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FAN FAVORITE TERRY MCMILLEN ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR 2022 RETURN

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McMillen and Mercier team up for 2022 NHRA Camping World Series

– 2018 US Nationals winner will race part-time schedule with Dan Mercier Racing –

Elkhart, IN (January 21, 2022) — The 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season will see another familiar face in the Top Fuel ranks as fan favorite and 2018 US Nationals Top Fuel winner Terry McMillen today announced he will compete on a limited schedule, competing in six to eight national events in 2022, so he can continue to support his son Cameron’s junior dragster career. McMillen will race under the Dan Mercier Racing banner. 

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MCMILLEN RACING AND AMALIE MOTOR OIL AGREE TO SUSPEND RELATIONSHIP

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ELKHART, IND (October 7, 2020) – After 19 years together, Terry McMillen Racing and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil company have mutually agreed to suspend their sponsorship relationship. Amalie Oil has suspended all motorsports sponsorships effective immediately. The move comes as the 2020 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, now Camping World Drag Racing Series, wraps up with three final races in Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas. McMillen informed his racing team of the decision this week and he will be evaluating the future direction of the organization in the coming weeks. 

“I can’t thank Amalie Motor Oil enough for the support they have shown me over the past 19 years,” said McMillen, the 2018 U.S. Nationals Top Fuel national event winner. “It is not a cliché, this company was part of my family. They stuck by us as long as they could and we are agreeing to suspend this sponsorship with no hard feelings. They have gone above and beyond to be fair with my team financially. We just reached a point where it didn’t make good business sense for either of us to move forward. They are a great company and I can’t say enough nice things about how they have treated me and this team over the years. Starting today we are exploring new opportunities. Right now it is key to keep Amalie employees working and making product so when the economy turns around they will be ready.” 

The move was directly related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the global economy. According to a research study conducted by consultant KPMG International, working from home and online shopping have become the new normal and will reduce driving in the U.S. by up to 270 billion miles a year. Additionally, 64 percent of Americans who are not driving said they’re working from home, which equates to 259 billion miles not being driven over the course of a year, dramatically reducing motor oil sales. Moving forward, KPMG is predicting as much as a 10% permanent reduction in the nearly three trillion miles typically traveled every year which has already and will continue to adversely affect the motor oil business and automotive industry as a whole.  

“I certainly understand why this happened and I remain very hopeful that we will be back sometime next year,” said McMillen, a two-time national event winner.  “My crew chief Rob Wendland and my entire team have done an amazing job giving us a car that can compete with anybody on any given day.  Anyone that has followed my racing career has seen the struggles I have had over the years.  What Rob has done to turn things around is something that I will never take for granted. Rob, his family, and my entire team mean the world to me.  This certainly is a setback, but I am not going to say it’s the end.” 

“Amalie has supported us through the good, the bad and certainly the ugly. When other teams were laying off their crew during the height of the pandemic, Amalie made sure that I was able to keep my team intact and employed. I know that this decision was extremely painful for Amalie, as it is for me, but I look forward to what the future has to offer, and I won’t give up hope that I will be back on the track in a competitive fashion again one day.” 

AMALIE MOTOR OIL TOP FUELER CONTINUES TO IMPRESS IN ST. LOUIS

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ST LOUIS (October 4, 2020) — Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team continued to show off their 2020 season improvement with a dominant performance during the lone qualifying session at the NHRA Midwest Nationals. McMillen blasted to the No. 2 qualifying spot with a 3.715 second run at 319.45 mph on Friday night and took some serious momentum into race day. A long day of rain delays put the pressure on all the pro teams but McMillen’s crew was up to the task.  

In the opening round McMillen further showed his Rob Wendland tuned AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was going to be one of the race cars to beat at World Wide Technology Raceway. The team had a favorable match up against journeyman racer Todd Paton as eliminations began under cool conditions. McMillen got the jump off the starting and never trailed in the race as his 3.777 second at 325.53 mph pass advanced him to the quarterfinals against fellow championship contender Billy Torrence. 

The quarterfinal race was one of the best side by side races of the day. McMillen was giving up lane choice but that was not a competitive disadvantage thanks to the excellent effort by the NHRA Safety Safari. Both Top Fuel dragsters launched nearly simultaneously with Torrence getting a slight advantage. That edge would prove to be the difference as the Amalie Motor Oil dragster barreled down the track and crossed the finish line in 3.714 second, a thousandth of a second quicker than his qualifying run. Unfortunately Torrence got the win light by less than two feet and .0046 seconds at over 325 mph. 

