Terry McMillen Racing

You are here: Home / Archives for News & Blog / Race Reports / Post Race Reports

McMillen improves – but not enough for Norwalk

By

norwalk2NORWALK, Ohio – The Amalie Oil / UNOH / All Star Performance Dragster driven by Terry McMillen continued to show improvement at this weekend’s NHRA event in Norwalk, Ohio.

McMillen made solid runs to qualify his dragster 11th for Sunday eliminations and backed up his qualifying effort with a 3.87 second, 323 MPH pass in a first round loss to Steve Torrence.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” McMillen said. “We’ve overcome a lot of adversity to get where we’re at today, but my guys just keep turning those Genius Tool wrenches and we’re getting closer with each turn.

“Although we hated to lose that first round our car made it down the track four out of five times this weekend – all with solid numbers, McMillen continued. “We’re really, really close to running some numbers that will go rounds. We’ve truly found some consistency that I think will pay some solid dividends over these next five races to make a run at the Countdown.”

McMillen by the Numbers

  • 13
    Terry moves into 13th place in the point standings just 22 points behind David Grubnic and 34 points behind Brandon Bernstein for 11th. Each round win is worth 20 points.

  • 4 out of 5
    Terry’s dragster made 4 out of 5 succesful passses down the track, each with solid numbers including big MPHs of 319, 320 and 323. Sunday’s elimination round even saw a half track MPH over 280 MPH

  • 7
    Number of crew members seen floating down the lazy river at the Maui Sands Hotel in Sandusky, Ohio after qualifying Saturday evening. No kids were injured in the floating adventure.

McMillen doubles up on semifinal appearances

By

Chicago_rhm_6231JOLIET, Ill. – For the second time in as many weeks Terry McMillen drove his Amalie Oil / UNOH / All Star Performance Top Fuel Dragster to the semifinals. This is McMillen’s third appearance of the season and fourth of his career.

“When you sit back and think about this, it’s almost surreal,” McMillen said. “We’re now 12 races into this – three times we’ve been to the semis and five times we didn’t qualify, it’s a crazy ride but right now we’re loving it.”

McMillen was able to take out top qualifier Morgan Lucas in round one. Lucas had set the track record in Saturday night qualifying (3.737), but McMillen made his best effort of the weekend in the opening round (3.856 @322.11 mph) to knock out the number one qualifier.

In round two, McMillen and Steve Torrence gave the fans a show with a side by side peddalfest.  McMillen was able to make a textbook recovery, allowing he car to settle down before back peddling the throttle. His dragster settled down, hooked back up and still ran 297 mph to the finish line for the win.  Clay Millican stood between McMillen and his third chance of the season to make it to the final round, but today wouldn’t be the day for Terry.

“That’s another great weekend for us,” McMillen said. “I’m so thankful for our sponsors who have stuck with us through these bumps in the road. I couldn’t be prouder of my crew. They’ve really come together through all of this. These guys are dedicated to making this one of the best cars in the NHRA. I’m not ready to say we’ve got this thing figured out, but every time we go down the track we’re learning something and we’re using what we’ve learned to improve.”

The next stop for McMillen and crew is this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, July 4-7 in Norwalk, Ohio.

McMillen by the Numbers

  • 4
    Number of career semifinal appearances. McMillen’s first was Atalanta 2011
  • 7
    Number of round wins this season so far. Best previous – 6 round wins in 2011
  • 137
    Number of points away from Top 10 with 6 races remaining from the countdown

Photo credit – Rhonda McCole – CompetitionPlus.com

McMillen rebounds in Epping with semi-final appearance

By


epping2EPPING, NH – Terry McMillen’s season has been described as a roller coaster, the NHRA Epping, New Hampshire race this weekend just added to the season long ride. After a disappointing showing last week in Bristol, Tenn., McMIllen’s Amalie Oil/UNOH/All Star Performance Top Fuel Dragster rebounded in grand fashion with a semi-final appearance.

“We’ve been looking forward to coming back to the New England Dragway,” McMillen said. “We’ve had a lot of success here in the past when we raced here with the IHRA and we were hoping some of that luck would rub off here again racing in NHRA.”

