Return
to France to Honor Automotive Milestone, to Fulfill Father/Son Lifetime
Dream
Lance
Miller and Team Travel to Le Mans to Raise Awareness for Chip Miller
Charitable Foundation
CARLISLE,
PA
– In the Le Mans Museum, currently awaiting its caretaker, Lance
Miller, Partner and Co-Owner of Carlisle Events, Inc., is one of the
rarest and most historic American automotive icons anywhere in the
world. The magnificently-restored by Kevin Mackay and his team at
Corvette Repair Inc. the #3 1960 Briggs Cunningham Corvette, the first
Corvette ever to win a Le Mans Class (GT 5000) race, is ready to head
back out to the track where it claimed its famous victory five decades
ago.
Lance
Miller -- son of the late Chip Miller, co-founder of world-renowned
Carlisle Events, Inc.-- proudly is bringing his beloved father’s
lifelong dream to official realization in these early days of June.
On June 12th, the #3 1960 Cunningham will be piloted around
the Le Mans track by its only surviving original co-driver, John Fitch,
for a celebratory parade lap. The Miller Family’s Cunningham #3
– which held its winning status for over 40 years until 2001 – will
be back to France’s premier racing venue with 92-year-old Fitch at the
wheel deftly guiding the historic Corvette around the Le Mans circuit
exactly 50 years after the history-making win in 1960.
To
underscore the significance of the #3 car’s accomplishment, in 1960
the four Corvettes at Le Mans were the only cars representing the United
States at the time. Not only did the #3 Cunningham win its class
and hold the glory for 40 years, it only lost the title to another
Corvette when, in 2001, a C5R won the GT class and ironically finished 8th
overall, precisely the same as the #3 had done 41 years prior.
In
a phone interview with John Fitch prior to his departure for Europe, the
one-time P-51 Mustang pilot, engineer, and hall of fame racecar driver
underscored the significance of these milestone victories by exclaiming
Corvettes, of yesteryear and today, are true racing forces to be
reckoned with due to American innovation. Fitch firmly supports
“Yankee ingenuity all the way!”
Fitch
went on to point out that “[Lance] is a faithful son to see his
dad’s dream through” after four years of intensive logistical
planning with hundreds of involved parties including General Motors.
While the pomp and prestige of the Cunningham #3’s return to France is
extraordinary, Lance Miller, Judy Miller (Chip’s wife), John Fitch,
and Angela Morsa (President of the Chip Miller Charitable Foundation)
would concur the highest goal is to honor Chip Miller. Their aim,
through the fulfilled dream of returning to France with the Cunningham
#3 and Fitch, is to raise much-needed awareness to the Foundation and
the fight against the little-known disease called amyloidosis. It
is this not-well-understood condition which cut Chip Miller’s
remarkable life short with his passing on March 25, 2004.
Amyloidosis
occurs when excessive amounts of abnormal protein, called amyloid, build
up in one or more organs to cause a malfunction. As an abnormal
protein, amyloid originates in bone marrow. The heart, kidneys, nervous
system and gastrointestinal tract are most often affected by the
disease.
The
Chip Miller Charitable Foundation (www.chipmiller.org),
as per its mission statement, was created “…to empower people with
the knowledge and understanding of amyloidosis for early detection,
ensuring a better quality of life for those afflicted with the disease
and to help science find the cures.”
Lance
Miller is steadfastly hopeful that his team’s epic journey across the
Atlantic will exponentially build awareness to the dreaded disease that
left an irreplaceable hole in both his family’s collective life as
well as the world’s automotive community.
To
learn more about how you or your organization can make a difference,
visit www.ChipMiller.org.
Within
just days of heading to the airport to meet up with the priceless #3
Cunningham, Miller reflects on his father, mentor and best friend.
“My father was often heard saying ‘life is good!’ He not
only lived through these simple words, he taught me and many others to
live by them as well. I’m fortunate to have had him as a major
part of my life…I don’t take a second we had together for granted.
‘Dad, this trip is for you…enjoy the view!’”
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