“I could not be prouder of this Amalie Motor Oil race team,” said McMillen. “My crew chief Rob Wendland has been doing an amazing job with the tune up. We are running in hot conditions and this weekend conditions were the exact opposite of what we had in Florida. This team executed and we made the most of our one qualifying run and we stepped up when we needed to against a tough team. It just didn’t go our way today.” 

The team brought out a brand new race car to begin the restarted NHRA season and through seven races McMillen knows he has a championship caliber race operation. Round wins are coming on race day and today under tough conditions McMillen’s Amalie Motor Oil team improved and posted some of the quickest elapsed times. With three races left McMillen in No. 5 in the points has the opportunity to realistically contend for a Top Three finish. 

“There is no quit in this team. We will be heading to Dallas and Houston with the goal of winning both of those races and then see where we stack up for a run to the championship. We will have points and half at the last race so anything can happen. I am proud of how this team fought this weekend under tough conditions,” added McMillen. 

Midwest Nationals Qualifying Results 
Q1: 3.715 sec, 319.45 mph; Qual. 2 
Bonus Points: +2 (2nd quickest of Q1)

Race Results 
E1: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.777, 325.53 mph def. Todd Paton, Rancho Santa Maria, Calif., dragster 13.707, 54.81 mph 

E2:  Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster, 3.717, 327.59 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.714, 323.50 mph 

McMILLEN SHOW FLASHES OF GREATNESS AT GATORNATIONALS

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (September 27, 2020) — It took almost seven months but Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team finally delivered for the NHRA AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals fans. Today in front of an impressive crowd at Gainesville Raceway McMillen raced to a semifinal finish before being upended by eventual runner-up Billy Torrence. The day was one of solid progress and a big-time upset for the team from Elkhart, Indiana. 

“We were ahead in that semifinal race against Billy Torrence and then it just dropped a cylinder at like 1.5 seconds out,” said McMillen, driver of the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster. “It started spinning the tires. It just didn’t work out. It has been a great weekend. We put on a great show in front of our AMALIE Motor Oil family. It was a successful weekend but certainly we wanted to go to the final and give ourselves a chance to win. We had the car to get there but we just made a mistake out there and it didn’t like it.” 

McMillen and his Rob Wendland tuned Top Fuel dragster struggled in qualifying trying to get a handle on a hot track with only two qualifying sessions. The driver and crew chief combo put their heads together overnight and decided to get aggressive in their first round race with Top Fuel point leader Doug Kalitta. McMillen’s best time of the weekend was a pedestrian 4.72 second run in qualifying and they dramatically improved with a 3.747 second blast to get the first round win over Kalitta. The first round win highlighted some of the positive moves the team made. 

“It was awesome to be here because with the Amalie executives out here at the track and our customers it is really good for them to see all this sport has to offer,” said McMillen. “You see the interaction with the fans and it helps everyone understand a little more about what our sport is all about. It is not just about race cars going down the track. We are taking care of the fans who are our potential customers for future sales. That is really important. Getting back here to Gainesville where we started something where we didn’t have the chance to finish was important. We finished it today the best that we could. Overall it was a good weekend we just have a couple bugs we still have to work out.” 

In the second round McMillen had lane choice over three-time world champion Antron Brown. Once again the Rob Wendland tune-up was up to the challenge for another round win. His time was slower but it was enough to trailer a tire smoking Brown and advance to the semifinals. The next round did not unfold in McMillen’s favor but with another race this coming weekend the team was taking the positives and moving forward. 

“In reality the more you race the more efficient you become,” said McMillen. “It is good for the team and good for everyone. You get a little more information every time. This is like our ninth run on this clutch pack so we are still learning this clutch system we are getting a better handle on it. It throws us a bone every once and a while. In Indy we went 3.72 and first round today we went 3.74 but we have to find consistency. Rob has done a marvelous job of giving us a good race car. The inconsistency of the clutch discs is something we are working through and that is something he can’t control. We have to continue to work on that clutch package.”  

McMillen and the Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel team will be back in action at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway with two qualifying session, Saturday, October 3. 

