Consider Savage, Minn., a quaint, second-tier suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Nestled along the Minnesota River, its claim to fame is a race horse named Dan Patch, a record-setting turn of the 20th Century harness racing legend.
Not many know Savage is also home to the big horsepower of JDC-Miller Motorsports. It’s a smaller IMSA team that has challenged the big guns. They race with savage passion. Want proof?
The team won overall and in DPi at the 2021 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, no easy task. They led last year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona for six hours, just cruising along, saving fuel before getting clobbered, ending another potential winning effort.
Team founder John Church got hooked on racing as a teen.
“My dad rented a car (Formula Ford) from John Miller back in 1984 to do a (SCCA) driver’s school. And, of course, myself and my younger brother went along,” Church recalled. “It was all it took for us. My dad was just doing a handful of SCCA races every year. Of course, my brother and I knew what we needed to do. We needed a faster car, all the usual stuff. Kids don’t understand finances and all that and we were giving dad all kinds of advice and blah, blah blah. Little did we know that dad was just having fun.”
Church started racing early and continued with the sport despite his parents’ advice.
“I was doing the U.S. F2000 series. I was ready to take on the world of racing, but my parents were the smart ones and told me, ‘You’re going to college,’” Church said. “I got my degree and went out to some job interviews. It was clear to me that no way was I going to have any kind of fun with a new job. I had some job offers but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew I wasn’t going to be a good employee because that wasn’t what I really wanted to do.”
JDC-Miller Motorsports (Jason Reasin photo)
He parlayed his driving experience and education into a business supporting professional Formula Ford 2000 teams and drivers with at-track technical services, while leasing cars to other drivers.
“I got onto a program that rented (SCCA) Spec Racers,” Church noted. “I did that for a while, then drove a motorcoach for Team KOOL Green (an Indy car team) and the Brown and Williamson Tobacco deal and that became a seven-year program.”
Working up the ladder, he managed a $1.5 million endeavor.
“After that was done, we decided to move back to Minneapolis,” Church said. “I still had an F2000 car that I was renting out and driving a bit myself. Then I decided to buy another car and start a business.”
Church is no bowed-up chest pounder. He is modestly soft spoken and lets his team and drivers do the talking. He has given up-and-coming drivers a place to show their stuff. He won the Star Mazda Championship in 2007, ’09 and ’11 with Dane Cameron, Adam Christodoulou and Tristan Vautier. In 2009, JDC MotorSports claimed the F2000 Championship title with Chris Miller.
It didn’t end there.
“I started in the Road to Indy series with the U.S. F2000 cars and Star Mazda, which became Pro Mazda. It’s like any other business, your customers dictate where you go with it,” Church explained. “I got interested in other classes and other series, and as they grow you grow with them. The next thing you know you’re running a PC (IMSA Prototype Challenge) car in the WeatherTech series and then to (LM)P2 and then DPi. I’ll just keep going with it. I’m not sure where it will end.”
John Church (JDC-Miller photo)
Church’s business grew steadily — and successfully.
In 2011, JDC MotorSports added a Prototype Lites program with Gerry Kraut in the IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship and won the driver and team championships in 2014 and ’15 with Misha Goikhberg and Kenton Koch. Additionally, the team expanded its racing operation into IMSA’s SportsCar Championship in 2014.
JDC Motorsports has an impressive record. The savage little team from Minnesota has propelled its drivers to 18 championships, including 10 in the Pro Mazda series and seven in the IMSA Lites series.
The team is also a two-time Jim Trueman Award winner, a coveted award honoring top sportsman or “gentleman” competitors.
Topping it off, the team has Rolex watches from the 24 Hours of Daytona in LMP2 and overall DPi victories in the six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
It’s remarkable that a small team from an obscure Minnesota river town consistently punches above its weight.
Ben Keating joined Church’s team for February’s Rolex 24. Keating had been successful there in the past, winning in a Viper with Bill Riley in 2015. He has quite a bit to say about his new team.
“This is my 12th Daytona (24 Hour). On eight or nine of them, I have been a driver in two different cars. A couple years ago, I decided to switch over into prototypes and I found I really, really enjoy racing prototypes. I did a full season in the LMP2 class in IMSA last year and won the championship.
“So, who doesn’t want to race in the top class at the 24 Hours of Daytona and compete for an overall win? That’s like a dream come true. I have been snooping around for an opportunity in DPi and most of the manufacturers already had their cars filled with really good pros and they did not want me (a Bronze driver) in a car.
“I give kudos to John Church because he was willing to go to Cadillac and say: ‘Hey this guy just won the LMP2 championship. Clearly, he’s very good in a prototype. Clearly he’s very good at Daytona.’ I have driven years and years at Daytona without incident. Winning the LMP2 championship proves I’m not an idiot behind the wheel in a prototype.”
With Keating sharing the wheel with Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Loic Duval, the team led many laps and finished third in DPi and third overall in the 60th Rolex 24 At Daytona
This year, Church and JDC-Miller Motorsports hit the road with renewed optimism despite it being their final year with Cadillac.
“We love the program,” Church said. “But the people at GM and Cadillac are committed to a slightly different direction. I understand it and our goal for 2022 is to have modest success and get another factory program in LMDh.”
It’s no surprise Church is working on deals for the future.
Like Savage’s iconic horse Dan Patch, the JDC stable will be at full trot.
“We’ll be running the Michelin Pilot Challenge with an Audi in the TCR class and we’ll be running in the IMSA Prototype Challenge in the LMP3 cars,” Church said. “We’ll run four cars, eventually. We’re busy and we’ll take four trucks to the tracks this year — lots of diesel.”
Keyword: Fast Horses & Faster Cars