Carlisle Events and its staff have won numerous awards since its inception in 1974.  Founded by Bill Miller and the late Elliot “Chip” Miller, the events at the Carlisle PA Fairgrounds entertain over a half a million guests annually, plus draw over ten thousand classic and collector cars to America’s Automotive Hometown each season.  None of this would have been possible without the passionate efforts of two men who shared more than just the same last name.  Their efforts and decades of work/contributions within the collector car hobby have earned them a VERY special honor – being named 2019 Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum Automotive Heritage Award recipients.  The ceremony takes place at the AACA Museum’s “Night at the Museum” gala and silent charity auction on October 9 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

There’s a bit of irony surrounding this award for Bill and Chip, as the October 9, Hershey based ceremony is also home to where it all started for the Miller’s (not related) more than 45 years ago.  It was 1973 and Chip was selling a ‘50s era Corvette at the AACA’s big event in Chocolate town.  What the young men didn’t realize at the time, was that while the Corvette in question seemed “old” to them, it did not classify as a classic car.  As such, they were asked to remove the car from the grounds. 

“We decided we needed a place for guys like us who liked the kinds of cars that we did,” said Bill Miller.  With a rented fairground and some loan money, Bill and Chip set out to make history, and they most certainly did.  Over the years, their efforts have resulted in billions of local economic impact dollars, countless jobs, thousands of dollars in charitable monies, dozens of cars given away, proposals, marriages, babies, generations of guests and a mecca for car lovers from around the world to converge and “talk shop” for a weekend.

After many years of hard work, the duo receives this amazing honor, albeit posthumously for Chip.  The Automotive Heritage Award is designed to honor and provide public recognition for an individual(s) who made an exceptional contribution to the hobby by preserving antique automobiles and motorsports vehicles, exhibiting their vehicles, promoting the hobby, engaging in sustained, noteworthy activities that have positively impacted the hobby and using his/her position in the hobby for philanthropy and service to others.  This is the third annual offering of the award.  Past award recipients include race car driver Bobby Rahal and Gale Halderman, the man who sketched the first Ford Mustang. 

This recognition is the latest in a line of honors for Bill and Chip since the inception of Carlisle Events.  Past honors include the Meguiars Award, Central Penn Business Journal Persons of the Year (with Lance Miller), the Others Award from the Salvation Army and many more local and regional honors.  In addition, Chip was posthumously inducted into the National Corvette Hall of fame in 2013.

Lance Miller, Chip’s son, will accept on his behalf, while Bill Miller will join Lance on the stage for this amazing recognition.  Complete event information is available at www.aacamuseum.org/events or by calling the AACA direct at 717-566-7100.