Gatornationals Qualifying Results 
Q1: 4.724 sec, 162.96 mph; Qual. 9 
Q2: 5.111 sec, 137.40 mph; Qual. 11 
Bonus Points: 0 

Race Results 
E1: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.747, 321.27 mph def. Doug Kalitta, Ypsilanti, Mich., Mac Tools dragster 3.877, 310.91 mph  

E2: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.827, 310.63 mph def. Antron Brown, Brownsburg, Ind., Matco dragster, 4.575, 178.06 mph 
E3: Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 3.817, 321.88 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.841, 311.34 mph 

McMillen Has More Goals On Tap Exiting U. S. Nationals

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photo © Cori McMillen

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind (September 6, 2020) — Entering the 66th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team had a number of goals most importantly picking up their second win at the historic event. In addition to victory the team was looking to continue gathering data and runs on a brand new chassis as well as making a switch in their clutch package. The three rounds of qualifying for the event including a Friday night session gave the team the opportunity to run in optimal conditions. 

“We had a number of things we want to accomplish this weekend at the U.S. Nationals,” said McMillen. “We wanted to get another U.S. Nationals win in the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster of course but we also wanted to continue to show the rest of the class that we are one of the top teams. Even though we didn’t get our top goal we accomplished all our other goals.” 

On Friday night after a lengthy delay McMillen and his Rob Wendland tuned AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster made a 3.799 second run at 323.27 mph which was quick enough to place the team 10th on the qualifying sheet. It was the first run in the cooler night conditions since the team brought out the new chassis. 

“We knew we would have really good conditions on Friday night,” said Wendland. “We had a killer tune up in this Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster but we got delayed almost two hours and the conditions changed dramatically. We were able to make a few changes but I know there is more in this tune up. We got some good data and I know we can run in those conditions if we need to again.” 

During Saturday’s two qualifying sessions McMillen’s team got information from both runs in spite of one run being less that successful. The opening run of the day was a tire smoking 4.267 second run which was followed by a much improved 3.773 second run at 317.87 mph which left the team as the No. 11 qualifier. 

“We learned a lot from the first run on Saturday and put it to good use on the final run,” said McMillen. “Rob was excited to see how the car reacted and we felt good going into race day. We got a good handle on the new clutches and we knew we were headed in the right direction. The one thing was we were a little behind the eight ball and know we would have a tough first round.” 

In the opening round today McMillen squared off against Leah Pruett the No. 6 qualifier. It was a battle of two Top Fuel championship contenders. In an epic race McMillen made another dramatic performance leap running 3.726 seconds at 320.13 mph which was the fourth quickest run of the event. Unfortunately, Pruett was beside him making the quickest run of the event, a blistering 3.703 seconds at 325.61 mph pass. The team took the best of the situation and will head to the next race, the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, September 26-27. 

Qualifying Results 
Q1: 3.799 sec, 323.27 mph; Qual. 10 
Q2: 4.267 sec, 195.36 mph; Qual. 11 
Q3: 3.773 sec, 317.87 mph; Qual. 11 
Bonus Points: 0 

Race Results 
E1: Leah Pruett, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., Mopar dragster 3.703, 325.61 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster, 3.726, 320.13 mph 

Terry McMillen Races to Final Round at Indianapolis NHRA Nationals

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Action photo courtesy of NHRA.com/National Dragster for media use only.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 9, 2020) — Today Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team started a race with a brand new perspective. For the first time in the veteran driver’s career McMillen was the No. 1 qualifier. The AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was up to the task and his Rob Wendland tuned Top Fuel dragster continued to show it is one of the top race cars on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. McMillen knew he had a great race car but he also knew that winning four rounds of racing would be a tough order no matter where he started in the qualifying ladder.

“Honestly, I tried to block the fact I was the No. 1 qualifier out of my head. I didn’t want that on my mind and because you start thinking about that and you get yourself in trouble,” said McMillen. “I just ran it like a normal race day. I didn’t care who was in the other lane. We just looked at every situation and ran our race. Whether we won or lost we were going to run on our terms. The No. 1 spot other than the prestige and finally checking that off our bucket list there was no distraction on race day.”

McMillen’s first round opponent was Lex Joon who continues to build a competitive Top Fuel team. The AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster stepped up and made another strong pass 3.799 seconds to get the win. The win moved McMillen into the second round against fellow championship contender Billy Torrence. In the quarterfinal match-up McMillen took a single for the win after Torrence experienced an issue after his burnout and was shut off by the NHRA starter.

