Remembering Ken Miles

In the Western U.S. during the ’50s, there were a number of road-racing drivers who went on to international success in the following decade. Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, and Dan Gurney come immediately to mind. However, if a single ’50s-era dominating figure had to be chosen, it would be Ken Miles, even though today he’s largely forgotten. A number of books have been written about Phil, Carroll, and Dan, but until recently, none about Ken. So, two years ago, I set out to rectify the situation and put together a book about Miles in my scrapbook format.

Doing my type of book is like taking a trip through time. Before I started on Ken—especially because of the relationship between the Miles’ and Evans’ families—I thought I knew as much as anyone did about him. But as I got into it, I discovered a lot more. For one thing, I learned about Ken’s service with the British Army during WWII. He landed with his tank group at Normandy two days after D-Day and fought across Europe until the victory.