The 17th annual 2012 Millers At Milwaukee Meet was held last weekend at the storied Milwaukee Mile race track with well over fifty cars attending. The weather was excellent and from all reports, everyone enjoyed the event. This year the centennial of the 1912 Vanderbilt Cup and Grand Prize races that were held in Milwaukee, were also celebrated and cars from that era also participated. The the Milwaukee Mile first opened in 1904 and is the oldest operating auto racing track in the country.
Above left to right are Bill Evan’s 1909 Blitzen Benz and 1913 Issota Fraschini, along with a 1912 National. Behind it left to right are a Cutting, a Stoddard-Dayton and an Oldsmobile.
On the left (above) is the supercharged 122 c.i. Miller Jr. Eight Special with the car shown in the middle. To the right are a two of the four Miller carburetors on a V-16 Miller.
On the Left (above) is the OHC Issota Franschini engine, In the center are 1960 Bowes Seal Fast Special on the left along with Bill Akin’s 1953 Kurtis-Kraft Bardahl Special. On the right, the supercharged engine of a 1926 Bugatti 37A is shown.
You should plan now to take in this meet next year as it is low key and enjoyable, you can also get up close to all the cars and meet and talk the owners. There are alternating track sessions, the fast ones are for the quickest cars and and in the slower sessions, anyone can go out and take a passenger. There is plenty of track time and many people with two-man cars are usually more than willing to give you a ride around the historic oval.
You can learn more and see many photos at The Miller/Offenhauser Historical Society. Photos courtesy of Lee Stohr.
Last count of cars was 62 but only 1 Mercer,Herb Ledder’s.