In the semifinals McMillen took out Mello Yello point leader Doug Kalitta in one of the closest races of the day. McMillen got the jump off the starting line and never trailed in the race. Both dragsters began hazing the tires but McMillen was able to hold on and get the win advancing to his first final round since the Dallas FallNationals in 2018.

The final round, McMillen’s ninth of his career, was a showdown with the two-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence. McMillen’s Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster was looking to pick up its first win since he took the title at the U.S. Nationals almost two years ago. Unfortunately McMillen lost concentration for a millisecond and it was a costly mistake.

“I just flat lost concentration on the starting line and it cost us,” said McMillen. “This race car is just stout. Ever since we brought it out it has been good. We have been taking it to the shop and reworking a couple things on it and make it better. Every time it goes down the track we learn something new. You can’t complain it is a great car. The driver just cost us.”

Even though McMillen did not pick up his third career win the driver from Elkhart, Indiana has confidence and momentum heading to the biggest race of the year.

“You have to take away that we have a great race car. We have a good team behind that car led by (crew chief) Rob Wendland. That final round I was the weak link. The round before that I was the one that saved it. It is a give and take team effort. Ultimately the biggest positive out of today is we have a wicked good car and the driver just screwed up in the final round in the place you should never screw up. There is no one to blame but me.”

“We are immensely motivated. We had a good car two weeks ago and lost in the semifinals because we put a different blower on it.  It was down on blower boost. You look at our team and we are just going rounds and it was the quickest car two weeks ago. It was the number one qualifier at Indy3. That is a statement. On race day it wasn’t necessarily the quickest car but it was probably the most consistent car,” added McMillen.  

Qualifying Results
Q1: 4.299 sec, 191.29 mph; Qual. 13
Q2: 3.807 sec, 312.28 mph; Qual. 1
Bonus Points: +3 (quickest of Q2)

Race Results
E1: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 3.799, 307.44 mph def. Lex Joon, Indianapolis, Ind, 4.586, 181.86 mph
E2: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 3.886, 308.43 mph def. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors, No Time
E3: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 4.043, 283.85 mph def. Doug Kalitta, Ypsilanti, MIch., 4.053, 260.41 mph
E4: Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors, 4.273, 224.17 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 4.153, 240.59 mph

SEMIFINAL FINISH HIGHLIGHT OF STRONG DAY FOR TERRY McMILLEN

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 19, 2020) — What a difference one day made for Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team. After two tough runs in qualifying at the NHRA SummerNationals in Indianapolis, McMillen’s team rolled into race day as the No. 12 qualifier and facing a first round match-up with the winningest Top Fuel racer ever, Tony Schumacher. The AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was up to the task and not only advanced from the first round raced to a semifinal finish and a jump in the Mello Yello point standings. McMillen moved up to No. 9 in the points and is just six points out of seventh place. 

“I think everything on that car was gone through with a fine tooth comb last night,” said McMillen, from his lounge at the end of the day. (Crew chief) Rob (Wendland) had the chance to look as some other things. We found a couple different spots that we needed to tickle differently. We did that and from then on it has been fast.”

The opening run today for McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was one for the ages. McMillen never trailed in the race, grabbing a starting line advantage and posting low ET for the event. His winning elapsed time of 3.765 seconds at 320.66 mph propelled him into a second round match-up with three-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown.

“You can walk back after that run with your chest sticking out a little bit,” Rob Wendland, McMillen’s crew chief. “(Hall of Fame crew chief and Wendland mentor) Austin Coil would let me look at runs. He told me what he liked about me was I looked at all the bad runs not the good ones. I knew I needed to know why it did something. If you figure that out that is a good mentality for tuning. Seeing your plan come together is very gratifying. We have been working to get to that run for a long time. It was showing us something but it was really hard to figure out. I kind of thought we were being too big of wimps with it and it was the right call,” Rob

In the second round McMillen again brought a strong race car to the starting line. Both drivers launched aggressively but it was McMillen and his Amalie Top Fuel dragster getting to the stripe first.  Another strong run of 3.796 seconds which was again the quickest run of the quarterfinals set him up against T.J. Zizzo.

“The environment we are racing in is totally different,” said McMillen. “We don’t have four qualifying shots where you get to throw a home run shot on Friday night and move all the way to the top of the ladder. Everybody has had to make some adjustments to get the car down the track. You have to make sure you are qualified because race day doesn’t happen if you aren’t in. We came out on race day ready to roll and man, what a weekend.”

