ATLANTA – Terry McMillen made his first career NHRA start at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta this weekend. It was McMillen’s first attempt as a driver / owner and second attempt overall.
McMillen took his Torco powered, Amalie Oil Top Fuel team through the paces and posted a 4.74 elapsed time at 315 MPH to secure the 15th position for Sunday’s race which paired McMillen against Rod Fuller in the rain delayed first round.
When racing resumed McMillen took the tree first, staged and attempted to take an advantage of Fuller when the light turned green. Unfortunately for McMillen his attempt for an NHRA round win ended early when he left the starting line 0.043 seconds early.
Noakes climbs to fourth after tough outing in Rockingham
ELKHART, Ind. — The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports, Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car team left Rockingham collectively scratching their heads. The team clawed its way into the fourth position after the second event of the Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series despite failing to make the call for Sunday eliminations.
“It’s going to be a tough season in Alcohol Funny Car,” team owner Terry McMillen said. “If these first two events are any indication – everyone should be prepared for a heavy weight battle.”
The team experienced a catastrophic engine failure that left them unable to make repairs at the track. “Blocks are hard to come by right now,” McMillen added. “We did everything we could to buy one from anyone that would listen, but no one really had anything that they were willing to part with.”
While the weekend ended rough, the early reports looked good for the InstiGator team. Ontario based driver Paul Noakes was optimistic at first. “It started out just the way we wanted it to go,” Noakes said. “We made some big strides and it looked like the performance had picked up.”
Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster makes NHRA debute in Atlanta
ATLANTA (April 23, 2008) – When Terry McMillen rolls his Torco powered, Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster out of the transporter for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals this afternoon, it will be the first time for McMillen as a team owner and driver. The team adds Ole Country Smokehouse of Anderson, South Carolina as an associate sponsor for the race.
McMillen made his NHRA Top Fuel debut last season. McMillen will strive to qualify and earn his first round win.
“We’re excited about being in Atlanta,” McMillen said as his truck entered Atlanta Dragway. “We planned on running several of the NHRA races this season – Atlanta wasn’t really one of them, but our crew chief John Smith has done a great job of getting a handle on this car and getting our crew to gel in a short amount of time. We’ve got 10 laps on this new chassis and combination and John already has us in the .60’s.”
First round loss doesn’t disappoint McMillen
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. – When Terry McMillen began loading the Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster into the team transporter after Sunday’s first round loss, he wasn’t as disappointed as one would expect.
“We’re always here to win,” McMillen said. “We just put our tenth run on this car and we had a couple of passes in the .60’s, so I’m actually pretty excited about how well our team is performing and how quickly John [crew-chief John Smith] is getting a handle on this car.”
McMillen’s 4.678 elapsed time at 313.37 MPH was only good enough for the fifth spot after qualifying ended. “It’s never been easy qualifying,” McMillen said. “Especially now with more and more quality teams being added to the mix. It’s tough enough facing guys like Bruce Litton and Bobby Lagana. Now we have to be conscience of guys like Palmer, Strasburg, Jones and that new kid ‘what’s his name’,” McMillen joked. “Spencer [Massey] is making the most out of that new license of his, notching two wins in two tries. It’s a dog fight early here in Top Fuel and I expect it will be that way all season long.”
Gone Country
What is this? Have they gone country? Who are these people? I thought for a minute they could be the Lone Ranger and maybe Tonto… but didn’t the Loan Ranger have a white hat?
Maybe we should check in over at Race Pages to see what these desperadoes have been up to.
Pro-Am Division 4 next stop for new Breed Racing
Rockdale, TX — New Breed Racing, Ayrton & Alesi Gerthe, will attend the IHRA Division 4 Pro-Am when it makes its second stop at Tulsa Raceway Park this weekend.
After the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals, the team has made some minor adjustments and is ready for the upcoming event.
“We have Alesi’s car set and have only made a few adjustments, and its helped with setting Ayrton’s car up this season,” said Duane. “After San Antonio we’ve made more adjustments to Ayrton’s and we feel it will help with consistency and trying to hit that magic Index number of 8.90.”
New Breed Racing is proud to partner with Torco Race Fuels, Amalie Oil, Flatout Gaskets, NGK Spark Plugs, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, Go Graphix, Vickery’s Speed Shop, Auto Meter Products, Harwood Industries, Parsley’s Chicken Express, Biondo Racing Products, and Doug Foley’s Drag Racing School.
