By Tim Tuttle
DU QUOIN, Ill. (Nov. 5, 2013)—Parker Price-Miller enjoyed an outstanding season in becoming Rookie of the Year in the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series, finishing sixth in the championship. The 15-year-old from Kokomo, Ind., drove in the final 23 features, 26 of 29 overall, and had 12 top-10s led by a pair of fourths.
Price-Miller would like to conclude the year in POWRi Midgets by improving on his top result when he competes in the fourth annual Great Clips Battle at the Center presented by K & N Filters on Dec. 7, a non-points all-star style event, at the Southern Illinois Center’s one-sixth Mini Magic Mile.
“I’m still looking for my first POWRi win and any tracks we go to, we have a chance to win,” Price-Miller said. “The first goal is to make the feature and I’ve gotten enough experience that we should be able to run in the top five, top 10.”
Price-Miller started slowly, making three of the six features to open the season, and a seventh at Macon (Ill.) Speedway on June 8 began his remarkable run of consistency that took him to Rookie of the Year. His longest top-10 streak was five and he had fourths at Valley Speedway at Grain Valley, Mo., on July 27 and Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis., on Aug. 31.
“The problem at the beginning of the year was not finishing races,” Price-Miller said. “I was trying too hard and I learned not to drive over my head. I started trying just to finish races and trying to pick off top fives. I was actually pretty pleased with my season.
“My dad (and car owner, Scott Ronk) said it was a pretty big accomplishment to finish sixth in points. I really wanted top five. It’s really the hardest series. USAC has top drivers, but POWRi has drivers who run with them at the front and more depth. Becoming Rookie of the Year is pretty cool, a really good award, a pretty cool for the whole team. It was one of my goals for the season.”
Price-Miller, who drives a Esslinger-powered Spike, also wants to become National Rookie of the Year. He’s five points, 507-502, behind Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nev., with six USAC-sanctioned National and Western Midget events remaining starting at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz., on Nov. 14.
“We’re going out West to run them all,” Price-Miller said. “National Rookie of the Year is my main goal.”
Price-Miller’s second race in a midget a year ago was in the Battle at the Center. He finished second to event winner Tony Stewart in his heat and didn’t advance to the feature.
“I started on pole and led the race,” Price-Miller said. “The berm was at least three feet tall and I kept hitting it and Tony got past me. I almost passed Tony back and finished second and because I didn’t get any passing points, missed by one spot of making the feature.”