NASSAU, BAHAMAS — It seemed like yesterday when the crew on Terry McMillen’s Amalie Oil/UNOH Top Fuel dragster won their second Full Throttle Hardest Working Crew Award of the 2010 season. To show his appreciation for the crew’s hard work, McMillen allowed the crew to determine how they wanted to distribute the winnings.
“I felt rather than pay out the winnings in a bonus check, I would see if they wanted to do something more creative with it,” McMillen said. “They worked very hard this year, and unfortunately the outcome didn’t always reflect the effort my crew put in. I wanted them to enjoy the winnings, and also know how much I appreciated their hard work.” It wasn’t long before the they came to a consensus, a team vacation.
McMillen agreed a vacation would be great, so frequent cruiser, Chris Cyzak, who works part time on the cylinder heads, took the role of Cruise Coordinator and before you knew it, a vacation was planned. The winnings from the Full Throttle Hardest Working Crew Awards allowed each team member to bring one guest aboard Carnival Cruise Lines, Sensation, for a four night three day cruise to the Bahamas.
On January 2, 2011 the 14 crew members and their guests boarded the Carnival Sensation to embark on their well-deserved vacation. Traveling 12 knots isn’t quite as fast as the 300mph that McMillen is used to, but according to him, “it was one of the few times in life I was able to enjoy traveling at a slow pace, and I wanted the crew to do the same. We may be celebrating the Full Throttle Hardest Working Crew Awards that we won, but there certainly wasn’t any hard work being done on this cruise!”
Aside from one business meeting, the crew was free to do whatever they wanted. McMillen and girlfriend Cori were joined by Crew Chief Richard Hartman and his wife Tina, for a swim with dolphins. “I have always wanted to swim with dolphins, and thanks to Full Throttle I was able to get that experience,” explained McMillen. Other crew members went snorkeling, rode in a glass bottom boat, jet skied in the ocean, and went on a jeep rides through the islands. Overall, everyone had a really amazing time even those who chose something a little more low key, like shopping or participating in activities the ship had to offer.
Now that the team is back to reality, they are working hard to get the new car ready for the season. The entire crew agreed that they are going to strive to win the Full Throttle Hardest Working Crew Award as many times as they can in 2011. As simply stated by McMillen, “the better the crew does in 2011, the better our vacation will be!”
