PHOENIX, Ariz. (February 28, 2016) – Terry McMillen, drove his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ NHRA Top Fuel Dragster to a second round win in as many races. The win marked McMillen’s 125th NHRA start and solidifies the team’s career best start. McMillen leaves Phoenix tenth in points.

McMillen took advantage of the 15 car field and used his four qualifying session to continue testing different tuneups on his dragster. “We’re still working hard on our early numbers and Rob (Wendland, crew chief) and I wanted to try a few different things,” McMillen said. “We’re getting closer and closer to the setup we want. We’ve still got a little work to do, but I’m pretty sure no one wants to run us first round right now.”

If I could have got my feet through the floorboard I was going to break out the Fred Flinstones and start running to the finish line.

McMillen took out the points leader Steve Torrence in first round action when he posted a 3.840 to Torrence’s 3.851 elapsed time. “The XTERMIGATOR had its tongue hanging out a little on that run,” McMillen explained after the run. “The car was going to run a .80 (3.80 elapsed time). But we ate up a piston on the big end. The pan pressure switch did its job and shut the motor off. I’m still not sure if I like that – I mean it probably saved us a motor in that situation, but it almost cost us that round. If I could have got my feet through the floorboard I was going to break out the Fred Flinstones and start running to the finish line. Steveo (Steve Torrence) has a good hotrod right now and I didn’t want to give him any chance to go around us.”

McMillen faced Brittany Force in the second round of eliminations and while he took a slight starting line advantage his car broke the tires loose at about the 100ft mark of the race. Through four rounds of competition McMillen is perfect on leaving first from the starting line against opponents.

“We hated spinning the tires in that situation,” McMillen said. “But, it was the first time this season that we have done that. We’ve been looking for the other side of the envelope and we found it that time.”

McMillen leaves Phoenix tenth in points and the first time in back to back races in the top 10 since 2011 when he narrowly missed the countdown to David Grubnic by just nine points.

“Some might say it’s a little early to start counting points,” McMillen said. “But every point is important. I’m still a little sore about missing The Countdown in 2011 and getting two round wins this early in the season is big for us. It’s a good start and something we want to continue going forward.”

McMillen and team are now focused on the East Coast season opener as his team heads for Gainesville, Florida for the AMALIE Motor Oil Gatornationals March 17th-20th. The team will participate in media day on Wednesday March 16th at the Holiday Inn Gainesville University Center at 11:30AM. The team will start the car and perform full turnaround in less than an hour and refire the car for those in attendance. The public is invited.

POMONA, Calif. (February 14, 2016) – Terry McMillen, driver of the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel Dragster, scored the season’s first major upset when he defeated Tony Schumacher in opening round action here in Southern California.

“I got out of the car and I’m asking, did Tony smoke the tires?”, McMillen said after the win. “I mean he’s the champ for a reason, you just expect him to be there. I’m looking around and I didn’t see him, I didn’t hear him, but I wasn’t lifting until I reached the finish line.”

Schumacher’s Army dragster dropped a cylinder early and McMillen’s AMALIE dragster dropped a cylinder at the end of the run. McMillen expanded his lead at every interval and never trailed for the win. It’s only the second time in 18 tries that McMillen has been able to beat Schumacher.

“I think we dropped a cylinder right there at the end and when we got back to the pits we found out that we lost the computer,” McMillen said. “We thought we found the issue and everything looked good when we warmed it up, but when we got back out there for the second round the computer quit again. So, we’ve got nothing. No dashboard – nothing. Rob (Wendland, crew chief) and I were doing our best to kind of guess at fuel pressure and idle RPMs and we thought we had it pretty close.”

McMillen faced and lost to J.R. Todd in a second round match-up.

“We might have guessed a little lean,” McMillen said of the computer-less setup he and Wendland attempted at the starting line when the car’s on-board computer failed.. “A little ‘spicy’ as Rob likes to say,” McMillen joked. “The flames got a little green down there and with J.R. Todd pulling away, we thought we’d save some aluminium for another day, so I lifted.”

“Honestly, everything did it’s job well,” McMillen added. “The AMALIE Motor Oil kept everything lubricated, the Ross Pistons and Carillo Rods held up under the lean conditions and those Flatout Gaskets kept everything where it was suppose to be – in the motor.”

“Our team is really starting to come together nicely,” McMillen said. “These guys have worked tirelessly and unselfishly, night and day to get where we are at. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn close.”

“I also want to personally thank Don Schumacher and everyone at his organization that helped put this car together. Rob and I feel like we have a hot rod that we could drive down a dirt road. It’s my first DSR car and I can truly say that it’s a dream to drive.”

The team would also like to thank the Radisson Ontario Airport for its support and hospitality during the NHRA Winternationals.

McMillen is headed to Phoenix, 8th in points, with his best start since 2011, for the Carquest Auto Parts Nationals at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The race will be contested February 26-28th. Visit NHRA.com for more details.

Ennis, Tex. (October 18, 2015) –  Terry McMillen left Dallas with his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil INSTIGATOR Top Fuel Dragster encouraged about the prospects of the future and the remaining races this season.

