NORWALK, Ohio (July 9, 2012) – The weather conditions were hotter than anything his team had experienced and Terry McMillen hopes it’s the last time his Amalie Oil / UNOH Top Fuel team has to endure those type of conditions. For the first time this season McMillen failed to qualify for eliminations.
“We’ve learned how to go faster, now we have to learn how to slow this car down for these type of conditions,” McMillen said. “I can’t make excuses for it – we just didn’t get the job done. There’s five races left before The Countdown. Hopefully we haven’t dug ourselves to big of a hole to crawl out of here and get back into the hunt.”
McMillen trails Clay Millican and Bob Vandergriff, Jr. by 98 points, about 5 rounds of competition. Currently Millican and Vandergriff are tied for 10th. “It’s a tough spot to be in,” McMillen said. “We’re going to have to get some stars to line up and some luck to fall our way, but we’re not giving up.” Khalid Albalooshi trails McMillen by just 18 points and will also fight for the final spot in The Countdown.
The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Championship is heating up in Nitro Funny Car as well. Defending World Champion, Matt Hagan (13th position, trailing by 110 points), Alexis De Joria (12th position, trailing by 96 points) and Tim Wilkerson (10th position, trailing by 30 points) are currently chasing John Force for the 10th and final spot in The Countdown.
The NHRA season will continue with the first race of the three race Western Swing, beginning with Denver (July 20-22). Sonoma (July 27-29) and Seattle (August 3-5) will round out the back-to-back-to-back mid-summer marathon.
