Ross Racing Pistons Co-Founder, Jack “Moe” Mills, 68, was laid to rest Thursday, January 8, in El Segundo, California, where the company is located.
Mills died following a car accident on US 550 in New Mexico when another vehicle being pursued by a sheriff’s deputy swerved into the opposite lane, colliding head-on with Mills’ Corvette. Two women in the other vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene. Mills was airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital where he passed away four days later.
“He was devoted to the speed equipment community,” remembers his wife, Linn.
Mills is also survived by his mother, two sons and two grandchildren.
Mills, always a friendly and helpful presence at the track, at a trade show or on the tech phone line, followed his passion for speed on the ground and in the air. A longtime pilot, he was involved with the Twin Commander Flight Group . One of his sons followed in his dad’s footsteps and became a naval aviator. Mills also was involved in a Bonneville land-speed project and owned the MOB Top Fuel dragster team in the early ’90s.
“Moe was a very dear friend,” remembers Bruce Walker of “BWE Piston Rings” and a driver of the MOB dragster. “He had a very deep passion for racing and very much a hands-on guy. He was very mechanically intuitive and was always looking for ways to perfect the cylinder head and fuel delivery. There’s was nothing he didn’t work on: computer data, clutch setup, ring and pinion — he was totally mechanically capable.”
Source: Engine Labs
