The procession pulled out of EnergySolutions Arena and into the afternoon sunshine, with four vintage Shelby Cobras driven by each of Larry Miller's four sons, a Miller Motorsports Park pace car driven by his daughter and a red Falcon filled with his grandchildren.
A more fitting send-off would have been hard to imagine for Larry Miller, who was remembered Saturday in the building where he watched hundreds of Jazz games over the years, his blue casket featuring a white racing stripe down the middle.
Miller's service drew a crowd of about 2,000 to the arena he opened in 1991, including Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, LDS Church President Thomas Monson, NBA commissioner David Stern and Jazz players past and present.
Each of Miller's five children spoke as part of the 90-minute service, with his oldest son, Greg Miller, recalling the various life lessons his father taught, including the "firing order of a small-block Ford," which he choked up reciting.
"My dad lived a charmed life," Greg Miller added, mentioning the lifelong friendships he maintained with the neighborhood kids he grew up with in Capitol Hill and the 50th anniversary of the first date with his wife, Gail, he was able to celebrate.
Although he attended the University of Utah only briefly, Miller provided scholarships for hundreds and endowed gifts for nearly every local college and university. Yet he once tried to talk his son Bryan out of attending business school.
There was no use for an advanced degree, Bryan remembered, if a businessman had common sense, worked hard and knew his addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. "He proved that," Bryan said.
Before Larry Miller died Feb. 20 at 64 from diabetes-related complications, Bryan talked to him about the difficulty of living up to his legacy. "Measure yourself against yourself," Larry Miller told him. "It is enough."
From his first Toyota dealership on State Street in Murray, Miller built not only one of the nation's largest networks of car dealerships, but one of Utah's biggest business empires.
There were few mentions of the Jazz, which Miller owned for 24 years, at Saturday's service, though Roger Miller did credit his father with risking everything to buy the team and keep it in Utah and then risk everything a second time to build EnergySolutions Arena.
Monson, a self-described "Jazz fan through and through," recalled attending the arena's groundbreaking at Miller's invitation. "It's hallowed because of the man who built it," he said, "and we're all better when we remember the strength of Larry Miller."
Monson praised Miler as having a "mind like a bear trap -- he was always thinking," and shared the story of Miller helping find a location for a displaced owner of a hamburger stand. "Most of the deeds of Larry Miller are that kind," he said.
Greg Miller drew laughs in describing his father as a "nickel shooter," who reused sticky tabs and once passed up an open space in front of Siegfried's Deli downtown when the two were out for lunch.
"I'm looking for a parking meter with some time on it," Greg Miller recalled his father saying.
Greg Miller first discussed the idea of a racing-stripe casket a few weeks ago, with his father thinking it was a nice touch. His mother eventually came around -- it was better than wearing tennis shoes -- and the family had the work done at one of their body shops.
Former Jazz players in attendance included Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek and Greg Ostertag, who played 10 seasons in Utah and joked about feeling the need to pay tribute given how many times he'd been yelled at by Miller over the years.
"We played real bad one time and you could hear him coming, man," Ostertag said. "You knew he was going to come in there and rant and rave."
Deron Williams was one of 11 current Jazz players in attendance, walking through the arena's front door with his wife and daughters. The Jazz players sat side by side on their bench, with a handful also having attended Friday's viewing for Miller.
The funeral transformed EnergySolutions Arena, where Miller would sit courtside across from the opponent's bench and had his own stall in the Jazz locker room. Black curtains were draped over the upper deck seats and the usual ushers wore suits and handed out programs.
Long after the service was over, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan chatted with Malone in the team's family room. "He expected a lot," Sloan said of Miller, "and I think most of the guys that played here over the years for the most part have expected a lot out of themselves."
Miller was buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery with a 21-gun salute. Greg wore a Jazz jersey with his father's No. 19 to Saturday's game against the Sacramento Kings.
"With the funeral today, I hope that brought closure to my dad's passing," Greg Miller said, "and this can be the first step towards re-engaging in a routine and just all of us going about doing our jobs the way we should and in a way that would make Larry proud."
