a Chili Bowl party,” Miller said, “and we put a game plan together. We decided to see just how far we could go before we ran out of money or tore everything up. I realized if he was going to drive for me, I was going to have to step up my game. He had been with Leon all those years and those were big shoes to fill.”
One thing that allowed the team to take a step forward was the assistance of Miller‘s longtime business associate, Tony Helton, who brought American Construction and Excavating on board as a sponsor.
The relationship between the Scotts and Millers goes back several decades.
“We knew Jeff and Jerry Jr.,” Scott noted. “They had raced with dad in the 1990s, but they got out and went out to Phoenix to spend time with their dad, who had got sick with cancer. It has been a great reunion getting back after all these years, and we have really been turning heads.”
Miller agreed.