McMillen may have found his luck in his old stomping grounds when a long-time fan brought McMillen a horseshoe for luck. “We might be sitting on that horseshoe for the rest of the season,” McMillen said. “The fans have always been good to us and the rest of the NHRA teams got to experience the New England hospitality that we’ve been accustomed to for years. This is one of Amalie’s oldest and loyalists markets and it meant a lot for us to have a good showing up here. Reserved seating sold out here weeks before the event and it was standing room only all weekend. I wouldn’t mind racing here every week if we can have the same kind of performance as we did this week.”

McMillen’s team won’t have long to enjoy those few round wins, the Amalie/UNOH/All Star Performance transporters have already left the New England area headed for the June 27th – June 30th O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals near Chicago, Ill. next weekend.

McMillen by the Numbers

  • 101
    Number of guests from Sanel Auto Parts that Amalie and Terry spent time with in the hospitality area this weekend
  • 1
    Lucky horseshoe provided by Wayne Russel – long time Amalie customer and friend to the Amalie Top Fuel team
  • 3
    Number of career semi-final appearances in NHRA – 2 this season (Las Vegas and Epping)
  • 15
    Number of lobsters consumed by the team Thursday night
  • 0
    Number of reserved seats available  – standing room only at this event – get your tickets now for 2014
  • 1
    Number of degrees presented by Terry in his lifetime. Terry was honored to present Jamie Blake, a UNOH graduate who earned an AAS in UNOH’s College of Applied Technologies Automotive Department. Jamie missed graduation to race Super Comp and start as a lead technician for Kieser Automotive in Needham, Mass.

McMillen adds chapter to his book – “Another way of getting our butt kicked”

By

e-town1Englishtown, N.J. – “What are the odds?” Those were the words a frustrated Terry McMillen said after an unsuccessful attempt at qualifying during the third round in Englishtown. McMillen’s Amalie Oil/UNOH/All Star Performance Top Fuel team suffered a flat right front tire after the running over something during the burnout. A Dzus fastener (pronounced Zoos – a quarter-turn fastener that holds body panels on dragsters) appeared to be the culprit of the flat tire requiring McMillen  to wave off his third attempt.

The failed third attempt seemed to be an ongoing theme for McMillen’s weekend. “We just found another way of getting our butt kicked,” McMillen joked. “We just couldn’t seem to get on track this weekend. We had a new blower and new heads after the Topeka engine failure. We needed data and we just couldn’t seem to get ahead of that this weekend. We’ll regroup and be ready to get back after it in Bristol.”

McMillen by the Numbers

  • .007 seconds
    The amount of time McMillen needed in Q2 to get into the top 12. His 3.894 seconds @ 310.70MPH would not carryover
  • 50 to 1 Dzus Fasteners
    There are approximately 50 Dzus Fasteners on a Top Fuel Dragster – it only takes one to flatten a tire
  • 134 and 94 degrees
    Official track and air temperature respectfully before Q4.
  • 14.5 cases
    Amount of Cool Image Water and Mello Yello consumed by the team this hot weekend. Here comes summer

McMillen finds consistency in Topeka – still falls short in opening round

By

After struggling through the first few races of the season, Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH Top Fuel team have found some much needed consistency to their tune-up. After two solid qualifying passed in the rain shortened Atlanta race, McMillen’s Richard Hartman led team was able to put down three solid qualifying passed in Topeka. The effort landed McMillen 12th for race day in a match-up with Spencer Massey’s, Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel Dragster.

While McMillen put up a good fight for the first 330 feet, a broken valve would finish his chance for a first round upset and provided a spectacular fireball for fans. No Amalie Pro 70W was deposited on the track.

“Overall it was a good weekend,” a slightly dejected McMillen said on Sunday. “We had a pretty consistent car all weekend and we would have liked to have made  a closer race out of it, but it just didn’t work out that way.”

“Topeka has been a pretty good track for us. We got the round win monkey off of our back a few years ago and now maybe we have the consistency monkey off of our back too. We looking forward to Englishtown to see what we can do there.”

