ENNIS, TEXAS (October 7, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team scored a final round appearance, his fifth of the season, at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. The performance moves him to sixth in the standings for The Countdown to the Championship with just three races remaining.
“I’m so proud of this team,” McMillen said. “They’ve worked so hard to get us back to the consistent car we’ve had most of the year. Today that hard work paid off on the race track”.
The weekend was strong for McMillen. He was fifth fastest in two of the qualifying sessions and and picked up an additional point with a solid third best of session in his fourth qualifying attempt with a 3.777 second pass.
McMillen made low 3.80 passes all day Sunday, eliminating Mike Salinas, Brittany Force and Clay Millican before facing points leader Steve Torrence in the final round. McMillen took a 0.021 second starting line advantage and led to the 330ft cone before Torrence pulled ahead for a 0.0193 second margin of victory (about a half car length, or 9 feet.).
“Steve’s a tough competitor,” McMillen said after the race. “If he keeps this up, he’s going to be hard for anyone to catch. We’ve got our sites on just chipping away at getting more rounds and moving up the points ladder.”
McMillen is experiencing a career best season. So far in 2018, McMillen has won 20 of the 40 elimination rounds he has competed in, making five final round appearances and scoring his second career win at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. He will try and build on that momentum next weekend in Charlotte at the NHRA Carolina Nationals October 12-14.