History Of The Corvette

American made: Milner shining in ALMS with Team Corvette

By Jeff Nations - jnations@nvdaily.com

As Tommy Milner moved up the ranks of professional racing as a promising young driver, few were surprised at his seemingly easy success on the track.

After all, Milner has strong racing bloodlines. His father, Tom Milner, is a former driver and was chief engineer for legendary Formula Vee world champion Bill Scott and is the current owner of Winchester-based Panoz Team PTG, which competes in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Tommy Milner drives in that same series -- again, no surprise there -- but not for his father's team. And that's the startling part, really -- not so much that Milner would drive for another team, but rather the team he's driving for this season. The 25-year-old former Leesburg resident is a full-season co-driver for Team Corvette's No. 3 C6.R entry in the ALMS Grand Touring (GT) class. Not Panoz or BMW or even Porsche, companies Milner has driven for in the past -- instead, Milner has cast his lot with Chevrolet's standard-bearer in high-performance racing.

"It's been a great experience from the very first," said Milner, who moved to Florida last year. "All the other drivers and mechanics and engineers made me feel like part of the team from Day 1. They welcomed me with open arms, for sure."

Milner's performance in ALMS thus far has further endeared him with his new organization. While the No. 3 car, co-driven on a regular basis by veteran Olivier Beretta (and sometimes a third or even fourth driver, depending on the length of the race) has yet to earn an outright victory, Milner and his team have rarely finished off the podium in ALMS this season.

Even telling his German-born father about the switch was smooth going for Milner, who twice has had to race against the elder Milner's entries this season.

"My dad's company has a long history with BMW and Panoz, but he looked at it from my point of view a little bit," Milner said. "Being an American kid from the D.C. area, having an opportunity to drive for Corvette was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Opportunity is what Tom Milner has provided his son in the racing world. Tommy Milner grew up around his father's Winchester shop, and began driving race cars in his teens. Milner's first big break came while Kart racing in California, where he earned a shot to compete among 25 North American drivers in Seville, Spain, for one of six Formula BMW driving-school scholarships. He won one of those scholarships, and that same year (2004) won a GT race for Team PTG at California Speedway.

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