In the semifinal with a SummerNationals final round appearance on the line McMillen came up just a tick short. McMillen left the starting line first and was right beside Zizzo the entire length of the track but his performance fell off slightly, slowing his dragster to a respectable 3.891 second pass at 310.13 mph but it wasn’t enough for Zizzo’s 3.837 second run at 319.67 mph. While his day was wrapped up one round too soon for his taste McMillen has a ton of confidence moving forward with the rest of the season.

“The way I look at it right now any time we go to the starting line we are a threat. We can outrace any car out there on any given day. E3 here it just didn’t work our way. We dropped a hole early but we still ran a 3.89 which is pretty stout. There is just a little more fine-tuning and we will have it. The team and Rob did an amazing job. It was just the matter of getting the chemistry right with the parts and the team and we just went out there and made it happen. We made some statements today,” added McMillen.

Qualifying Results
Q1: 4.017 sec, 257.58 mph; Qual. 10
Q2: 6.311 sec, 100.25 mph; Qual. 12
Bonus Points: 0

Race Results
E1: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 3.765, 320.66 mph def. Tony Schumacher, Austin, Texas, Global Electronic Technology/Toyota, 4.447, 195.25 mph
E2: Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster, 3.796, 321.96 mph def. Antron Brown, Brownsburg, Ind., Matco/Global Electronic Technology, 3.927, 308.35 mph 
E3: TJ Zizzo, Lincolnshire, Ill, Rust-Oleum dragster, 3.837, 319.67 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil dragster,3.891, 310.13 mph

FIRST ROUND UPSET ENDS PROMISING DAY FOR MCMILLEN

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 12, 2020) — Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team had momentum on their side after a day of testing on Friday and a solid day of qualifying yesterday at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis.  Coming back to the track that a few years ago was the site of his biggest win, the U.S. Nationals over Labor Day weekend, in 2018 the Elkhart, Indiana racer was full of positive energy. He had a brand new race car and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was ready to battle with a tough Top Fuel field.

In the opening session of qualifying McMillen and his Ron Wendland tuned Top Fueler made the quickest pass of the day and grabbed three valuable bonus points and went in to the final qualifying session as the provisional No. 1 qualifier. In the second round a couple dragster ran quicker but McMillen stepped up and jumped to the No. 3 qualifier position and a strong feeling going into race day. The track conditions during testing and qualifying were hot and as the second session came to an end a huge thunderstorm rolling over the race track ending the day for the racers and setting up a race day with completely different race conditions.

The NHRA made a number of adjustments to their racing schedule to maximize a safe racing environment for the teams and fans which included an early race start at 9 a.m. local time. McMillen’s first round opponent was not your traditional No. 14 qualifier. He would be facing three-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown who struggled in his only two qualifying runs.

The pair pulled up to stage and as the tree lit up both dragsters leapt off the starting line with Brown grabbing a slight edge. As both 11.000 horsepower dragsters accelerated McMillen pulled even and looked to be pulling away before he hazed his Goodyear tires. That loss of momentum opened the door for Brown to go around McMillen. The Amalie Motor Oil dragster did not give up as McMillen got off the gas and then mashed the throttle pedal back down firing his race car back into motion but he was too far behind Brown as the finish line approached. McMillen tripped the lights with a 6.659 second run at 89.70 mph, a far cry from his best qualifying effort of 3.812 seconds at 316.75 mph.  

“We had a good day of testing and a great day of qualifying,” said McMillen at the end of the day. “We were No. 1 after the first round and stepped up in the second round. I have a great team and my crew chief Rob Wendland has done an amazing job with these guys. We just didn’t capitalize on a great opportunity. We had the advantage I feel and we will not lose that heading into next week. I am already looking forward to getting back to the track and make the most of this opportunity to race the Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster.”

Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.866 sec, 314.02 mph; Qual. 1
Q2: 3.821 sec, 316.75 mph; Qual. 3
Bonus Points: +3 (quickest of Q1)

Race Results
E1: Antron Brown, Indianapolis, Ind., 3.997, 242.71 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil, 6.659, 89.70 mph 

McMillen and Wendland Ready to Race for Championship

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Photo courtesy of NHRA/National Dragster for media use only. Terry McMillen in car and Rob Wendland on the right.

