Hunter Miller has come a long way since dirt bikes and ATV’s to CanAms capable of racing Dakar and King of the Hammers. Join us for a great conversation of how a boy progresses from two wheels to four. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
4:44 – When I was two years old, we went camping on a compound where wolves were raised…
9:34– we were racing Oklahoma and the cops showed up and shut the whole thing down
21:09 – that’s one of the attractions of the Hammers, one year a trail is easier, the next year it’s terrible
27:30 – I started paying attention to Dakar in 2020 when Casey Curry went over there, but I didn’t really grasp it until this year
41:02– every time I walk, I turn the wrong direction, but I’m super confident about it! I’m confidently wrong!
48:17 – I flew home like a rockstar, my brother is having breakfast at Casey Curry’s and someone said, jokingly, “why don’t you stay and run 4400?”
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:40.690] – Big Rich Klein
Racing and ranching, that’s my next guest’s way of life. Just coming off Dakar, Hunter Miller is now on the way to the hammers. Hunter Miller, it’s really good to have you on here. I’ve actually known you a bit of time now, not racing KOH, but prior to that. But we’re going to talk about life, and I’m glad that you’re able to come on here and do that.
[00:02:03.670] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, thanks for having me. It has been a while. I remember my very first Dirt Riot race was in 2015, and it was that year that it just never, ever it raining. You were the one place still racing, so we showed up.
[00:02:19.350] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, we never let the weather stop us. I mean, that’s part of off-road racing. You’re outside. Go for it.
[00:02:26.900] – Hunter Miller
Yeah. No, I remember. I learned that there.
[00:02:29.450] – Big Rich Klein
That’s for sure. No, no fair weather racing with us. So let’s get started at the very beginning. Well, for those who don’t know, Hunter Miller is a UTV racer. Started off in ATVs. We’ll get into all that. Just got off the Dakar. He’s won king of the hammers. We’ll get into all that, but it’s really a pleasure to have you on here. So let’s get started with the first question. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:57.170] – Hunter Miller
So I was born in Dallas, pretty sure. You somewhere around there. Dallas has grown into what it is now, but somewhere around Dallas. I grew up in Rockwall until I was about second grade, which was, I don’t know, maybe 20 minutes outside of Dallas. Then my parents had purchased some property in Greenville, Texas, which is about 30 minutes further east of that. We moved out there when I was in second grade, and still live there today, actually, on the same property. We All of our family has houses on the same property. My brother’s house is maybe 500 yards from mine, and my parents is about a quarter mile away, and it’s all on the same land.
[00:03:43.270] – Big Rich Klein
All right. And your brother, you’re talking about Cody, correct?
[00:03:46.240] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, that’s correct. I’ve got another half brother that lives in Austin, and then two half sisters as well.
[00:03:53.230] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And Cody is younger than you?
[00:03:56.210] – Hunter Miller
Yep. We’re about 18 months apart or so.
[00:03:59.300] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. All right. And you’re at about, what, about 40 right now?
[00:04:04.770] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, don’t remind me. I turned 39 while we were at Dakar a couple of weeks ago.
[00:04:11.670] – Big Rich Klein
Okay, you just turned 39.
[00:04:13.090] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, I’m pushing 40, though.
[00:04:15.480] – Big Rich Klein
Well, nothing starts to really hurt consistently until you hit 58. You got time.
[00:04:23.110] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, okay. I’m solid then. I’ve got another… I got to shoot, man. I feel young again already.
[00:04:28.060] – Big Rich Klein
There you go. Okay. So growing up, let’s take it from Greenville, since that’s probably where most of your memories are at. What was it like? I mean, imagine it was if you’ve got that property ranching or something?
[00:04:44.690] – Hunter Miller
Yeah, I mean, mainly it was my dad never really wanted to live in the city. So while we were still in Rockwell, he had bought just a couple of acres out here, and we would come out on the weekends and camp and stuff. When I was two years old, we were camping out there, and my dad had this 10 acre compound where he raised wolves. Well, he was keeping one for a guy, and the guy had not told him that the thing had been abused and poked and prodded by kids and stuff through fences and all that fun stuff. And about 2: 00 in the morning one night, I snuck out of the tent and decided I wanted to go see the wolves and took a bag of potato chips to go feed them, stuck my arm in, and that one decided that he liked two-year-old arms more than potato chips. Wow. Yeah, I’ve got a big old scar on my some on some of my shoulder and under my arm pit, on my back a little bit, where it was off. But luckily, my parents heard me screaming and stuff and came and got away.
[00:05:56.820] – Hunter Miller
Now it’s just a cool scar. But So we would always go out there in camp. And yeah, when we were six years old, my dad got us some dirt bikes for Christmas, and we would just go out there on the weekends and spend pretty much the entire time riding in the field and being kids in the country, basically.
[00:06:19.190] – Big Rich Klein
So that wolf that left all those scars, that had to be a pretty good story for the girls as you’re growing up. Yeah, I went and fought wolves as a Two-year-old.
[00:06:31.980] – Hunter Miller
I mean, that’s the pickup line that I used on my wife that I have now. Perfect. There you go. Yeah, it worked great. No, hardly anybody believes me when I tell them until I explain it a little bit. READ MORE
