Utah Jazz Owners To Close Motorsports Park

Jul 30, 2013; Kansas City, KS, USA; Chicago Fire forward Mike Magee climbs into a Grand-Am Rolex Series car during the Kansas Speedway Experience as part of the 2013 MLS All Star Game festivities at Kansas Speedway. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Departed owner of the Utah Jazz, Larry H. Miller, was a car buff. More specifically, he had a love of classic Ford-associated race cars like the GT40, Shelby-modified Fords and Cobras. Larry H. Miller loved cars and racing, so broke ground on a dream of his, west around the bend from Salt Lake City, Utah in 2004, when he was able, completing Miller Motorsports Park in 2006.

The Jazz franchise division loses money most years the team doesn’t make the playoffs, but has steadily gained value at an astronomical rate

We barely knew thee, MMS.

Less than a decade later, Gail Miller announced today that the Larry H. Miller Group, parent company of the Utah Jazz, will not renew its release on the Tooele, Utah road course raceway after it expires October 31, 2015. Within miles of the track is one of a handful of sites being considered for a northern Utah prison relocation.

After its first season in operation, MMS was named the Motorsports Facility of the Year by the Professional Motorsport World Expo, and houses the Miller car collection — quite an impressive one.

A couple of years ago, Larry’s sons moved their scattered-around-LHM-dealerships show cars to the facility, creating a motorsports museum. Miller’s boys drove cars from the collection in his funeral procession from EnergySolutions Arena to the grave site services on February 28, 2009.

The scheduled season of 2015 events will still take place.

Naturally, as they are wont to do, some Utah Jazz fans immediately posited that this could mean the Utah Jazz themselves could be on the chopping block for the right price as well. However, that’s highly unlikely. The MMS was hemorrhaging money annually, to the tune of several million dollars, after its original budget ballooned from $5 million to over $85 million.

The Jazz franchise division loses money most years the team doesn’t make the playoffs — and barely breaks even when it does see the postseason — but has steadily gained value at an astronomical rate, as opposed to the 8,000 seat raceway 40 minutes west of Salt Lake that struggled to fill seats even when series like LeMans, the Rolex Sports Car Series and AMA Superbikes were in town for races.

Miller Motorsports Park was a passion of Larry H. Miller’s that we hope will see takers in the future.

The owners of the Utah Jazz, the Larry H. Miller Group, announced they will close their motorsports park this fall

Statement Regarding Miller Motorsports Park

"(May 8, 2015) – The Larry H. Miller Group of Companies has elected not to renew its lease with Tooele County and will cease operation of Miller Motorsports Park at the end of the racing season on October 31, 2015. A full schedule of racing events, driving schools, public karting and group activities will be held this summer as planned.Gail Miller, owner of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, stated: “On behalf of my family, I would like to thank all of those who have supported the track over the years, both locally and worldwide, for their enthusiasm and use of the facility.”–Official Statement by LHM Group"

From the Miller Motorsports Park Museum website

"It is not known whether another entity will take over ownership of the track, which has been a pet project and passion for the late Larry H. Miller.This development came as a big surprise to Tooele County commissioner Shawn Milne. As of late Friday morning, he hadn’t heard anything from the Millers about their company not renewing the lease.The report is “absolutely news to me,” Milne said. “How unfortunate.”Milne said the meeting had been in the works for three months. It was supposed to be focused on “tourism expectations.”–Jody Genessy, Geoff Liesik, Deseret News"

Update: There is a Save Miller Motorsports Park page on Facebook you can Like and share thoughts on

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