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Things heat up for McMillen in Atlanta

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

COMMERCE, GA.  – Terry McMillen drove the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel Dragster to its second round win of the 2012 season, defeating the Qatar sponsored team driven by Khalid alBalooshi. The win keeps McMillen in front of alBalooshi for the 12th spot in NHRA standings. Both McMillen and alBalooshi were tied for 12th Sunday morning before their first round matchup.

McMillen’s team had their best qualifying effort of the year, just outside of the top half of the 16 car field in the ninth position. “Anytime you can qualify in the middle of the pack or better it’s a good day,” McMillen said of his 3.876 e.t. pass at 317m.p.h.

“We still have some things to figure out,” McMillen said after being eliminated in round two by Tony Schumacher. “We destroyed two motors Sunday and we just can’t afford to do things like that. Our clutch assistant on the team, Dave McQuay, came up with a acronym, FAC, for Fast And Clean. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on so we can hopefully score a few round wins at the next race in Topeka.”

The next stop on the NHRA tour is the Dollar General Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas May 18-20.

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McMillen sees improvement – but not enough for 4-Wide

April 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

CONCORD, N.C.  — Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel Dragster made performance improvements during the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Concord. McMillen’s team posted the third fastest elapsed time of the fourth qualifying session and that gave the team hope.

“The weekend continued to get better for us during qualifying,” McMillen said. ”We were really looking forward to Sunday. But when I stepped on the pedal it dropped the number 1 cylinder. We hadn’t done that all weekend so that was kind of frustrating. We just need to find an extraction tool to get our craniums out of our rear-ends at this point.”

“We’re looking forward to getting this car dialed in. We keep getting a taste of what it can do, we just have to get it figured out on race day,” McMillen added.

The next stop on the NHRA Full Throttle tour is back to back stops at Houston and Atlanta.

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Disappointing start for McMillen but hope remains high after season opener

February 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

photo by Roger Richards

POMONA, Calif.  – It wasn’t the plan that Terry McMillen drew up for the first race of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle campaign. McMillen believes the opening round loss that the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motorstate Top Fuel Dragster experienced will only make his team stronger.

Rain shortened qualifying to three sessions and while most teams hoped for the fourth a final session, McMillen felt it could have been the difference for his Elkhart, Ind. based team. “We really needed that extra session,” McMillen said. “We’re still working on a lot of things and right now we need every lap we can get.”

“It’s a long season,” McMillen said after his loss to Bob Vandergriff in opening round action. “We can’t get to high about the good things or to low about the bad things. We’ve made a lot of changes and investments in our team this offseason. We’ve added additional full-time employees and added Lee Beard as a consultant. It’s just a matter of time before this pays off.”

“I guess the best news of the weekend for us is that we didn’t make anyone’s highlight reel,” McMillen continued. “We’re leaving here without any oil downs and no big boomers. We’ll just have to build from there.”

It will be a short week for McMillen and crew as they make their way to Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz. for the second stop on the NHRA tour.

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McMillen sees red in Arizona

October 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

CHANDLER, Ariz.  – Although he struggled through qualifying, McMillen felt confident about his Amalie Oil / UNOH / Motor State Distributing Top Fuel team’s chances for Sunday eliminations at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

“We struggled through qualifying, but we were encouraged,” McMillen said. “The car had good early numbers it just kept spinning the tire on the big end. We just attributed it to the heat and felt like we could calm it down enough on Sunday to have a competitive car.”

Team Amalie would take the 16th spot for Sunday’s race and would face Larry Dixon in the first round. The race was over before it started as McMillen lunched his 8,000 horsepower car before the Christmas Tree was fully activated.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for that,” a dejected McMillen said after the race. “I still really don’t know what happened up there. Maybe I saw Larry’s prestage bulb flicker, I don’t know. I saw something flicker and I just left. There’s no excuse for it. I’m just sorry I let a lot of people down.”

“Richard (Hartman, Crew Chief) and my guys gave me a very good car on race day,” McMillen continued. “The car went right down the track. It didn’t drop any holes it was smooth. We don’t really know what the elapsed time would have been since I left before the tree was activated, but when we laid it over our other runs in looked like maybe a 3.98 or 4.00. Would it have beat Larry? We’ll never know, but it would have been a drag race.”