“I’d also like to commend the NHRA Safety Safari. They  did a good job of getting the track ready after a night of thunderstorms. The lanes were as even as any place that we’ve been all year.”

McMillen by the Numbers

– 2 Top Fuel Cylinder Heads

Destroyed when a valve stuck in opening round action. The blower might also be a casualty, but the team will have to get it back to the shop for further inspection

– 3 Qualifying passes

Number of runs in the 3.80s during qualifying. A very consistent car for McMillen. The fourth pass was a test with new parts

– 60 Corn Dogs

The team seems to have found a new treat for their hotdog roller. Jimmy Dean would be proud of the number of breakfast pancake and sausage “corn dog” type treats they ate this weekend.

– 1 New driver for the Amalie/UNOH team.

Terry and Cori are expecting a bouncing new driver / baby boy on September 17. A succession plan that should keep Terry busy for at least the next 18 years. Baby does need a new pair of shoes… and a Top Fuel Dragster of course.

Stretching the budget bites McMillen

By

Photo – CompetitionPlus.com

SONOMA, Calif.   —  Racing on a small budget is tough and no one knows that better than Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil / UNOH Top Fuel Team. McMillen fell victim to points leader Spencer Massey in the opening round of the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, the second stop on the NHRA’s Western Swing. Massey reset both ends of the track record in defeating McMillen with a 3.777 e.t. at 328.62 mph.

“We’ve got the best sponsors in the world and we wouldn’t be out here without the help of each and everyone of them,” McMillen said. “But, we’re racing on a fraction of the budget of some of the teams out here and we have to run our parts to the very end of their life cycle.”

McMillen qualified 13th with a respectable 3.855 elapsed time during the second qualifying session, then struggled to get down the track on Saturday’s third and fourth rounds. “Actually we were pretty lucky on the eighty-five run,” McMillen explained. “The car was about to smoke the tires and somehow the track just came to us and saved that run. After Saturday’s attempts we knew there was something just worn out and it turn out to be our primary clutch fingers.”

The Elkhart, Ind. based team scrambled Saturday night and found a set of primary clutch fingers to purchase and install for Sunday’s matchup with Massey. The results; McMillen got down the track, just not quick enough to upset Massey. “The car was a lot happier with the new clutch fingers,” McMillen said. “We just didn’t have enough data to push it to the point needed to run those kind of numbers. We’ll keep trying. We’re not going to give up.”

Local sponsorship for the Sonoma race continues to grow for McMillen’s team. For the second year the team picked up support from Jimmy Vasser Toyota and Lake Berryessa Boat and Jet Ski Rentals. McMillen was also proud to participate in the SWECO customer appreciation event and thankful for the additional support that Mike Ziegenmeyer and SWECO provided for the race.

The next stop on the NHRA Full Throttle tour is third and final stop on the Western Swing in Kent, Wash. near Seattle.

McMillen can’t peddle past Palmer in Denver loss

By

Photo by Roger Richards

MORRISON, Colo.  – What started out as a promising weekend for Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel team ended up leaving McMillen dejected and looking for answers.

“We came into Denver with a pretty good game plan,” McMillen said after the first two sessions of qualifying. The first session saw McMillen post an impressive 3.947 elapsed time at 314.75mph that would hold on to the provisional #2 qualifying position in the thin mile high air. Even in the second round of qualifying McMillen was able to outpace Spencer Massey’s incremental times until the car drifted out of the groove forcing McMillen to lift. Still his Elkhart, Ind. based team posted the fourth fastest elapsed time of the second session.

“There was a lot of confidence coming into eliminations,” McMillen said. “We felt like we were going to be able to string a few consistent laps together and see where the chips might fall. It just didn’t work out like that.”

Scott Palmer would take a slight staring line advantage and appear to have the go ahead victory until his car pitched the blower belt leaving Palmer on a dead coast. However, just a few feet prior to that McMillen’s car lost traction. Several attempts to peddle the car proved pointless as Palmer would coast through for the victory.

