Resets career best performance twice

POMONA, Calif. (February 11, 2019) – Terry McMillen drove his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel Dragster to a semi-final appearance in the season opening NHRA race, but that didn’t excite the Elkhart, Indiana driver and team owner.

He made six final round appearances in 2018 and won the prestigious U.S. Nationals. Even that may only provide passing excitement compared to the anticipation for what the 2019 season has in store for McMillen.

“Welcome to 2019,” McMillen said with a smile. “The odds were really stacked against us coming here and doing well. We built an in-house car, added four new crew members and didn’t get to test. We came here with the same motor that we ran in the NHRA Finals and had a great weekend. That’s nothing to hang our heads about.”

McMillen leaves Pomona third in points, his best start after the first of 24 races and that’s still not what excites McMillen.

“We got better every run,” McMillen said. “We’ve got a hotrod that can really compete this year.”

McMillen reset his career best elapsed time and mile per hour in the opening round match-up against Richie Crampton with a 3.710 at 329.10mph. He then reset it again in round two against Leah Pritchett when he posted a 3.696 at 329.91mph. He made another impressive run in the hole shot loss to Doug Kalitta, posting a 3.706 to Doug’s 3.708. Kalitta’s margin of victory was just 0.0113 seconds.

“I didn’t think I had a bad light,” McMillen explained. “Doug just had a better one. He took out me, Billy and Steve (Torrence) on hole shots. Doug earned that victory today.”

“The car was happy all weekend,” McMillen added. “Rob (Wendland) did a great job on our chassis. Now he has something he can work with. It’s responding to the changes he’s making. The best part of it all – we’re not even leaning on the motor. There’s a lot more left in it. A few tweaks here and there and we’ll be even more consistent.”

“When is Phoenix?” McMillen asked with a grin.

Race two of the season is the NHRA Arizona Nationals, February 22-24.

POMONA, Calif. (November 11, 2018) – Terry McMillen and the Rob Wendland led AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel team completed the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season, logging the best of McMillen’s career.

While McMillen qualified 13th for the season finale and lost to Clay Millican in a close opening round match-up, McMillen found it hard to be disappointed. “We’re not hanging our heads about anything,” McMillen said. “We’ve come a long way and proved a single car team can come out here and be competitive week in and week out.”

McMillen logged six final round appearances, which is tied for second most with Doug Kalitta and second only to the dominance of Champion Steve Torrence’s 11 wins.

The season also featured McMillen’s second career win at the prestigious 64th running of the U.S. Nationals where McMillen defeated Steve Torrence on his way to the win. It would be the last round Torrence would lose before sweeping every race in the playoffs.

“I’ve always said that everyone remembers who won the championship and who won Indy,” McMillen said. “It’s certainly a dream come true and something this team will cherish. I couldn’t be prouder of the young men and women that have dedicated themselves to this team and the success that we have all enjoyed this year.”

McMillen’s season also included 20 round wins and a .470 winning percentage in eliminations. He also reset his personal best mile per hour at 329.75 at the spring Charlotte event.

“This is not only the best season for us, but it’s also the best position we’ve ever been going into the off-season,” McMillen continued. “We’ve got a lot of plans this winter that will make us that much more competitive in 2019. It’s about 90 days until we’re back out here to have a fresh start at it. The new season starts now.”

CONCORD, N.C. (October 14, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team fell short of their desired goal of going rounds at the NHRA Carolina Nationals and moving up in the Countdown to the Championship.

“There’s no excuses,” McMillen said shortly after the loss. “We just got our butts kicked today.” While McMillen made a good pass in eliminations, his 3.780 pass was not enough for Dom Lagana’s 3.716

The loss dropped McMillen from sixth in points, back to ninth in points with two races remaining. “We know we can move back up the ladder,” McMillen said. “Every round is important in the Countdown. We proved that in Dallas when we went to the finals and proved it again by going out in the first round. All we have to do is get back out there and go some rounds.

The next chance for McMillen to improve in the Countdown to the Championship will be NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas, October 25-28. McMillen will be the defending event Champion.

ENNIS, TEXAS (October 7, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team scored a final round appearance, his fifth of the season, at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. The performance moves him to sixth in the standings for The Countdown to the Championship with just three races remaining.

“I’m so proud of this team,” McMillen said. “They’ve worked so hard to get us back to the consistent car we’ve had most of the year. Today that hard work paid off on the race track”.

