Geely Buying Miller Motorsports Track in Utah, May Expand Facility

Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah (about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City) has a new lease on life, Hot Rod is reporting. The racetrack will be purchased by Chinese carmaker Geely and renamed Utah Motorsports Campus. The facility could receive $50 million in upgrades to host more racing events in the future.

The track had been on the ropes after the Miller family, who took over after patriarch Larry H. Miller died in 2009, said they weren’t renewing the lease and walking away from the world-class racetrack. 

After Larry Miller opened the track in 2006, the facility hosted American Le Mans Series, World Superbike and Rolex Sports Car, although those races abandoned their events after 2011. Part of Miller’s own extensive collection of Shelby race cars, including four versions of the Ford GT40, are displayed at a museum at the track.

After Larry Miller’s death in 2009, the family expanded the track to include an off-road course that hosted Lucas Oil Off Road racing events, a zip line and other attractions, but none gained traction — or made the facility profitable.

As reported by Hot Rod, the track’s designer, Alan Wilson, who also designed Gingerman, piqued Geely’s interest in the track. Wilson was designing five tracks in China for Geely, when he mentioned that Miller in Utah would be up for sale. According to the report, Geely was among two potential buyers Tooele County Commissioners were considering for the property. Details of the sale were not made public.

It’s unclear if the Ford racing and performance school, which operates at the track, will continue under the track’s new ownership. (Polestar Performance School, anyone!?)

The losing bidder, Andrew Cartwright, told KUTV in Salt Lake City something about Chinese people coming to take our jobs. (He doesn’t sound bitter, at all.)

Instead of pumping up land for pie-in-the-sky development that’s fairly out of the way of a major metropolitan area, it appears the new owners of Utah Motorsports Park legitimately want to keep one of the nation’s best facilities running and bringing in faster cars to the track.

(Note for readers: I covered Miller Motorsports Park for years as an editor for the newspapers in Salt Lake City. I attended the performance school and raced at events there. All signs point to good news for a track that is too-often overlooked and sorely needed new ownership. I hope for good things for that track.)

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