After over three months away from the racetrack AMALIE® Motor Oil Top Fuel team owner and driver Terry McMillen is ready to get back to racing at the upcoming E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park this week. His team, led by crew chief Rob Wendland, used the downtime effectively to streamline his organization and also maximize the newfound family time. McMillen and Wendland have a strong relationship and have put together a plan for the rest of the season they both feel could lead to their first NHRA Mello Yello championship together.

How ready are you to get back to racing?

Terry McMillen  –  “It is almost like starting the year over. You have all that anticipation. We built a new car over the winter and took it to Gainesville. We never got to run it so it has never been down the track. We are excited to see what the new car will do. (Crew Chief) Rob Wendland and the entire team have done a fantastic job just keeping everything going. All our wish lists or want to do lists are all completed. It is time to leave the shop, hear some noise and smell a little nitro. This is the longest we have ever been home sitting at one time. It is just go time. It is going to be different by far.”

TM- “We only have two qualifiers so it is not like you can go out there and try and hit a home run. You have to get the car down the track to make sure you are in the show. There could be close to 20 cars going into Indy so you can’t make a mistake. Hopefully you get that first run in that sets up the weekend.”

TM- “It is going to be different to not be able to interact with the fans the way we normally do. That has been the mainstay of our sport, the fan interaction and the business to business. We are going to be pre-signing hero cards and we’ll all be wearing masks. You appreciate the fans now more than ever because they have a choice where to spend their money and they come out to see us race. You want to give back but it is a difficult time and we want to be as safe as possible. I think everyone understands and we are all just going to have to tip toe this thing and get through the end of the year to regroup and go into 2021.”

Have you been able to get some of the projects that you have been putting off?

TM – “We moved a lot of the shop stuff around and got it organized internally in the shop. We made a specific area to work on our heads and a place to work on our superchargers. We permanently wired some of the equipment that was previously just temporarily wired. We made some upgrades inside the trailer and we also polished all the aluminum on the outside. We had never had the time to do that. We relocated some cabinets and made the flow of the shop a lot better.  We have sections for everything and have streamlined a lot of things.”

What has been the hardest aspect of this layoff (mental, sponsorship, etc.)?

 TM – “There are so many things that have been challenging. You have to look at it from the sponsor perspective which is near and dear to me because Amalie Motor Oil is my family. Not being able to run Gainesville was extremely disappointing. Whenever you reschedule an event it seems to never be quite as good. You lose a little of the impact but Amalie has such great customers so we are hoping to over deliver later this year. It is trying times for all our sponsors. They have all done a good job of staying focused and giving us the opportunity to keep everyone working. We are ready to be at the top of our game when we get back to Indy thanks to their support.”

How have you kept your team motivated during this stretch?

TM – “Really Rob has done a great job of handling the crew. I don’t have to be down in Indy every day. They have their schedules and internal communications and they are working off a master list. When something is done it gets checked off and then everyone is updated. We are making sure that every little detail is covered. Ultimately, that will be where it starts for winning races when we get back to the track.”

TM – “You have to have the small things covered. When the small details are handled it seems like the bigger issues take care of themselves. We are making sure we have the parts that we need to have to make this all happen. It is a juggling act. I would rather be going 300 mph with my hair on fire because we have so much to do because we are racing. The only nice thing about the break is it has been a more relaxing time to work on our to-do list versus a mid-season thrash when we need parts by next week. It has been extremely busy regardless and I am trying to figure out how I ever had time to race.”

Your son Cameron is going to race Junior Dragsters at second Indy race. How excited are you about that?

TM – “The biggest positive about the layoff has been we got the chance to do things we normally never would have done at this time of the year. We fostered dogs and we got to spend more time with Cameron. We tested his Junior Dragster a couple weeks ago. He is going to get to run the second Indy race. As a six year old that is pretty cool and I am excited we will be racing at the same track at the same time. That is a milestone for me. I am all excited about it. I can’t wait to get out there.”

How do you plan for so many back to back races as an independent team?

TM – “You just have to approach it like any other race. The biggest key for us is having the inventory of parts. What you have to keep in mind is a lot of the vendors have also been closed down. Getting parts will be tricky because they might be backed up with orders from everybody. That is a big key to this whole thing. I think Rob has done a great job to make sure we have all the parts that we need either in our hands or the orders have been placed to we are all set once the season gets rolling again. That is going to give us a leg up. If you can finish the year with what money you have that will be a huge accomplishment or anyone. This year could feel like an Ironman Challenge. You have to manage all your parts and be smart about it. Sometimes that Hail Mary may not happen because you can’t afford to hurt those parts.”

