The grudge match is on. And self-professed “professional rednecks” Blair and Sabrena Miller of Columbus, Pa., couldn’t be more excited. The driver they sponsor — along with his 4-ton monster truck — will attempt to break two records this fall, including one that landed him in the 2013 Guinness Book of World Records. 

The Millers, owners of Miller Brine & Septic Service, are much more than waste management contractors. In addition to proudly having their offbeat wedding shown on CMT’s “My Big Redneck Wedding,” the duo also are owners and promoters of the Cornfield 500 — a national race festival held every Labor Day weekend at their 148-acre farm. 

For a full-length profile on Miller Brine & Septic Service, visit www.pumper.com/editorial/2010/02/rednecks-racing.

While their idea for the race festival was born in 2000 (and has since grown by monster truck leaps and bounds), eventually the Millers formed a relationship with driver Joey Sylvester and his monster truck Bad Habit. Sylvester had bragged he wanted to beat the monster truck jump record of 202 feet, set by iconic monster truck Bigfoot in 1999. 

“The day we met Joey, he told us he wanted to break Bigfoot’s record and when I asked him, ‘You think you can do that?’ he replied, ‘I know I can do it.’ I saw in his eyes the success this kid wanted,” Miller says. 

After a few years of performing at the venue, Sylvester and Blair Miller teamed up, with the latter building the necessary jumps on his property. 

“In 2010, we started making arrangements for building jumps and getting this thing ready to go,” Miller says. But the first practice jump was a disaster. Sylvester launched his 10,000-pound monster truck 80 feet in the air, landed on the front end and did five cartwheels before it stopped, causing a ton of damage to the truck (but thankfully not to Sylvester). 

The duo worked five days a week and battled all the elements to fix the jumps and vehicle before the Cornfield 500 and the qualifying jump, in which Sylvester successfully jumped 208 feet. “It took two rednecks and an Italian kid [Sylvester] to beat Bigfoot,” Miller says. 

While that jump did break the record and qualify for inclusion into the Guinness book, paperwork issues ensued and the record didn’t make it in until the 2013 edition. In the interim, however, Bigfoot won back the record, jumping 214.8 feet in 2012. 

This year’s Cornfield 500 will have Sylvester, in his 20s and one of the youngest owner/operators in the monster truck business, and Bad Habit revisit the record, in what Miller calls a “David and Goliath” rivalry. 

This year, Sylvester will also attempt to break the land speed record for a monster truck, now set at 84.32 miles per hour. 

While the salt brine and septic business is the Millers’ main business, the motorsports venue does take up a lot of their time. “We only do the race once a year, but it takes all year to do this event,” says Miller, noting that they keep making the racetrack and the festival bigger each year. 

But it’s a passion the Millers feel intensely. “The idea of having all this stuff going on,” says Miller, “is what I love about my life.” 

Another Kind of ‘Monster’ Truck

Monster trucks aren’t the only big rigs Blair and Sabrena Miller are interested in. While they host monster trucks and other racing vehicles at their annual Cornfield 500 national race festival (held every Labor Day weekend at the racetrack on their 148-acre property in Columbus, Pa.), the couple recently purchased a new truck for their septic and salt brine service. 

The Millers spent close to $280,000 on a 2012 Peterbilt model 389 (from Hunter Peterbilt in Erie, Pa.) with a 4,200-gallon Pik Rite stainless steel tank (made in nearby Lewisburg, Pa.). “I like to keep things as local as I can,” says Blair Miller. Pik Rite rolled and welded the steel on the tank, which has a vibrator on the end, which can shake out debris. 

The truck also includes a vacuum pump made by Fruitland Manufacturing of Ontario, Canada; Miller had that brand on his last truck. “I liked the way it performed,” he says. 

The truck runs with a 600 hp Cummins engine and 18-speed O.D. Fuller transmission. 

“This is a state-of-the-art truck, built just for me,” boasts Miller. 

The truck is now the only one Miller uses. He sold his old truck for $25,000, and needed $35,000 for the down payment on the new one, so he used $10,000 of his own money. 

The Peterbilt is well suited to the variety of jobs Miller undertakes, including working with several oil/gas companies hauling fluids, hauling waste to treatment plants, salt brining for dust control, and pumping septic tanks, car wash pits and portable restrooms. 

Miller is the third generation in the septic business; his grandfather started the business. And even though he has “all this stuff going on” with the racetrack, he says he’d never abandon his “day job.” 

“I can’t really give that up,” he says. “I like to keep busy. There’s nothing better than putting in a hard working day.”