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McMillen’s saves best for Sunday – comes up short

September 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

photo (c) Tera Wendland

ENNIS, Tex.  – Terry McMillen’s Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel team saved their best performance of the AAA Texas NHRA Nationals for Sunday eliminations. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to advance the Elkhart, Ind. based team into the second round.

McMillen started the race from the 14th position and faced Rod Fuller for the third consecutive race in round one of eliminations. McMillen took a slight advantage at the start of the race (.071 to .075 reaction time) and lead past the 330 ft. cones. A dropped cylinder would slow McMillen to a 3.955 e.t. to Fuller’s winning 3.901 e.t.

“We struggled a little in qualifying,” McMillen said. “But we were able to make a race out of it today. We just came up short. Fuller and Vandergriff have a couple of good hot rods over in their camp right now. That’s another tough team we’re going to have to contend with. There aren’t too many independent   teams out here. We’re getting better – we just need a break somewhere.”

McMillen also wanted to thank Cowboy Toyota and MCM Grande Hotel Fundome for their support this weekend. “We had a great time visiting with Stephanie Moore from MCM Grande Hotel. It was her first national event. It was fun to be a part of her experience and the hospitality that she showed our team was amazing. We also had a great time with Patrick Davalos from Cowboy Toyota on Sunday.  Just like all the people we met in Texas – some of the most friendly in all of the country.”

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Career best weekend ends short for McMillen

September 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

CONCORD, N.C. – Terry McMillen piloted his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel Dragster to a career best performance during the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. McMillen used his 3.85-seconds at 321.50 mph Friday run to qualify 9th for the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history.

McMillen faced Rod Fuller in a first round rematch of Indianapolis – this time with Fuller taking the win. Fuller posted a winning 3.81 pass to McMillen’s 3.88. “We brought a knife to a gun fight this morning,” McMillen explained shortly after his loss. “The only good news is that we made a decent pass and brought back a happy motor. We made it down the track three out of the five passes – all with solid passes in the 3.80s. I think we have something to work with in Dallas next week.”

McMillen will have the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel Dragster on special display at the 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas this Thursday.

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So close he could taste it – McMillen finishes 8 points short of Countdown

September 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

Mark Rebilas caught this explosion on his camera. You can buy this photo here: http://markjrebilas.com/blog/

INDIANAPOLIS (September 5, 2011) – In one of the wildest rollercoaster rides of his career, Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel team kept the suspense of the 10th and final spot in The Countdown to the Championship in question until the very end of round two of the 57th Annual MAC Tools U.S. Nationals. McMillen and his team would end their quest just 8 points shy of their desired goal, but not before giving NHRA fans something to remember.

In the opening round of qualifying McMillen posted the third fastest elapsed time (3.893) and held the top speed of the event (317.64MPH) until Saturday night. But things didn’t come easily for the Elkhart, Ind. based team. Friday’s stellar run broke several clutch components leaving the team struggling trying to find the right combination to run with the new parts for the remaining qualifying attempts.

Still, McMillen’s team managed to qualify 10th needing to just go one round further than David Grubnic to capture the 10th and final spot into The Countdown. Sunday’s matchup with Rod Fuller gave McMillen the chance he was hoping for. The race with Fuller was decided early, with Fuller smoking the tires. McMillen would add the drama when his car crossed the finish line in the biggest ball of fire of his career.

“That run would have to make my career highlight reel,” McMillen said. “I’ve never had anything that bad happen. The car dropped something like three intake valves and basically destroyed everything on the motor.” The win coupled with the later loss by Grubnic would have given McMillen the lock for the 10th spot. The big explosion and subsequent oil down left McMillen with the need to put points leading Del Worsham on the trailer to secure the elusive spot.

“I’m very proud of my guys,” McMillen said. “We brought back a pile of junk parts after that run and they turned around gave me a competitive car to go out there and try to take out Del. It just sucks because we could taste it. For a couple of seconds we had our spot in The Countdown. I guess we’ll just have to put on our spoiler caps and work hard on our tune-up for next season.”