What has you most excited about this run for the Mello Yello NHRA championship?

TM – “I think we have as good a chance as anybody whether it is the most funded teams or not. We are in a position today like no other time. We are prepared to go the distance. We are prepared to go to battle. We are going to have a good car. If this car shows us what we believe it is going to do that chassis will help us succeed. Rob has done a great job of tuning. We will be contender once we get the whole package together. The set-up of this season has definitely leveled the playing field. It may not be about dollars and cents this time. Used to be on Friday night big teams could go out and swing for the fences to get the No. 1 spot and get those bonus points. There isn’t a Friday night now so we all have to be a little more conservative on how we approach the race track. Our notes will be very important. We are going to have to rely on data that we have and certainly in this business a little bit of luck helps too. If you push everything hard enough you will create opportunities and that is what we have to do.”

Talk about your relationship with Crew Chief Rob Wendland…

TM – “There is no doubt about it, he is my best friend. We are not together every day we think alike. We have the same common goals. We have the same passion for what we do. When you add that combination up, it can be dangerous in a good way. With this shorter race season I feel like we have a really good opportunity to really get in there and mix it up. I would be shocked if we are not a top five car. Rob has kept everything on track. I am the most blessed guy to have him by my side.”

How excited are you to send the Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster back down the track?

Rob Wendland – “I am very excited to get back to the track for sure and I am excited to run this new car that we have. Racing in some of the conditions we will face over the next month, hot tracks, that kind of thing, I think this car is going to do really well. This morning we had a meeting discussing the 2020 NHRA policies. We have to follow this protocol because if we don’t we don’t get to race. That opened everyone’s eyes a little bit. Based on the performance we had earlier in the season I am extremely excited to hit the gas again.”

How have you kept the team motivated?

 RW – “Our separation wasn’t extremely long. Terry took really good care of this team. We had some time off but we came back and we all sat down and discussed every project that we wanted to do but never had time for. We went into serious detail with it. I told the team we have to work like we are going to race tomorrow. We got a tremendous amount of things done, lots of organizational things and maintenance things. We built a number of things we hadn’t had time to build before. We made the most of this time being productive but we also got to spend some time with our families. That was huge. We picked a number of days we were going to work and when we weren’t working we were spending time with our families. The motivation came from the more we do now and the better we are organized the better team we will be and the more successful we will be.”

As a crew chief how do you plan for so many back to back race weekends?

 RW – “We are going to go into Indy in full race mode. We are going into this race with the same mindset as if we were just racing last week.  We just need to get those hits on the new dragster in testing on Friday and see what this thing is going to give us. Our goal is to get two or three hits and get a handle on this race car. As far as fourteen races in a row kind of thing I have prepared everyone the best I can as far as our forecast of parts that we are going to need. The way that we run the car is we are conservative because we have to keep an eye on the budget. We are cautious about parts and wear and tear so I can’t see how the reduced schedule or back to back races is going to hurt us. We do better if we can go from one race right to the next one. We tend to get on a better roll that way.”

How well do you think the Amalie Motor Oil team is suited for the two Saturday sessions and then into racing on Sunday?

RW – “We have had some success with that program. We have used Saturday as a little bit of a test day. I will say this we have missed some opportunities on Friday and had our backs against the wall on Saturday. It has worked out for us a lot and there have been times when we missed out. As a crew chief it is a tough call because you want to get up in the top spots in qualifying but we have raced a lot from No. 9 to No. 13. There are so many good cars out there that if you are No. 6, No. 7 or No. 8 it is like a final round match-up. You are going to be running another really good quality race car.”

RW – “These first two races it looks like we will be racing in the heat of the day. The tricky part will be our ‘night session’ will be Sunday morning first round racing at 9 a.m. in the morning. We have never experienced that before only maybe in testing have we hit the track that early. The conditions will be totally different than what we saw on Saturday. Crew chiefs can make that change, that testing on Thursday and Friday will be important to get up there early,”

What has you most excited about this run for the championship?

