KENT, Wash. – The third stop on the Western Swing marks a crucial spot in the season for second year NHRA driver Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Motor State Distributing Top Fuel Dragster. With just three races and 12 rounds of racing left before the playoffs begin, McMillen knows now is the time to make his move.
“We have more pieces and parts now than we did last year,” McMillen said. “We’re prepared to throw everything we have at it to just make the Countdown.”
Statistics would show that McMillen’s year is going much better than the previous season. He has already reset all of his personal best performance records and already has more round wins than all of last season. Yet his quest to make the NHRA Countdown to the Championship has landed him in very familiar territory – behind David Grubnic by the thinness margin for the last spot.
“You think we would have learned from last season not to put ourselves in this spot,” McMillen joked. “It’s nobody’s fault, the competition is just that much tougher this year. Last year we were 20 points behind Grubnic going into the last race, this year it’s 10 points with three to go but now we both have Bob Vandergriff breathing down our necks.”
The final stop on this year’s Western Swing also marks the beginning of a new relationship for McMillen and his team. My Town Motors will join McMillen as an associate sponsor for the race, entertaining hundreds of guests, while providing the team with vehicles for the event. “I knew Lance and Sherri Hanson were special people from the time we met them last year,” McMillen said. “My Town Motors has some of the most incredible cars on their lots. Every time I walk in there I meet two or three happy customers leaving with a dream ride. Heck, it looks like half our team has found something they want to take home with them.”
McMillen’s team would also like to thank Gerald Garcia at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites of Sumner. Garcia was able to accommodate the team at the last minute, providing McMillen’s team with King Suites for the weekend. McMillen’s hotrod will also carry the Holiday Inn / Sumner logo this weekend. “We’ll be staying at this hotel for years to come,” McMillen said. “You just look out your window and Mount Rainier is sitting right there. And it’s still just minutes from Pacific Raceways.”
