Elkhart, Ind. (March 24, 2022) -AMALIE® Motor Oil joins Dan Mercier Racing as an associate sponsor on the Mercier Racing Top Fuel Dragster driven by Terry McMillen, a two-time NHRA winner, including the 2018 US Nationals. AMALIE will also be an associate sponsor on the Mercier Racing A-Fuel Dragster driven by Dan Mercier

“We’re so excited to have AMALIE joining us for 2022,” McMIllen said. “The pandemic caused us to have to pause our contract with AMALIE. So, having them on the side of our Mercier Racing dragster just feels right. Dan runs a family friendly team that fits so well into our family racing roots and the AMALIE Family.”

“AMALIE, a family owned company, manufactures and blends a wide variety of high quality, top performing lubricants for automotive and Industrial applications,” said Harry Barkett (President and CEO of AMALIE). “Both Terry McMillen and Dan Mercier are considered part of the extended AMALIE Family. Terry has been a friend and the pilot of the Xtermigator for over 20 years, he is a true professional and competes with the highest level of intensity I’ve seen.”  Harry continued, “Dan was a customer for years prior to becoming an AMALIE distributor.  He is a consummate businessman who is doing a tremendous job growing our brand north of the border and we look forward to continued success on and off the track.”

Dan Mercier is the owner of Alpha 3 in Montreal, Quebec and is AMALIE’s largest distributor in eastern Canada. Mercier has competed in A-Fuel and Top Fuel Dragster. He has raced a limited Top Fuel schedule with McMillen in the past and is looking forward to working with McMillen again.

 “I am tremendously proud to be associated with AMALIE Motor Oil,” Mercier said. “My team and I feel that wearing AMALIE’s colors in 2022 is a sign of confidence from the management of this great company.” 

Mercier’s relationship with AMALIE goes beyond that of a sponsor and racer or even that of a manufacturer and distributor. 

“I fell in love with AMALIE’s products 4 years ago,” Mercier continued. “In the last 30 years, I tried several lubricant companies for my racing cars and the results were always the same; they were acceptable, but they never improved the performance of my cars in any meaningful way. To my great surprise, both in the Top Fuel and A/Fuel categories, AMALIE’s oils have made the difference in our engines. For example, before our switch to AMALIE’s lubricants, in the A/Fuel category, we changed the rod bearings every run and now we can easily do 8 to 10 runs. This proves the incredible effectiveness of AMALIE’s oil formulas. You have to visit the manufacturing plant and their laboratory to understand the scale of this company in North America and their commitment to quality and performance.”

Mercier Racing is currently planning on a 6-8 race schedule that will start with the Virginia NHRA Nationals May 13-15.

ELKHART, IND (October 7, 2020) – After 19 years together, Terry McMillen Racing and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil company have mutually agreed to suspend their sponsorship relationship. Amalie Oil has suspended all motorsports sponsorships effective immediately. The move comes as the 2020 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, now Camping World Drag Racing Series, wraps up with three final races in Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas. McMillen informed his racing team of the decision this week and he will be evaluating the future direction of the organization in the coming weeks. 

“I can’t thank Amalie Motor Oil enough for the support they have shown me over the past 19 years,” said McMillen, the 2018 U.S. Nationals Top Fuel national event winner. “It is not a cliché, this company was part of my family. They stuck by us as long as they could and we are agreeing to suspend this sponsorship with no hard feelings. They have gone above and beyond to be fair with my team financially. We just reached a point where it didn’t make good business sense for either of us to move forward. They are a great company and I can’t say enough nice things about how they have treated me and this team over the years. Starting today we are exploring new opportunities. Right now it is key to keep Amalie employees working and making product so when the economy turns around they will be ready.” 

The move was directly related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the global economy. According to a research study conducted by consultant KPMG International, working from home and online shopping have become the new normal and will reduce driving in the U.S. by up to 270 billion miles a year. Additionally, 64 percent of Americans who are not driving said they’re working from home, which equates to 259 billion miles not being driven over the course of a year, dramatically reducing motor oil sales. Moving forward, KPMG is predicting as much as a 10% permanent reduction in the nearly three trillion miles typically traveled every year which has already and will continue to adversely affect the motor oil business and automotive industry as a whole.  

“I certainly understand why this happened and I remain very hopeful that we will be back sometime next year,” said McMillen, a two-time national event winner.  “My crew chief Rob Wendland and my entire team have done an amazing job giving us a car that can compete with anybody on any given day.  Anyone that has followed my racing career has seen the struggles I have had over the years.  What Rob has done to turn things around is something that I will never take for granted. Rob, his family, and my entire team mean the world to me.  This certainly is a setback, but I am not going to say it’s the end.” 

“Amalie has supported us through the good, the bad and certainly the ugly. When other teams were laying off their crew during the height of the pandemic, Amalie made sure that I was able to keep my team intact and employed. I know that this decision was extremely painful for Amalie, as it is for me, but I look forward to what the future has to offer, and I won’t give up hope that I will be back on the track in a competitive fashion again one day.”