James,
I am a bit jealous of your experience. Karol lives less than 100 miles
south of Redding. His daughter gave me his address and phone number a
while back, but I haven't found the time to go by and see him. This just
may prod me to do so.
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/CC
James Tone wrote:
> For all you guys, Friday morning I met one of my first true heroes of motor
> sports. I picked up Karol Miller at his daughters home in Huntington Beach and
> took him over to "Jacks Garage" where 15 gearheads were waiting to meet him.
> (I'm just lucky our grandsons play on the same little league team) He is true
> gentleman in my best words. He was a little taken back over all the attention
> as he felt no one remembered what he did in the mid fifties at Bonneville with
> his Red and White 56 Ford Victoria. ( Ford guys have never forgot) He's been
> asked many times if he still has it, it's long gone, but he has 4 more 56's to
> take its place. We learned he was the national champion in '59 with his gas
> dragster along with Singer. He always wears the ring. Jack brought out a
> copy of the Bakersfield March meet results with him in it. Obviously he went
> home with a copy. After a few hours we left with a smile on his face and he
> will be back when he comes to visit his daughter. When I dropped him off, he
> gave me 3 pictures of his '56 and a copy of a Daytona Beach Century Club
> Certificate for going 155.844 in the Daytona Flying Mile in 1958. He did it in
> the '56 with a 272 ci y-block and a Latham Blower. It's something I'll
> treasure for the rest of my life. You might wonder why I feel this way, when
> Karol was speeding on the salt; I was in the 7th grade, my parents drove a
> black 56 Ford Victoria, I reading about Karol and seeing pictures of his car
> in Isky ads. What's a kid to dream about? A 150 mph Ford Victoria with a
> Y-Block. It's a small world and ain't it grand. I hope you all can have great
> days too and share them with us. J.D.
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