The weekend was strong for McMillen. He was fifth fastest in two of the qualifying sessions and and picked up an additional point with a solid third best of session in his fourth qualifying attempt with a 3.777 second pass.

McMillen made low 3.80 passes all day Sunday, eliminating Mike Salinas, Brittany Force and Clay Millican before facing points leader Steve Torrence in the final round. McMillen took a 0.021 second starting line advantage and led to the 330ft cone before Torrence pulled ahead for a 0.0193 second margin of victory (about a half car length, or 9 feet.).

“Steve’s a tough competitor,” McMillen said after the race. “If he keeps this up, he’s going to be hard for anyone to catch. We’ve got our sites on just chipping away at getting more rounds and moving up the points ladder.”

McMillen is experiencing a career best season. So far in 2018, McMillen has won 20 of the 40 elimination rounds he has competed in, making five final round appearances and scoring his second career win at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. He will try and build on that momentum next weekend in Charlotte at the NHRA Carolina Nationals October 12-14.

MADISON, Ill, (September 23, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ lost in the opening round to Blake Alexander at the Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis. He remains eighth in The Countdown standings with four races remaining.

“It’s just frustrating,” McMillen said. “Our crew works so hard, It just comes down to clutch discs for us. Right now we can’t make two runs with the same tune-up and get the results we want.”

With four races remaining, McMillen still holds on to hope of moving up the points ladder before the season-ending race in Pomona.

“We’re disappointed,” McMillen added. “We’re not down and out. If anyone can do it Rob (Wendland, Crew Chief) and this team can. We’d like to finish in the top five. I’m confident that we can do it. We’ve just got to keep working hard.”

The next four races feature stops in Dallas, Charlotte, Las Vegas and Pomona. McMillen has had success in Charlotte with two final round appearances at the 4-Wide Nationals (2017 and 2018) and in Las Vegas he’ll be the defending even winner.

The AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals are October 4-7 at the Texas Motorplex.

READING, Penn. (September 16, 2018) – The first race of NHRA Countdown is complete and Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team can find hope in an opening round loss to Mike Salinas.

McMillen made his best pass of the weekend with a 3.784, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Salinas’ 3.736. McMillen falls to eight in points, just five points from seventh.

“Obviously we would have liked to win that round,” McMillen said. “I’m really looking forward to St. Louis because I think we found the setup we need to bring back the consistency that we had earlier in the year. We can dig our way back into the fight for the championship.”

While the senior McMillen team didn’t find the success they had hoped for, the junior team did. Terry’s youngest son Cameron made his NHRA Jr, Dragster debut at a national event and it proved to be a huge success.

With the support of McMillen’s Top Fuel team, Cam made a successful pass after earning his license just last week on his fifth birthday.

“The support of NHRA and the fans was amazing,” Terry said. “This isn’t just about the future of Terry McMillen Racing, it’s about the future of the sport and inspiring youth to get involved. I think that kids can relate with Cam and get involved. Even the fans showed a lot of support when he broke the beams and started down the track. When he pulled the parachute, the fans really started to cheer. It was inspiring to be a part of.”

Terry continued, “I’m proud of Cam. That was a lot of pressure for a five-year-old in his first race. He nailed it. He did exactly what we told him and hit all of his marks.”

The next race in The Countdown is the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis September 21-23.

BROWNSBURG, Ind, (September 3, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ team accomplished what many thought was unobtainable for the Elkhart, Indiana driver. They won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, arguably the largest drag race in the NHRA series..

Just three seasons ago, McMillen was ready to walk away from the sport that he loved dearly, after a season of struggles and mishaps had shaken his belief that he belonged in the sport.

“I’ve always said persistence out weighs resistance,” McMillen said. “That day in Charlotte, I had briefly lost faith in that statement. Ultimately it was the fans and Amalie that believed in me that day and picked me up.”

“There are two things that everyone remembers about a season,” McMillen continued. “They remember the season champion and who won Indy. I’m very proud of my team for accomplishing that goal. We won Indy and no one can ever take that away from us,”

McMillen qualified 13th for the sun drenched event that made for tricky conditions for the crew chiefs. The win would be especially tough from the bottom half of the ladder which saddled the team with the right lane. It seemed to be the trickier of the two lanes.

