READING, Penn. (September 16, 2018) – The first race of NHRA Countdown is complete and Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team can find hope in an opening round loss to Mike Salinas.
McMillen made his best pass of the weekend with a 3.784, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Salinas’ 3.736. McMillen falls to eight in points, just five points from seventh.
“Obviously we would have liked to win that round,” McMillen said. “I’m really looking forward to St. Louis because I think we found the setup we need to bring back the consistency that we had earlier in the year. We can dig our way back into the fight for the championship.”
While the senior McMillen team didn’t find the success they had hoped for, the junior team did. Terry’s youngest son Cameron made his NHRA Jr, Dragster debut at a national event and it proved to be a huge success.
With the support of McMillen’s Top Fuel team, Cam made a successful pass after earning his license just last week on his fifth birthday.
“The support of NHRA and the fans was amazing,” Terry said. “This isn’t just about the future of Terry McMillen Racing, it’s about the future of the sport and inspiring youth to get involved. I think that kids can relate with Cam and get involved. Even the fans showed a lot of support when he broke the beams and started down the track. When he pulled the parachute, the fans really started to cheer. It was inspiring to be a part of.”
Terry continued, “I’m proud of Cam. That was a lot of pressure for a five-year-old in his first race. He nailed it. He did exactly what we told him and hit all of his marks.”
The next race in The Countdown is the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis September 21-23.