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U.S. Nationals to decide Top Fuel Countdown for McMillen

August 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

BRAINERD, Minn.  – It’s déjà vu all over again. Except this time the backdrop for the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing team will be the most prestigious race in all of drag racing, the MAC Tools U.S. Nationals.

At this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Terry McMillen posted a new career best 318.39MPH when he qualified 12th with a 3.880 e.t. to set up a first round match up with Antron Brown. More importantly McMillen went to the starting line knowing that David Grubnic had just lost a close race to Brandon Bernstein, which could allow McMillen the opportunity to take over the 10th and final spot of The Countdown to the Championship.

“The door was open,” McMillen said shortly after his loss to Brown. “We just couldn’t get through it. Our car is starting to run a lot better. We’re qualifying better. We just can’t seem to find a way to win on Sunday when it counts. Richard Hartman and my team are working so well together. I know we can do it.”

Hartman also felt the lost opportunity. “We were running right with him (Brown),” Hartman said. “We pushed the number three spark plug out at 1.3 seconds. We were within two-hundredths of him up to the 330 foot mark. You have to think we would have been there if that wouldn’t have happened.”

McMillen will have the chance to plead his case one final time as they head to Indianapolis on August 31 – September 5 for the U.S. Nationals. He’ll come into the race trailing team Kalitta driver David Grubnic by just 19 points – the exact same margin McMillen trailed Grubnic last season going into the final race to The Countdown.

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McMillen misses opportunity after another good qualifying effort in Seattle

August 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

KENT, Wash.  – Yogi Berra said it best, “It’s déjà vu’ all over again.” He bettered his Western Swing performance and reset every personal record along the way, but Terry McMillen finds himself right where he was last season, trailing Kalitta team driver David Grubnic by less than one round of competition for the final spot in NHRA’s Countdown.

McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel Dragster have performed better this season by just about every stat. His team is qualifying two positions better (12.4 in 2010 vs 10.4 in 2011), won more elimination rounds already this season than all of last season and yet he’s still chasing for the elusive last spot in The Countdown to the Championship that David Grubnic currently holds.

“We missed a big opportunity today,” McMillen said after an opening round loss to Doug Kalitta. “We just couldn’t get a handle on the left lane.”
“I think Richard (Crew Chief Hartman) is making the right call on the tune ups, my driving is getting better and my crew gives me a solid car to go racing with every day. As a team we’re as tight as we’ve ever been right now. I know we can get to where we want to be, but with only two races remaining it’s going to be tough. Those Kalitta guys just aren’t going to pull over and let us go around them.”

McMillen trails David Grubnic by just 18 points and leads 12th place contender Bob Vandergriff by just 21 points in the tightest battle of any pro category in the NHRA Full Throttle series.

The battle for the 10th and final spot will continue in Brainerd, Minn. at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals August 18-21.

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Career best weekend brings McMillen closer to goal

July 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SONOMA, Calif.  – Terry McMillen got his wish – or at least most of his wishes. As much as McMillen’s Amalie Oil / UNOH / Motor State Distributing Top Fuel team struggled in the high altitude of Denver, it found as much relief in the sea-level conditions of Sonoma.

“It was a great weekend in a lot of ways,” McMillen said after his second round loss to Larry Dixon. “We didn’t get everything accomplished that we wanted to, but we’re a long way in the right direction.”

McMillen and his team put together their best outing in his second season on the NHRA Full Throttle Tour. During the weekend the Elkhart, Ind. based team was able to set a new career best elapsed time of 3.861 during Friday night’s qualifying session. That effort was good enough to help McMillen set another personnel best of qualifying in the fourth position. During the first round of eliminations McMillen’s Richard Hartman tuned ride set another personal best of 317.49MPH when he defeated Troy Buff.

“We had a good car this weekend,” McMillen said. “I think we have aligned ourselves with a good opportunity to get into the top 10. Our guys have a little more pep in their step and we can’t wait to get to Seattle.”

McMillen trails10th place David Grubnic by just 10 points and leads 12th place Vandergriff by 26 points setting up showdown for the last spot with just three races remaining before the Countdown.

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