After struggling through the first few races of the season, Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH Top Fuel team have found some much needed consistency to their tune-up. After two solid qualifying passed in the rain shortened Atlanta race, McMillen’s Richard Hartman led team was able to put down three solid qualifying passed in Topeka. The effort landed McMillen 12th for race day in a match-up with Spencer Massey’s, Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel Dragster.
While McMillen put up a good fight for the first 330 feet, a broken valve would finish his chance for a first round upset and provided a spectacular fireball for fans. No Amalie Pro 70W was deposited on the track.
“Overall it was a good weekend,” a slightly dejected McMillen said on Sunday. “We had a pretty consistent car all weekend and we would have liked to have made a closer race out of it, but it just didn’t work out that way.”
“Topeka has been a pretty good track for us. We got the round win monkey off of our back a few years ago and now maybe we have the consistency monkey off of our back too. We looking forward to Englishtown to see what we can do there.”
“I’d also like to commend the NHRA Safety Safari. They did a good job of getting the track ready after a night of thunderstorms. The lanes were as even as any place that we’ve been all year.”
McMillen by the Numbers
– 2 Top Fuel Cylinder Heads
Destroyed when a valve stuck in opening round action. The blower might also be a casualty, but the team will have to get it back to the shop for further inspection
– 3 Qualifying passes
Number of runs in the 3.80s during qualifying. A very consistent car for McMillen. The fourth pass was a test with new parts
– 60 Corn Dogs
The team seems to have found a new treat for their hotdog roller. Jimmy Dean would be proud of the number of breakfast pancake and sausage “corn dog” type treats they ate this weekend.
– 1 New driver for the Amalie/UNOH team.
Terry and Cori are expecting a bouncing new driver / baby boy on September 17. A succession plan that should keep Terry busy for at least the next 18 years. Baby does need a new pair of shoes… and a Top Fuel Dragster of course.
