He may only be 16 years old, but Gavin Miller feels he’s been playing the racing game for a lifetime.
And by his standards, he has.
Miller was six years old when he turned his first laps in a quarter midget at Keystone Speedway in Schnecksville, Pa. — located about 25 minutes from his home in Allentown.
“I’ve been racing since 2012, so you know, it’s been a bit,” Miller said, offering a sly smile.
It’s been somewhat of a fast progression through the dirt-track ranks for Miller, who has moved from quarter midgets to micro sprints to midgets over the last decade. Last year, the lanky teenager made his foray onto the national midget racing stage with Keith Kunz Motorsports — which was also the team he drove for on the micro sprint level.
Though he only made a limited number of midget starts with KKM in 2022, there was plenty for Miller to take away from the experience.
“I got in my midget halfway through the year and definitely struggled at first, but I think we’ve found our way a little bit here,” Miller said. “Competition-wise, just being mentally there is a big part of it. If you’re not mentally there, you’re not going to race good that night and I feel like I just got better that way.”
This season has brought about infinitely improved results for the No. 97 team, both from a mental aspect and in the statistics column.
According to Miller, the plan of attack involved “running every series possible with midgets.” Since May, he’s dipped into the USAC National Midget Championship, POWRi National Midget League and is also running the 35-race Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series schedule.
Along the way, Miller has hit some key milestones.
He collected his first USAC national midget win on June 9 at Bloomington Speedway during Indiana Midget Week. One month later, he found his way to POWRi victory lane at Missouri’s Lake Ozark Speedway and took home his first series trophy.
Despite the sprinkling of success, the 16-year-old is quick to admit that, by no means, has he “made it” to where he wants to be.
“If I click off more wins and, you know, start getting noticed more, I feel like that would be it,” Miller said.
But at the same time, the young talent isn’t quite sure where he wants to end up.
“I don’t really have like a career goal,” Miller said. “I mean, wherever it takes me. I’m just taking it step by step, day by day.”
Perhaps next on his list is an Xtreme Outlaw win, which he’s come tantalizingly close to several times this year. With the season flaring up again Friday night at Doe Run Raceway, the window of opportunity is wide open for Miller to earn Xtreme Outlaw win No. 1.
“To get that first win would be special to me. Beating Cannon (McIntosh) or just beating everyone else, you know, there’s a lot of good people in the field,” Miller said. “I’m just getting more experience, clicking off podiums and trying to end up with wins.”
Miller is second in the Xtreme Outlaw standings, 121 points behind McIntosh.