While most people enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday weekend taking in football games or catching the right deal on items at the local store, New Breed Racing’s Alesi Gerthe was taking another step in her quest to become a professional drag racer by beginning her first experience in the Amalie Oil “InstiGator” Alcohol Funny Car.
Alesi met up with Terry McMillen and Hoosier Thunder Motorsports crew members Tad Heflick and Austin Lambright over the weekend at Tulsa Raceway Park. Alesi, Austin and Tad each took turns in the ‘InstiGator’ under the watchful eye of team owner Terry McMillen.
McMillen calls it lucky 13
LAS VEGAS — If you’re superstitious on a Halloween weekend at the ACDelco NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, 13 might not be considered a lucky number. If you’re Terry McMillen the number 13 can sound like a pretty good number.
McMillen, pilot of the Amalie Oil Top Fuel machine, took his team to the 13 position in the hotly contested field for tomorrow’s elimination rounds. McMillen will face Larry Dixon, two-time NHRA Champion and currently fifth in points in the Countdown to the Championship.
“We made it,” and excited McMillen said. “We’re having a great time out here. We came in here to have some fun. There’s absolutely no pressure on us. We just wanted to come out here and have fun. Drag racing fans are the best in the world. The NHRA fans our here in Vegas are certainly no different.”
Having fun in Vegas includes having the opportunity to be with guests and customers of Swelube, Amalie’s largest distributor in Sweden.
McMillen holds on the 12th spot after day one of qualifying
LAS VEGAS — After making the fifth best pass of the afternoon qualifying session, Terry McMillen looked forward to adding a little more treat than trick to his second attempt during the Halloween evening session at the ACDelco NHRA Nationals. McMillen’s first pass in 1,000 foot NHRA competition and his first pass down the Las Vegas Strip, gave his Amalie Oil sponsored team hope of a keeping pace in the crowded 23 car field.
“We were pretty excited to come out here and run that 3.91 on what amounted to a baseline, shakedown run for our car,” McMillen explained. “We knew we had some room to make the car a lot better with just a few minor changes.” While McMillen’s second attempt of 4.08 elapsed time didn’t improve on his prior run, it was still the 10th fastest pass of the evening session.
McMillen ups ante and heads to Las Vegas NHRA Nationals
Woodland Park joins Hoosier Thunder as associate sponsor
LAS VEGAS — Terry McMillen is familiar with the high risk, high stakes world of Top Fuel drag racing. As the driver of the Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster, he knows what it’s like to roll the dice and take a chance. In his first year as owner/driver of a Top Fuel team (second as driver), McMillen has taken many chances to put his team in the position it enjoys today.
This weekend’s ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals will be McMillen’s second NHRA event of the season and third of his career. He is still seeking his first NHRA round win. “I think we picked a pretty tough race to try and make a statement at,” McMillen said. “Everybody is on top of their game right now making a chase for the championship. Plus there’s about two dozen quality cars here trying to battle it out for one of the 16 spots. We’re up for the challenge. I think we can surprise some people if things go our way.”
McMillen’s optimism is not unwarranted. His Doug Kuch tuned Top Fuel machine finished the IHRA season with five final round appearances and two wins. Four of those came in the last five races as the Amalie Oil sponsored team made a push for the championship title.
McMillen and Noakes try for #6
ROCKINGHAM, NC. — When Terry McMillen and Paul Noakes race at the IHRA World Finals at the Rockingham Dragway this weekend (October 17-19), they’ll both attempt to set new career records in their Amalie Oil sponsored machines.
The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports teammates have combined for 10 final round appearances (five each) and 3 wins (Noakes 2 – McMillen 1). The most dramatic of the wins coming when both McMillen and Noakes scored victories on the same weekend in Grand Bend.
“If the season ended yesterday, I would say it has been a great year,” McMillen said. “But there’s some unfinished business and we’re here to finish strong.”
Career best seasons for both McMillen and Noakes have only been hampered by the bumpy start of the season for the two car team that was formed over the winter.
“In any other season both Paul and I would probably being going into Rockingham contending for the championship,” McMillen said. “As it stands right now – we’re fighting for second place.”
Trick My Crew Sweepstakes winner excited about World Finals
McMillen, CMT and IHRA celebrate end of successful campaign
FORT SMITH, Ark. — Fans of the CMT show, Trick My Truck and fans of Terry McMillen and IHRA Drag Racing have waited all season long to see who would be the winner of the popular Trick My Crew Sweepstakes. Several hundred thousand electronic entries were figuratively dumped on the table from CMT computers to find the one lucky entry.
Gail Williams of Hartman, Arkansas is the lucky winner of the Trick My Crew sweepstakes. While she is a big fan of the show Trick My Truck, she does admit to not knowing much about drag racing. Her first visit to a drag strip will be as a crew member on the Amalie Oil sponsored Top Fuel Dragster driven by Terry McMillen and his Hoosier Thunder Motorsports teammate, Paul Noakes, who drives the Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car.
InstiGator for sale
It’s one fast ride. Currently #2 in the world and it could be yours. With a Les Mellows tune-up and Paul Noakes behind the wheel, McMillen’s hotrod has been to five final rounds and won two national events.
Vote 2008 – IHRA Competitor Awards
It’s an election year. If you’re like me you’ve just about heard all of the politics you want to hear. So here’s your chance to put politics aside an vote for your favorite IHRA drivers.
You can vote online for:
- IHRA Sportsman of the Year
- Pro Driver of the Year
- Most Improved Pro Driver
- Pro Rookie of the Year
- Crew Chief of the Year
- Sportsman Rookie of the Year
- Sportsman Driver of the Year
Only one vote for each email address, no ballot stuffing please.
I can think of a few guys to pitch for a couple of those awards, but I guess you know my bias. Vote early, vote often.
Our entire crew is looking forward to the 2008 IHRA Banquet. Have you made your reservations yet?
When your Best has to be Better!
When you fast has to be faster, when 5 seconds is slow, when your best has to be better – Amalie Motor Oil.
Amalie’s new 30 second spot featuring Terry McMillen’s Top Fuel Dragster and the InstiGator Funny Car driven by Paul Noakes.
Heck, the whole team makes an appearance in this commercial at one point or another…. wait a minute, where was I?
Team photos in Grand Bend
Browsing around YouTube today and ran across this video of the crew photos of both the Noakes and McMillen win.
It was really cool to be a part of this history. A proud moment for our team. Thanks to another great Canadian fan for taking and posting this video.
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