LAS VEGAS – Terry McMillen rejoins the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series this weekend during the ninth annual Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, Oct. 29-Nov. 1, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This will be McMillen’s fifth appearance of the season with the Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster in NHRA competition.

McMillen’s most recent appearance resulted in his first NHRA round win when he defeated then points leader Antron Brown. He hopes to improve on that performance this weekend, but knows the challenge will be tough with 26 Top Fuel Dragsters entered for competition.

While the team has qualified for every event, like the rest of Vegas, there are no sure bets. “We’re really looking forward to making a mark in Vegas,” McMillen said. “But, we’re going to have to go out there and do our job. There are 25 other teams out there that want to make this field as bad as we do.”

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EPPING, NH – He’s been close on more than one occasion. In fact, Terry McMillen, driver and team owner of the Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster has been in 8 final rounds with 3 wins in the past three seasons. Three of those final round appearances have been at Amalie sponsored races.

“We’ve been close several times,” McMillen said. “In fact Paul (Noakes) drove my Amalie Oil InstiGator Funny Car to a win here last year and we had to settle for a runner up finish in the fuel car. We want to get a win in the Top Fuel Car for Amalie at one of their races. It’s one of those things that would put a big exclamation mark on a win.”

“This place (New England Dragway) is usually very quick. It’s exciting for us and the fans. If the conditions are right this is one of those places that we can see records fall.”

McMillen and his crew put in a little overtime in preparation for this event. The team made several test runs this on Saturday in preparation for the Amalie Oil IHRA North American Nationals. “We’ve been chasing one of those racing gremlins,” McMillen explained. “We didn’t want to take any chances going into this race.”

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ELKHART, Ind. – In most sporting events it’s known as the home field advantage. When Terry McMillen brings his Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster to the U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan it will be the closest thing to home field advantage that a drag racer can hop for.

“We’ve been busy preparing for the IHRA North American Nationals,” McMillen said. “It’s not every day that we get to race this close to home. We’ll have so many friends and family here visiting and supporting our team. It’s just awesome to have that much hometown support. Jason and Stephanie Peterson (track owners) do such a great job making this place feel like home for all the teams. It’s just great to race here.”

McMillen will be looking for a little redemption to his final round loss at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park to Spencer Massey. “The key to our success this weekend will be to stay focused,” McMillen added. “With all of our friends here it can be easy to get distracted.”

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ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. – When Terry McMillen bumps his Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster into the staging beams at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park it will mark his fifth start in NHRA competition. While McMillen holds a perfect 5-0 qualifying record as owner/driver, he’s looking for a little more this weekend.

“It’s time for us to step up and get our first round win,” McMillen said as he drove the team transporter into the Garden State for the 40th annual United Association NHRA SuperNationals “We’ve missed a few opportunities, but we can’t make excuses. Our first priority is to get this car into the show and then take it one round at a time.”

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ROCKINGHAM, N.C. – As Terry McMillen pulled into the heart of racing country and made the journey across the sandhills of North Carolina, he had one thing on his mind. Winning rounds.

McMillen drives that Amalie Oil/Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster and knows that if he’s going to have to start winning rounds sooner rather than later. The Indiana based team, tuned by Doug Kuch, ripped off 5 final rounds with one win in IHRA competition only to finish third in championship points last season.

McMillen explains, “Someone might try to look at Rockingham and say ‘it’s early in the season’. I look down the list of racers that are going to be here and our team can’t afford to give up one round of racing to any of them.”

“Top Fuel was tough enough last season,” McMillen continued. “You can’t let your guard down for a minute around here or someone will take your lunch before you know it.”

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ATLANTA – Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster will make their fourth career NHRA start at this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. McMillen and his Elkhart Indiana based team is still is search of its first round win.

“I’ve got to be honest,” McMillen said as he and his team set up their pit area for the race. “We’ve been disappointed with our performance so far this season. It’s not that we’ve been that bad – it just hasn’t been that good. We expect more from ourselves.”

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Terry McMillen will make his ACDelco NHRA Gator Nationals debut this weekend in his Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster. The team affectionately calls the car the ‘Nitro Gator’ because of the large gator head, water and gator skin that adorns the 300 mile per hour dragster.

McMillen chuckled and asked, “Would it be an understatement to think there might be a few folks from the Gainesville area that would cheer for a gator car? Maybe we’ll find a couple of extra fans just based on that.”

While McMillen hopes Florida Gator fans like his car, the real reason for the reptilian look is Tampa based Amalie Oil. “Amalie has used the gator theme for a long time,” McMillen explains. “We’ve raced my Alcohol Funny Car for years as the InstiGator and last season we dressed up this dragster to look like a gator. It certainly makes it a car that’s a little easier to remember.”

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Woodland Park joins Hoosier Thunder as associate sponsor
LAS VEGAS — Terry McMillen is familiar with the high risk, high stakes world of Top Fuel drag racing. As the driver of the Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster, he knows what it’s like to roll the dice and take a chance. In his first year as owner/driver of a Top Fuel team (second as driver), McMillen has taken many chances to put his team in the position it enjoys today.
This weekend’s ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals will be McMillen’s second NHRA event of the season and third of his career. He is still seeking his first NHRA round win. “I think we picked a pretty tough race to try and make a statement at,” McMillen said. “Everybody is on top of their game right now making a chase for the championship. Plus there’s about two dozen quality cars here trying to battle it out for one of the 16 spots. We’re up for the challenge. I think we can surprise some people if things go our way.”
McMillen’s optimism is not unwarranted. His Doug Kuch tuned Top Fuel machine finished the IHRA season with five final round appearances and two wins. Four of those came in the last five races as the Amalie Oil sponsored team made a push for the championship title.

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ROCKINGHAM, NC. — When Terry McMillen and Paul Noakes race at the IHRA World Finals at the Rockingham Dragway this weekend (October 17-19), they’ll both attempt to set new career records in their Amalie Oil sponsored machines.
The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports teammates have combined for 10 final round appearances (five each) and 3 wins (Noakes 2 – McMillen 1). The most dramatic of the wins coming when both McMillen and Noakes scored victories on the same weekend in Grand Bend.
“If the season ended yesterday, I would say it has been a great year,” McMillen said. “But there’s some unfinished business and we’re here to finish strong.”
Career best seasons for both McMillen and Noakes have only been hampered by the bumpy start of the season for the two car team that was formed over the winter.
“In any other season both Paul and I would probably being going into Rockingham contending for the championship,” McMillen said. “As it stands right now – we’re fighting for second place.”

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