TOPEKA, Kan. (May 17, 2012) – Not happy with his teams recent performance, Terry McMillen, driver and team owner of the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel Dragster decided it was time to make some changes on his team.

“It was time to shake things up,” McMillen said. “We’re looking for the right combination of people to make our program better. We do a pretty good job of marketing for our sponsors; they deserve an on track performance that matches.”

McMillen knows the short term results may be not offer an immediate return, but he believes the long term investment will pay dividends. “We’re investing in more full-time people that we ever have before,” McMillen added. “Our shop in Elkhart and Richard’s (crew chief, Hartman) shop in South Carolina will concentrate more on servicing our car and bringing it to the track more prepared than ever before. I really believe that’s the big difference between our team and the teams that are more consistent.”

“We’ve got 10 races left to make our move and get solidly into the Top 10,” McMillen said. “We’re not going to wait until the last minute to make changes and wish we had done something sooner.”
Qualifying for this weekend’s Dollar General Summernationals starts Friday at Heartland Park Topeka. For more information visit NHRA.com.

LAS VEGAS  – For Terry McMillen being winless in his first three starts of his third season is not something the Elkhart, Ind. based team had planned. In fact, optimism has been at an all time high for McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motorstate Distributing Top Fuel team. Yet the 0 and 3 start still haunts McMillen.

“It’s certainly frustrating,” McMillen said. “Is is something we can overcome? You bet. But we have to start sooner rather than later. The competition in Top Fuel this year is at a higher level that I think anyone could have guessed. I think we had our best performance of the young season in Gainesville, but we still came up a little short. I know Richard (Hartman) and Lee (Beard) are looking at everything with laser precision. So our optimism remains high.”

McMillen comes into Las Vegas hoping he can find some luck and he’ll be looking in some unconventional places. McMillen and his team will utilize a new feature from Google Plus called Hangouts On Air. While Hangouts is not new to Goolge Plus, the “On Air” feature will soon be available to the public. Hangouts On Air allows an unlimited number of guests to join a McMillen Google Hangout and watch streaming video that will automatically be posted to the team’s YouTube Channel.

“This is something unique and we’re honored that Google is letting us beta test this innovative feature of their social network,” McMillen said. “I’ve always said that the one thing I want to get across to NHRA fans is for them to feel the excitement of a race. Hangouts will give us a chance to showcase everything from a question and answer session to live streaming video from our pits. We’re even thinking about hosting a Hangout during appearances and autograph sessions.”

To Hangout with Terry and his team join Google Plus and add Terry McMillen to your circle.

McMillen will make two appearances before the Las Vegas race. The week will start with a car and driver appearance at the Tahiti Village Resort and Spa on Wednesday, March 28 from 11am to 3pm. Tahiti Village is located at 7200 Las Vegas Boulevard South. Tahiti Village is also proving a special rate for fans that want to hangout with the team. Use coupon code TerryNHRA

The second appearance for McMillen will be the NHRA Fanfest on Thursday, March 29 from 6 to 7:30pm at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino outdoors on the Brooklyn Bridge. At least 32 professional drivers are scheduled to attend.

photo (c) Tera Wendland

POMONA, Calif.  – Terry McMillen, driver of the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel dragster, will partner with Armed Forces Racing to honor Veterans during the Auto Club NHRA Finals this week. McMillen’s car will proudly display decals for each of the U.S. Military branches and the Armed Forces Racing (AFR) decal. AFR is dedicated to uniting all military branches with a “One Team…One Force” partnership within the motor sports industry.

“It’s a great privilege to carry the iconic logos of the Armed Forces on such an important day as Veteran’s Day,” McMillen said. “If it wasn’t for each and every one of the men and women that serve in the military we wouldn’t be drag racing or enjoying the freedoms that they have sacrificed to provide for us.”

McMillen is excited to pull the gator themed dragster into the staging lanes at Pomona after a month long campaign in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. “That was a great campaign,” McMillen said. “Our team raised almost $3,000 for She4Life and we were honored to participate in that. But I’m glad to see the Amalie green gator back. We want to finish strong here and do well for everyone that supported us this season. We want to thank everyone from the NHRA, the fans and our sponsors for making this season a success.”

Having time to reflect on the long season isn’t something McMillen and his Elkhart, Ind. based team will spend a lot of time thinking about. “We’re anxious to get the 2012 season started,” McMillen added. “We’ve been putting a lot of thought into what it’s going to take to get our team to the next level. We’ve been talking to our sponsors and we’ve got a lot of exciting changes that will take place over the next 60 days before winter testing in West Palm Beach.”

“It really was an honor to compete in the 60^th Anniversary of NHRA Drag Racing,” McMillen continued. “When I was young I remember reading about NHRA Drag Racing. In the back of my mind I hoped I would get here some day. It was truly an honor to compete here and represent our marketing partners.”

