McMillen’s 5th final in last 12 races
MARTIN, Mich. — For the second time in a row and for the third time this season, Terry McMillen has made it to the final round of an IHRA Nitro Jam national event. The U.S. 131 Motorsports Park marked the third time this season McMillen raced points leader Spencer Massey for the win. Massey holds a 2-1 advantage over McMillen.
“Seems like Spencer and I like racing each other in the finals,” McMillen said. “We both want a good side-by-side final. We couldn’t make it happen last Sunday, but I’d love to meet him again in the final to see if we can even the score.”
The weekend started strong for the Amalie Oil team when McMillen raced to the “Last Man Standing” award on Friday night, earning an additional 5 points and the provisional #1 qualifying position. The 4.659 elapsed time at 316.01 m.p.h was McMillen’s low e.t. of the season.
Hoosier Thunder doubles up at Grand Bend
McMillen resets track speed record en route to win
GRAND BEND, Ont. – Terry McMillen, Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owner and driver of the Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster, couldn’t have imagined the outcome of the Mopar Canadian Nationals in his wildest dreams. The Elkhart, Indiana based team to both McMillen’s Top Fuel Dragster and the Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car driven by Paul Noakes, raced their way to the winner’s circle this past weekend.
“When we started this two-car team I hoped that we could do something like this,” McMillen said. “But I know how hard it is to win one of these things, much less how difficult it would be to get two pro cars to win on the same Sunday. These two teams worked their butts off this weekend to make this dream come true. We’re still pretty ecstatic about the whole thing.”
McMillen qualified his dragster in the second position and then reset Clay Millican’s 2-year-old track speed record in his first elimination round. The 322.42 MPH pass was also a career best. The 4.665 elapsed time was just 0.019 seconds from resetting the track elapsed time record.
Noakes makes third time the charm
GRAND BEND, Ont. – For the third race in a row, Paul Noakes found himself in the final round of an IHRA national event. This time the Mopar Canadian Nationals provided a different outcome as the Les Mellows tuned Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny car prevailed, giving Hoosier Thunder Motorsports its first Funny Car victory ever.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of these guys,” Terry McMillen, team owner said. “Paul and Les are the best in the business and they proved it again this weekend.”
Of the last 18 races that a Paul Noakes driven / Les Mellows tuned car has been entered, 11 have resulted in a final round appearance, five of those with wins, including the successful defense of the Mopar Canadian nationals.
Noakes and Mellows made the transition to McMillen’s Amalie Oil InstiGator at the beginning of the season with the goal of competing for a championship. “It took a little longer to get the car suited to Paul than we all had hoped for,” Mellows explained. “But now that he is becoming more comfortable with it we can begin to enjoy the results.”
Noakes races Amalie InstiGator into final round appearance
MECHANICSVILLE, Md. – The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team car driven by Paul Noakes and tuned by Les Mellows raced the Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car to a final round appearance before falling to points leader Laurie Cannister. The effort put the team back into the championship hunt and after four of ten events they sit in the fourth position, just a few rounds from the number two spot.
“It was a great weekend for the car and for this team,” Noakes said after the event. “We’re one step closer to having the perfect car. I couldn’t be happier.”
McMillen sets low ET of eliminations – not enough
MECHANICSVILLE, Md. – Terry McMillen headed into the President’s Cup Nationals looking for improvement for his Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster. While he found a marked improvement in his team’s performance, it wasn’t enough to advance them past the first round of eliminations.
The John “Bodie” Smith tuned dragster set the low elapsed time of eliminations (4.858 seconds) but McMillen couldn’t overcome Mike Strasburg’s 0.013 reaction time.
“John gave me a great car to work with on a hot track. I think we had the set up to win some rounds,” team owner and driver Terry McMillen said. “Bottom line – I’ve got to do a better job on the tree. People talk about having a reaction time like that with a fuel car and how unlikely that is, but Mike did it and I didn’t and that’s what drag racing is all about.”
Big weekend ends early for Noakes and InstiGator
MILAN, Mich.– After a catastrophic engine failure in Rockingham knocked the Hoosier Thunder team from contention, the Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car driven by Paul Noakes and tuned by Les Mellows, looked for big improvements at the Motor City Nationals. They didn’t have to wait long.
The team rolled the Dodge Avenger off of the transporter and immediately captured Friday night’s Last Man Standing Award and an additional five points with a 5.791 et at 244.03 mph performance. It was a career best performance for the car.
Saturday’s qualifying attempts would prove that the InstiGator’s performance wasn’t a fluke. Noakes would outrun Dale Brand during the afternoon session by posting a career best 5.754 et at 245.36 mph, remaining in the top spot after two sessions. Noakes would once again put his ride into the seventies during Saturday night’s session, only to be outdone by Brand’s run into the sixties.
The only spoiler for the weekend was a first round -.002 red light against Rob Atchison.
Gremlin keeps McMillen out of Motor City Nationals
MILAN, Mich. – Terry McMillen took his Amalie Oil Top Fuel Dragster to the Motor City Nationals with high expectations. After three qualifying attempts the team found itself on the outside of the top eight and parked for Sunday eliminations.
“It’s just one of those things,” McMillen said after the race. “We are very disappointed because up until Milan this car has been very consistent. We just couldn’t find the right set up for the track. Heck, I don’t think we could have found the track if we fell onto it.”
“We’ve just got one of those gremlins that hasn’t shown itself yet. I’ve got the best crew in the business, so I know we’ll get it figured out before the next race.”
McMillen’s takes shot at first NHRA start
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.”
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.”
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- Next Page »