Rhys Rodney Millen (born 6 September 1972) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

-born

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. Nephew of

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rodney 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 . 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 Global Rallycross (known as Red Bull Global Rallycross for sponsorship reasons) was a rallycross series operated by businessmen Colin Dyne in conjunction with Sponsor RedBull. The series ran for seven seasons, primarily in North America, from 201 ...

series.

Career

Millen became just the second champion in the short history of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

' 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 Wall Township is a Township (New Jersey), township within Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several different highways within the heart of the Jersey Shore region, the township is a t ...

. 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 The Pontiac Solstice is a convertible sports car that was produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 2005 to 2010. Introduced at the North American International Auto Show#2004, 2004 North American International Auto Show, the Solstice roads ...

for the 2007 D1 Season. For the 2009 season, he will drive a Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

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 The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile Hillclimbing, hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. The track measures and has over 156 tur ...

and select Redline Time Attack Series events in 2009. On July of that year, Millen set a new rear wheel drive record to take Pikes Peak's time attack title.VIDEO: Climb Attack with Rhys Millen and the Hyundai Genesis Coupe
30 July 2009, Autoblog.com In 2010, Millen, with navigator Antony Jay Hartley, partnered with Hyundai into the sport of rally.

Racing record

D1 Grand Prix

Formula D

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

AWD

Supercar

Race cancelled.

References

External links

*
Official SiteRhys Millen Documentary Mad Skills Rhys Millen Interview before attacking the Pikes Peak Hill Climb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millen, Rhys 1972 births New Zealand racing drivers New Zealand rally drivers American rally drivers Drifting drivers D1 Grand Prix drivers Living people Formula D drivers People educated at Rangitoto College Global RallyCross Championship drivers New Zealand emigrants to the United States