CHANDLER, Ariz. – The AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Instigator Top Fuel Dragster team driven by Terry McMillen continues to see improvements, but they come up short in the second race of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season.
“We’re continuing to improve,” McMillen said. “I was happy with the efforts of our young team this weekend. There’s not much more you can say. The track got a little tricky this morning so Rob (Wendland – crew chief) backed it down a little and that was a good call. We were one of the few cars to make it down that lane. I was happy we made it down the track and made a race out of it. We just came up a little short today – and that’s drag racing. I hate losing, but if you have to lose one you want to do it like this. You want to go down swinging.”
McMillen’s first round matchup with J.R. Todd was close from the start as they had identical reaction times. McMillen trailed at the 60ft. cone but made up a little ground by the time they reached the 660ft. mark where he trailed by just 0.014 seconds. Todd would inch ahead down the stretch to increase his lead, beating McMillen to the finish line with a time of 3.884 seconds to McMillen’s 3.907 seconds for a margin of victory (M.O.V.) of just 0.0234 seconds. It was the second closest race in opening round action.
The next stop for McMillen is the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida March 12-15.
