While recent NASCAR attention has been devoted to the ongoing Cup Series playoff battle, tributes have poured in after it was announced that former team owner Mary Louise Miller had sadly passed away.
Last weekend, it was announced that the 78-year-old had died peacefully, surrounded by her friends and family. A philanthropist who served her to make her local community in Winona Lake a better place, Miller was also the owner of Xfinity Series team ML Motorsports.
Initially founded in 1999, the team was co-owned by Miller and her daughter Stephanie Mullen. ML Motorsports started out in ARCA, before later moving into the Xfinity Series in 2006. They ceased operations in 2013.
“She truly loved to give back to her community, and, again, she was just a remarkable woman,” said Dan Hann, a close friend of Miller and her late husband, Dane Miller, via the Times-Union.
“Kind, generous, loving. I can’t say enough about her. Like so many of her closest friends, we’re devastated. It’s such a great loss.”
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Hann wasn’t the only one who has paid tribute to Miller either.
“Rest in Peace. Always rooted for them, an all Women owned team with a Woman driver, all of whom never got the career and attention they deserved,” wrote one fan on social media, referencing the ML Motorsports ownership team, alongside driver Johanna Long.
“She and her daughter did a lot with basically nothing. RIP,” wrote another. A third said: “Rest in peace, she had one of the most underrated teams out there.”
Speaking during an interview back in 2012, Miller explained why she loved motorsports so much. “It’s just a wonderful sport to be in because it’s a family sport. I just like everything about it,” said Miller.
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She added: “We are a family. We are a small group; they all do multiple jobs, and they absolutely love what they do.
“We are very, very lucky.”