“Our guys really came together this weekend and the car responded to their teamwork,” McMillen said. “It’s really inspiring to see the consistency in this race car.”

McMillen made four consistent passes during qualifying before ending the fourth session with a 3.815 second elapsed time. Good enough to hold the 14th spot in a field where 19 cars made attempts to qualify.

Race day would see McMillen paired with Brittany Force. Force is  currently third in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. “We came into Sunday pretty jacked up,” McMIllen said. “We were confident in our setup and thought this might me the perfect time to break into the seventies (3.79 or better).”

“An extra nut on the clutch and a new tire, we needed one not both,: McMillen shared. “But it was a good call. We learned something today. Something we’ll be able to use to be more competitive in these types of conditions.”

McMillen and team are now headed to Las Vegas where the official team resort is Tahiti Village. Fans, friends and guests are invited to come by Tahiti Village on Wednesday October 28th from 11am-2pm to see Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil INSTIGATOR Top Fuel Dragster. Tahiti Village is located at 7200 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Reading, Penn. – Rain persisted during the NHRA Keystone Nationals and qualifying was cut to just one session. That didn’t help Terry McMillen’s quest to qualify his AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil INSTIGATOR Top Fuel Dragster.

“We actually made a pretty good pass given the conditions,” a disgusted McMillen said shortly after the remaining qualifying session was canceled. McMillen sat already strapped into the car waiting for NHRA as they finished track preparations before the rain started again.

“In our only attempt on Saturday we ran a 3.84 elapsed time, but I clipped a cone at the end of the track, disqualifying my run. The NHRA ran the jet dryer just before my run, it was sprinkling on my windshield, it was just slick out there – I couldn’t keep it in the groove. I guess that’s just the way my luck goes this season. All we had to do was stage the car! They (NHRA) didn’t the cone, I did.”

Had McMillen’s run counted he would have qualified third. The canceled session left only 14 cars qualified for tomorrow’s elimination rounds in Top Fuel. “Hey, NHRA did what they could to get at least one session in,” McMillen added. “I guess this is just one of those times I wish they (NHRA) would have done something different. It wasn’t a great qualifying session for the fans and it wasn’t for most of the teams. It’s going to be a guessing game for the crew chiefs tomorrow with only one shot at the track. Maybe we should have ran another qualifying session tomorrow, I don’t know. A 14 car show on Sunday certainly won’t be a great show for the fans and byes in eliminations doesn’t say much for a Championship Countdown. I’ll get over it. Hopefully Dallas will be our luck changer.”

The next stop on the NHRA tour takes McMillen and team to the Texas Motorplex for the NHRA AAA Texas Fall Nationals October 15-18.

It’s not too late to participate in the SHE4Life Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in Dallas. Put the name of a loved one who has or is battling cancer on McMillen’s car. All proceeds benefit SHE4Life. Visit SHE4Life.com for details.

Charlotte, N.C. – It’s the first round of eliminations and Terry McMillen, driver of the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil INSTIGATOR Top Fuel Dragster is leading Antron Brown at the start by .032 seconds. When McMillen reaches the 330ft. mark of the race, still with the lead, the tires begin to spin. McMillen lifts, lets the car settle then hits the throttle again in an effort to maintain his potential win.  If the story ended with a loss it would be a happy ending. But it doesn’t end that easy.

“I think fans paid to see a race,” a frustrated McMillen said. “They don’t want to see a car with the lead idle down the track. It’s a driver’s instinct to pedal the car in a situation like this. I’m not going to lift and just wait for him to go around me without trying to do something. Is that the kind of racing people want to see? I don’t think so, but I’m afraid that’s where we’re headed – or an eight car field when they run the few remaining independents out of town.’”

Just before McMillen hit the throttle again the car dropped five of the eight cylinders, leaving an excessive amount of fuel in the intake manifold. Once ignited, the intake and injector split and oil escaped with the ensuing explosion. McMillen was charged with his fifth oil down of the season and second in as many races. The last two fines equal $14,000, enough to make McMillen consider hanging up his firesuit. McMillen had one of three oil downs in round one of eliminations.

“Right after the run the Safety Safari came over and wanted me to take a ride in the ambulance and get checked out, “ McMillen said. ” I told them I don’t need a doctor – I need a banker.”

“I said a lot things out of frustration during my top end interview,” McMillen added. “I meant all of it. We do have to evaluate where we are at. I have no idea how we’re going to get to the next race. But I know this, we’re going down swinging.”

“NHRA came down here and looked at our parts after that run. You can see everything, rods, pistons, bearings, heck the block and crank are fine. Everything from the intake up – not so good.”

“I know we have to control oil downs. If it’s our fault – if we left an oil line off or didn’t tighten the rod bolts – that’s our fault. Fine me, we deserve that. But, if someone has an idea on how to contain oil from the intake or when it’s pumping out of the headers, I’m listening. We keep making bigger bombs with bigger fuel pumps and heads and then putting these cars on marginal tracks, stuff is going to happen. It makes the highlight reel. They’ll post it all over social media, use it on the T.V. show to get us to watch and fine us for it. Maybe we can get some royalties from that to help pay for the parts we need to get to St. Louis.”