Rhys Millen

Rhys Millen
Millen at NJMP, 2010
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(1972-09-06) 6 September 1972 New Zealand
Related to	Rod Millen (father) Steve Millen (uncle) Ryan Millen (brother)
Global Rallycross career
Debut season	2011
Current team	Rhys Millen Racing
Car no.	67
Starts	31
Wins	2
Podiums	2
Best finish	3rd in 2011
Finished last season	10th (2014)
Previous series
Formula D

Rhys Millen (born 6 September 1972),^[1] nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and older brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to Ken Nomura in the US D1 Grand Prix exhibition event in 2003. In 2011 Millen raced a 500 bhp AWD Hyundai Veloster in the US Rallycross championship. In the following years he competed in the Global Rallycross series.

Career

Millen became just the second champion in the short history of the United States' top drifting series, Formula D, just a year after his good friend, Samuel Hubinette, became the maiden series champ. Millen has two wins in his Formula D career: the 2004 season finale at the Irwindale Speedway, and the 2005 season opener at the Wall Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. He became the highest placed non-Japanese driver in the US round of the D1GP event in 2005, making it to the last 8 after beating Masato Kawabata, only to lose to Yasuyuki Kazama through a "One More Time" rerun. Millen's father, Rod, also competes in drifting on occasion. In fact, Rod made his Formula D debut at the 2005 season finale at Irwindale, the same event where his son was crowned the champion.

Millen has driven a Pontiac GTO drift car for three seasons (Winning in 2004 and 2005, but losing out to Hubinette in 2006) and a Pontiac Solstice for the 2007 D1 Season. For the 2009 season, he will drive a Hyundai Genesis Coupe.^[2] Red Bull has been a major sponsor of Rhys' drifting efforts, as well as the paint schemes of many of his cars.

Besides racing, Millen is also a stunt driver for films such as The Dukes of Hazzard, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He also did the driving for the first Hyundai Genesis Coupe commercial.

On 31 December 2008, he became the first person to back-flip an off-road truck in the air. He landed off-balance, forcing his vehicle to flip on its side a few times after landing, but then walked away unharmed.

In 2009, Hyundai teamed up with Millen to race the Hyundai Genesis Coupe at the Formula Drift Professional Drifting Championship, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and select Redline Time Attack Series events in 2009.^[3][4] On July of that year, Millen set a new rear wheel drive record to take Pikes Peak's time attack title.^[5][6]

In 2010, Millen, with navigator Antony Jay Hartley, partnered with Hyundai into the sport of rally.

Racing record

(key)

D1 Grand Prix

Formula D

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

AWD

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	GRC	Points
2012	Hyundai Rallycross Rhys Millen Racing	Hyundai Veloster	CHA 6	TEX 4	LA 4	NH	LVS 6	LVC 3							4th	63
2013	Rhys Millen Racing	Hyundai Veloster	BRA	MUN1	MUN2	LOU	BRI	LAN 4	ATL	CHA	LVS 10				18th	20
2014	Rhys Millen Racing	Hyundai Veloster	BAR 7	AUS 13	DC 9	NY 7	CHA 11	DAY 1	LA1 4	LA2 1	SEA 5	LV 13			10th	201
2015	Rhys Millen Racing	Hyundai Veloster	FTA	DAY1	DAY2	MCAS	DET1	DET2	DC	LA1	LA2	BAR1 DNS	BAR2 11	LV	NC	0
2016	Rhys Millen Racing	Hyundai Veloster	PHO1 8	PHO2 9	DAL 8	DAY1 6	DAY2 9	MCAS1	MCAS2	DC	AC	SEA	LA1	LA2	10th	96

Race cancelled.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhys Millen.

• IMDB entry
• Official Site
• Formula D profile
• Rhys Millen Documentary Mad Skills
• Rhys Millen Interview before attacking the Pikes Peak Hill Climb