InstiGator looking for more bite
‘No more Mr. Nice Gator’
ROCKINGHAM, NC (April 17, 2008) — The Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car, powered by Torco Race Fuels, makes its way to the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham this weekend looking to put a little more bite on its opponents when qualifying begins tomorrow.
While the team did well at the season opening race in San Antonio, (qualifying in the fifth position) the opening round match up with eventual event winner Laurie Cannister ended their chances early for a win.
While the Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team car sports a new crew, crew chief and driver, team owner McMillen is confident this will be the best year ever for the team’s signature ride. “I have all the confidence in the world with Les Mellows tuning and Paul Noakes driving that car,” McMillen said.
The car has long been associate with Amalie Oil and has been a friendly draw for fans of all ages. This season the team went back to an original concept drawing of the car and Michelle Barkett of the Amalie Oil marketing department had Gonzalo Jarmillo redesign the InstiGator to give it a slightly ‘meaner’ look with more realistic teeth and eyes. This prompted the team to adopt the slogan ‘No more Mr. Nice Gator’, not only for the new look but also for the new attitude towards getting the fan favorite to the winner’s circle for the first time.
Les Mellows is confident the InstiGator can be a dominant force in the class.
Round two for McMillen’s Top Fuel Crew
ROCKINGHAM, NC. (April 17, 2008) — After a successful season opening race that found the Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster in the final round, Terry McMillen and his crew roll into Rockingham with high expectations when qualifying begins this Friday, April 18th, for the second stop on the Nitro Jam Drag Racing series. Like a heavy weight fight, this is just round two of a scheduled 11 round bout.
“I’m very happy with how San Antonio turned out,” McMillen said as he unloaded his car in sunny Rockingham. “Certainly we would have loved to win the race. But with a everything being new on this car and no chance to test it before getting to San Antonio, I think John Smith (crew chief) and my guys did an outstanding job. It was better than I had hoped for.”
The Smith led crew put McMillen in the final round with an opportunity for his third carreer win in Top Fuel. Looking forward to this weekend’s Rockingham race McMillen finds himself optimistic.
“Our guys worked through a lot to get us to the final round. I think we grew a little tighter as a team through all of that. It’s going to get tougher from here on out. There’s a lot of racing left to do and a lot of good teams that will be fighting all year long for a chance at a world championship. I believe we have an opportunity to be one of those teams fighting in the end if we stay on our toes.”
McMillen makes final round appearance in Texas
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (April 10, 2008) – The Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster, powered by Torco Race Fuels and driven by Terry McMillen, made its Nitro Jam debut during the season opening event hosted at the San Antonio Raceway. The newly assembled team, led by crew chef John Smith, made the most of their opportunities, finishing the event with a final round appearance. A broken throttle cable would end McMillen’s hopes of capturing his third career Iron Man.
“We can’t be disappointed,” McMillen said after the race. “I would have loved to been in the winners circle at an Amalie race to collect a trophy, but this was a great weekend for our team. We had basically a brand new car and a brand new crew. These guys worked hard and did a great job to get us to the final round.”
While John Smith was disappointed with the finish, he felt the weekend was a success. He spoke with CompetitionPlus.com shortly after the race. “That was really the first mistake [throttle cable] that we made all weekend so we put a good effort up for Terry, Amalie Oil and NAPA Auto Parts,†Smith added. “Terry has worked really hard to put the deal together. We made it to the final round so it was a pretty good weekend all in all. We’ve got a good baseline. All the guys were working well together and little things like this will happen. You win as a team and you lose as a team so that’s what it’s about.”
Home track is friendly for Gerthe’s
Rockdale, TX – New Breed Racing’s Alesi & Ayrton Gerthe competed in the IHRA Knoll-Gas Motorsports Nitro Jam this past weekend when it made its first stop of the season at San Antonio Raceway for the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals.
Alesi and Ayrton both competed in Quick Rod, the 8.90 Index class, and qualified in the number 10 and 11 position. In the Sportsman National event held Friday and Saturday, Alesi made it to the third round and down to nine cars, while younger brother Ayrton went out early. In the main event on Sunday, Alesi lined up against last year’s event winner in round one and advanced to the next round with the win, but bowed out on a double break out pass in round two. Ayrton went out in round one on a break out pass as well.
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