 RW – “For me it is a lot of pressure. I know that we have a team, a car and a driver that can actually win a Mello Yello Top Fuel championship. Who knows what is going to happen. All of a sudden we might look at this schedule and not have as many races as we thought.  I think we are going to go into every race thinking this could be our last race. We are going to get after it and race smart. You can’t try and over pressure yourself. When we won Indy I remember my father in law telling me just go A to B. He said don’t try to overthink it. He told me our car was running good and just make sure it goes down the track. That day it worked out for us. I don’t think a lot of these races will be a horsepower game because of the conditions we’ll be running in. It could be more of a finesse game at the start anyway. In that respect we have the same chance as anyone out there and maybe a little better.”

Can you talk about your relationship with Terry?

RW – “Usually during the season we both have motorhomes and we travel together. In between races we will stop at a campground and all the kids get together and go swimming or we do whatever together. Not a lot of crew chiefs have that kind of relationship with the owner/driver. He loves my kids as much as I do and I feel the same for his family. It definitely feels more like a partnership.”

RW – “When I open the shop I treat it like my shop and that is how I work with him to run the team. Every dollar we spend I treat like one of my own personal dollars. Terry appreciates that and I appreciate the opportunity he has given me. We have a very strong personal relationship that I really can’t describe. We tell each other that we love each other all the time and we mean it. I don’t know of a lot of other teams that have that kind of relationship. They might but I know we have a strong bond.”      

McMillen Uses Downtime Away From Track to Rescue Dogs

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Elkhart, IN (May 28, 2020) — Since the postponed AMALIE® Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Terry McMillen has been staying busy in his race shop with crew chief Rob Wendland but in his down time he has let his family go to the dogs. The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has been on hiatus since mid-March and McMillen along with his wife Cori and son Cam have been fostering puppies for a Northern Indiana organization, Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group. The McMillens already have three dogs and a cat so bringing additional puppies into their family only seemed like a logical idea. 

“When we got back from Gainesville, our dog sitter Jen Schwartz, who runs the organization, asked if we wanted some puppies to play with for a couple of days, and it has turned into a constant cycle of fostering,” explained Cori McMillen. “We have had about 15 puppies since we started this. We typically have two puppies at a time.  If one gets a home, then she brings me another that same day.”

Now as an additional commitment to the organization McMillen Racing is auctioning a replica crew shirt designed by ProThings, die-cast dragster, cap and visor all signed by Terry McMillen. The auction launched today on eBay, click here to see auction, with all proceeds going to Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group.

“Fosters are the backbone to the rescue. The more fosters we have, the more dogs we can rescue,” said Jen Schwartz Founder and Director of Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group. “I have known the McMillen family for a few years, so when they offered to foster, I was thrilled.  With their family fostering two puppies at a time, it gives me the ability to put more focus into rehabilitating dogs with more serious medical conditions.  I know they are enjoying time with the puppies, so it’s definitely been a win-win situation.” 

Throughout the down time the McMillens have been busy fostering and comforting each puppy they receive. The ability to house multiple animals has made a huge difference and also creates a busy atmosphere at home. 

“Our job is to help them transition into home life, since they have never been in a home environment.  We only foster puppies and it has worked out great, because she needed someone to help fostering puppies specifically. The puppies fit best into our lifestyle since we have three dogs and a cat of our own, so bringing an older dog in with an unknown background could cause conflicts.  Our dogs just ignore the puppies,” added McMillen  

Homeward Bound is a non-profit organization that does not receive state or federal funding in turn they rely on fundraising and private donations. They have rescued over 6,000 dogs with the help of a small group of volunteers who are dedicated to helping pets out of less than perfect situations and getting them into their forever homes

“They don’t have a brick and mortar building so, they rely on fosters.  They will take in any dog that needs a home no matter the age or medical condition. They take dogs that are in kill shelters in Indiana and in other states, so that they have a chance at a life.  They also get puppies that are actually puppies from breeders but are considered ‘reject’ puppies that for whatever reason, usually because of a physical or medical condition, can’t be sold to pet stores.  If Homeward Bound didn’t take them, they would either be put back into the breeding cycle or euthanized,” added McMillen.  

Terry McMillen Racing based in Elkhart, Ind., is a Top Fuel drag racing team competing in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The team was founded in 2007 and has shown remarkable determination and dedication. McMillen won the prestigious Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in 2018 and has qualified for the NHRA Countdown, the end of season playoffs, in 2017 and 2018. Throughout his career with longtime sponsor AMALIE® Motor Oil McMillen has raced to eight final rounds including a career best five finals in 2018.