His first round match-up with Scott Palmer proved to be the little luck they needed to master the right lane. Palmer would shut his car off after the team saw something they didn’t like, giving McMillen a solo run to the quarter-finals.

“Palmer’s circumstance gave us the window we needed, McMillen said. “Rob (Crew Chief, Rob Wendland) learned what  we needed to do to slide our hot rod down that lane on that pass.”

It worked for team Amalie. McMillen was able to defeat points leader Steve Torrence in round two, rookie Blake Alexander in the semi-finals and veteran Doug Kalitta in the finals.

While McMillen had a good light in the finals, Kalitta would take an advantage that almost proved too tough to overcome.

“Doug drilled me on the tree, McMillen said of Kalitta’s .047 light to his own .071. “But I think we had it made up around the 60 foot mark. Rob did a fantastic job of getting us through that final round. I think Doug dropped a hole and we did too. Ours was just a little later than his.”

“I used to come here years ago to watch the race with my boys,” McMillen said. “We would always dream of winning the race. Today that dream came true.”

MORRISON, Colo. (July 22, 2018) – Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel team struggled with the heat and high elevation of Denver. McMillen qualified 12th and suffered an opening round loss to Richie Crampton. He remains seventh in the points standings.

“It always good to visit Denver,” McMillen said. “It’s just so dry and so hot. It’s just a battle from the time we get here until the time we leave. We still struggle with the right combination for the thin air up here.”

The next stop  on the NHRA Western Swing is Sonoma, California, where McMillen hopes to get back to winning rounds. The 2017 season saw McMillen make a semi-final appearance in Sonoma. “I’m excited to get back to sea-level conditions,” McMillen said as he headed west. “We made up some ground last year on the last two races of the Western Swing. We’re hoping to improve on what we did last year.”

McMillen lost to Antron Brown in the Sonoma semi-finals and lost on a hole-shot to Brown again in the Seattle final round.

Qualifying for the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals begins Friday July 27 with eliminations on Sunday July 29.

NORWALK, Ohio (June 24, 2018) – The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals marked the fourth final round appearance in 12 races for Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel team. McMillen defeated defending NHRA Champion Brittany Force in round one of eliminations, Richie Crampton in round two and points leader Steve Torrence in the semi-finals. In the final round, McMillen faced Blake Alexander and led the race to about half track before the car started hazing the tires. Alexander was able to drive around McMillen to score his first NHRA victory.

“We may never win another race,” McMillen said. “But if we keep winning rounds and keep getting to the finals, we have a chance to win the Championship.”

Consistency is something McMillen and his crew chief Rob Wendland have been concentrating on this season. “We have to be consistent and get down the track competitively,” McMillen added. “You can’t take any of these teams out here lightly, it’s a tough field. At the same time we have to constantly work on improving. We tried some new things in Bristol and it just didn’t work out. With the rain here, it was tough to try anything different, so we went back to our proven set-up on Sunday.”

With the final round appearance, McMillen moves back to sixth in the points standings, one round and one point ahead of Antron Brown and about four rounds behind Leah Pritchett for fifth.

McMillen has 13 round wins on the season, just one short of his 2017 total. He has also won 52% of elimination rounds in 2018.

The NHRA Mello Yello tour takes a week off before heading to Epping, New Hampshire for the NHRA New England Nationals July 6-8.

BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 17, 2018) – The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals proved to hot to tame for Terry McMillen and his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel team. McMillen lost an opening round match up with Tony Schumacher. McMillen’s loss, combined with Doug Kalitta’s win, keeps McMillen tied with Brittany Force for seventh in the points standings.

The loss didn’t dampen McMillen’s Father’s Day.

“There’s a lot of fathers on this team,” McMillen said. “We celebrate that today instead of worrying about this loss. There’s a lot of season left and we’ll be fine once we figure this out.”

McMillen struggled to make a full pull in the very hot conditions in Bristol. “We’ve got something mechanical going on that we need to figure out,” McMillen continued. “The bumpier tracks are giving us a problem right now.  If you look at all of our runs this weekend and the changes we made – we just got the same results. Norwalk has an all new concrete track, so that should help us there and the weather forecast looks good too. So, maybe everything is working to our favor already.”

The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals takes place next week in Norwalk, Ohio. Qualifying begins June 21st and final eliminations begin Sunday, June 24th.