Rockingham, N.C. – It what must seem like a continuing and repeating nightmare for Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil InstiGator team, the Rockingham Dragway proved to be the villain once again as the team failed to make the field in the rain shortened qualify session.
“I like Rockingham, I like the track surface, heck, I even like Steve Earwood (track owner), this place just eats up race cars for us,” said a frustrated McMillen. “We’re committed to winning here, whatever it takes, no matter the cost, we will conquer this track.”
Friday’s first qualifying attempt ended when the engine experienced a rare crank shaft breakage. The Amalie Oil InstiGator team worked through the night and diligently until Saturday’s qualifying round. The InstiGator appeared to be on a run that would have qualified soundly in the field before a malfunctioning fuel pump caused McMillen to abort the run, leaving the team qualified 11th for the 8 car field.
“We tore up a bunch of stuff,” explained McMillen. “Believe it or not we still feel pretty lucky. We broke a crank, didn’t oil the track and still have a block to take home, how lucky is that? Plus, we couldn’t have pulled off what we did without a crew that was willing to stay up all night to give us a shot at the track Saturday and friends like Quain Stott, Fred Tigges, John Russo and Bobby Lagana that all contributed to helping us out. Heck, even Steve from Vickery’s Speed Shop/Impact Racing stayed up all night with us. We’re really blessed to have friends like that and partners like Amalie Oil, eRaceFuels, Flatout Gaskets, NGK Spark Plugs, MSD, Fatheadz.com, Powershield Coatings, Crane Cams, eMax, C. Trade Group and No Limit Custom Coach.”
The next stop for Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car, powered by TORCO Race Fuels, will be the MOPAR Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend, Ontario June 2-4.