Yesterday the NHRA announced that the official starter, Rick Stewart, would retire after the Finals in Pomona. It gave McMillen a chance to reflect. “It’s hard to believe,” McMillen said. “We’ll miss the guy wearing that straw hat on the starting line week in and week out. I wish him the best in retirement.”

Las Vegas  – Terry McMillen, driver of the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel dragster, will bring his pink-themed car  to this weekend’s 11th annual Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  McMillen hopes the team’s month long campaign will help expand awareness of breast cancer.

“We started this deal at the beginning of October,” McMillen explained. “We really wanted to pay tribute to the men and women that have had to and continue to fight breast cancer. The whole thing has really taken on a life of its own. We really had no idea a bunch of guys running around in pink jerseys and racing a pink dragster would be as popular as it turned out to be.  It has touched a lot of people in a lot of different ways. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I’m honored we could play a small role in what has to be a challenging time for friends, family and for those that have to fight the fight.”

McMillen’s pink dragster carries the names of friends and family of crew members, sponsors and those in the racing community that have breast cancer or have fought breast cancer. The team’s pink jerseys are being auctioned off on eBay with proceeds going to She4Life. She4Life is a nonprofit organization that raises money, not for research, but for families that are struggling with the cost of fighting the disease.

“I was out at the The Strip today and noticed all of the pink,” McMillen said. “It’s something special. I think a lot of people will be touched by the effort. I’m glad we can be a part of it.”

While McMillen’s team will proudly sport their pink theme, they are fully aware of the race that is taking place. “This is one of the biggest races of the year for so many reasons,” McMillen said. “You’ve got The Countdown looming with just two races to go. It’s like game six of a seven game series. Anything can happen. We hope to influence the outcome – maybe just be a fly in the milk – just enough to mess things up for someone, but at the same time it’s a great opportunity to get our program on track, maybe win some rounds and have a shot at winning this race.”

“We’re looking forward to so many guests at this race with the SEMA and AAPEX shows following the race,” McMillen said. “We have special guests that are Amalie distributors from all over the globe to some that are just a state away. We even got special guests from UNOH and Motor State Distributing. We’ve got about 150 special guests that will be pulling for us this weekend. No extra pressure or anything – just another reason to do well.”

Breast Cancer Awareness month also brought out support from Mechanix Wear Gloves, Cool Image Water, Vicci Custom Apparel and T & R Graphics. “It’s all about pink,” McMillen said. “Buck from Mechanix Wear gave us some pink gloves, Danny Graham from Cool Image Water provided some special edition water bottles, Lisa at Vicci gave us a great design on pink jerseys and Ray Murphy at T&R Graphics gave us a really great looking pink dragster to race with.”

Local support for McMillen’s team continues to grow in the Las Vegas area. Findlay Chevrolet will again support the team with cars and tow vehicles along with Tahiti Village that provided outstanding lodging for the team in their suites.

Terry and Dale Vickery pose with Rosalee Noble on her 70th birthday shortly after the Dallas DRAW auction

READING, Pa.  –  Terry McMillen drives a gator-themed NHRA Top Fuel Dragster sponsored by Amalie Oil, The University of Northwestern Ohio and Motor State Distributing to name a few. Top Fuel Dragsters are built to run fast with paint schemes that sometimes look faster than the car they adorn. Despite that, McMillen’s Elkhart, Ind. based team is prepared to show their softer side this Saturday at the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals when they unveil a new Breast Cancer Awareness themed dragster and crew jerseys. McMillen’s car will carry the theme through the month of October, ending during the second qualifying session in Las Vegas.

The inspiration started a year ago when McMillen and UNOH’s Steve Farmer challenged each other to wear pink shoe laces on the starting line. That challenge later grew into a “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” event where McMillen raced Kenny Wallace in a UNOH/St. Rita’s Medical Center event to benefit cancer research in Lima, OH. During that event McMillen wore a special Impact Racing pink helmet donated by Vickery Speed Shops to honor Rosalee Noble’s fight against breast cancer. The helmet was donated to DRAW (Drag Racing Association of Women) where it raised $35,000 in an auction last week.

“Our team was touched and inspired by the DRAW auction in Dallas,” McMillen said. “So many of our friends, family and associates are fighting cancer, we wanted to honor them with this dragster.”  McMillen’s dragster will carry the names of family and friends of our crew and marketing partners who have fought or are currently fighting cancer.

McMillen’s car and jerseys will be unveiled Saturday, October 1^st.  Special thanks to T & R Graphics for the design and wrap, Vicci for the jersey design and Mechanix Wear special edition gloves.

Later this year the team jerseys will be auctioned off with proceeds going to SHE4Life. SHE4Life (Survive, Hope, Empower) is a charitable organization set up to make a difference for the women and men who are afflicted with Breast Cancer, helping them fight the fight!

Qualifying for this weekend’s race is scheduled to begin Friday September 30. McMillen’s team also picked up local support from Freedom Hyundai in Hamburg, Pa.