“As a driver you want to be prepared for everything,” a dejected McMillen said just after his loss. “I really feel like I didn’t do a good job peddling the car and getting it to hook back up. But my crew guys reminded me that we win these things as a team – we lose them as a team also. So, we’ll just pick up the pieces and head to Sonoma.”

Norwalk: To hot to handle for McMillen

By

NORWALK, Ohio (July 9, 2012) – The weather conditions were hotter than anything his team had experienced and Terry McMillen hopes it’s the last time his Amalie Oil / UNOH Top Fuel team has to endure those type of conditions. For the first time this season McMillen failed to qualify for eliminations.

“We’ve learned how to go faster, now we have to learn how to slow this car down for these type of conditions,” McMillen said. “I can’t make excuses for it – we just didn’t get the job done. There’s five races left before The Countdown. Hopefully we haven’t dug ourselves to big of a hole to crawl out of here and get back into the hunt.”

McMillen trails Clay Millican and Bob Vandergriff, Jr. by 98 points, about 5 rounds of competition. Currently Millican and Vandergriff are tied for 10th. “It’s a tough spot to be in,” McMillen said. “We’re going to have to get some stars to line up and some luck to fall our way, but we’re not giving up.” Khalid Albalooshi trails McMillen by just 18 points and will also fight for the final spot in The Countdown.

The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Championship is heating up in Nitro Funny Car as well. Defending World Champion, Matt Hagan (13th position, trailing by 110 points), Alexis De Joria (12th position, trailing by 96 points) and Tim Wilkerson (10th position, trailing by 30 points) are currently chasing John Force for the 10th and final spot in The Countdown.

The NHRA season will continue with the first race of the three race Western Swing, beginning with Denver (July 20-22). Sonoma (July 27-29) and Seattle (August 3-5) will round out the back-to-back-to-back mid-summer marathon.

McMillen has high hopes after first round lost

By

Photo by Roger Richards – used with permission

JOLIET, Ill. (July 2, 2012) — While Terry McMillen wasn’t happy about his opening round loss to Spencer Massey at the O’Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals, he does keep hope that his Amalie Oil/UNOH Top Fuel Dragster has improved. McMillen, a Chicago native and Elkhart, Ind. resident kept family and friends in attendance on the edge of their seats in the 0.048 second Sunday morning loss.

“We’re in the same zip code now,” McMillen joked, referring to the consistent passes in the low to mid 3.80s his team has made over the past 4 races. “I really like the way our team is starting to jell right now. Just the fact that we kept the same motor in the car all weekend shows how happy this car is right now.”

McMillen trails the 10th spot in the Countdown to the Championship by a little less than five rounds with six races remaining. He’ll also have to win a race or rely on fans to vote him into the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout held at the U.S. Nationals in August.

McMillen’s next chance will be July 5-8 in Norwalk, Ohio.

Career best not enough for McMillen in Topeka

By

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 20, 2012) – They did all they could do – it just wasn’t enough. Terry McMillen and the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel team registered a new career best elapsed time of 3.847 seconds; however his new best wasn’t enough to upset Brandon Berstein’s 3.787 elapsed time.

“We brought a bigger knife to the fight, but it happened to be another gun fight,” a dejected McMillen said shortly after the first round loss.

“Our car is really happy up until about 660ft,” McMillen added. “We’ve just got a little bug to figure out for that last 400ft. We’ve got to do it quickly too. With seven other teams dropping seventies on the track at will in the first round it’s real apparent that we have to pick up our pace. There’s no room for error in NHRA Drag Racing.”

The Elkhart, Ind. and Watervliet, Mich. area will have an opportunity to meet Terry McMillen and the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel Dragster at events next week.

On May 23rd, McMillen will display his NHRA hotrod for one of AmalieStore.com’s newest bulk customers. Join Terry and crew at Marv & Tom’s Truck Service & Wash for a customer appreciation event from 11am-2pm at 1117 Kent Street, Elkhart, Ind.

On May 26th fans can join McMillen for the 2012 Lane Automotive Car Show at 8300 Lane Drive, Watervliet, Mich. where he’ll take place in the noon Nitro-Fueled Noisefest. For more information visit Lane Automotive: http://www.laneautomotive.com/Annual-Car-Show.