October - California Central Coast - Porsche Club of America

California Central Coast Porsche Club Of America October 2009
CCCR MEMBER PROFILE
Jon Milledge, long a member of the San
Francisco Bay area Porsche scene, located with
wife Vicki to the Central Coast in 2007. The
Porsche world at CCCR and in our area has been
the better for it. Jon has brought over 35 years
of SCCA and professional racing experience with
him. As a member of the CCCR/PCA Board, Jon
is in charge of the club’s Driving Events. Jon is
also an automotive engineer. His engine forte
is taking stock engines and getting more out of
them. This Porsche Profile is his story; Wife
Vicki and daughter Michelle are Porsche people
in their own right. A subsequent story will feature
Vicki’s racing and driving experience.
Jon grew up in Iowa and in his late teens was
usually seen driving any car he could get his
hands on. He attended Iowa State University
and majored in mechanical engineering. Out of
college, he joined the Air Force in 1959 and was
sent off to one of the first computer programming
schools. After his Air Force stint, Jon worked for
General Dynamics in San Diego as a systems
programmer/systems engineer. But the defense
business was very on-again and off-again at
General Dynamics when they lost their bid for the
Mercury booster.in the mid-sixties, After leaving
General Dynamics, he found a job with Lockheed
in Mountain View, California.
Jon had always wanted to race (his jobs at
General Dynamics and Lockheed were a means
to an end).. In 1965, while in San Diego, Jon
drove a borrowed Austin-Healy in his first SCCA
race and subsequently won every race the
Healy finished. Jon cashed in some World War
II saving bonds he had inherited and bought
a Lotus Super-7. He was now really off to the
races. After many initial failures of the Lotus
and subsequent re-engineering, Jon drove his
Lotus to a C Production Championship for the
San Francisco region of the SCCA in 1965 and
became Northern Pacific Divisional Champion
in 1966. In the fall of 1967, Jon purchased a
Jon Milledge
Jon’s Race Car
Brabham BT21C from Frank Williams (now of
Williams F1), the only dealer for Brabham cars
outside the factory in England. Jon won many
low level professional races with this car including
the Portland Rose Cup in 1968, out-distancing
many European Formula 3 drivers. Without any
serious sponsorship, Jon learned to do his own
race preparation on his and other cars. In 1970 -
1971, Jon moved up to a McLaren M10A F5000
car, outspending his income. From 1971-1975,
he won many formula car races with SCCA in
cars owned by Archie Snyder, a contractor in
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