Clay Millican uncorked his quickest 1,000-foot elapsed time Saturday afternoon to leap into the No.
4 starting position for Sunday's United Association Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway that
brought satisfied smiles and sighs of relief in the Hope4Sudan/Motorvation Top Fuel camp.
"We finally ran good enough early (in the run), and there was plenty more left in the performance,"
said an elated Millican following his 3.854-second lap at 310.13 mph. "I'm confident we are really
onto something here."
Crew chief Lance Larsen has been trying to get the car to leave the starting line quicker, and the
car definitely responded to the changes made during qualifying. "We really need to thank crew
chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald and crew member Rob Hauser, our Matco Tools teammates. They
got us started down this path and it's evident we are following a good path, now we have to do
something about it."
Runner-up last week at Topeka in his first NHRA final round in five years, Millican, Larsen and
team owner Mark Pickens wanted to capitalize not only on that performance, but turn it in a
direction that leads to victories and into NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series championship
contention.
"We have a race car now," added Millican, of Drummonds, Tenn. "The car is leaving the starting
line better than it has in a long time. I haven't enjoyed driving the car early since we came back
late last year. Apparently we don't need 130-degree track temperatures (like those in Topeka) to
run well."
Millican goes into eliminations 42 points behind 10th place as he vies for a spot in the Countdown
to the Championship. This is the 10th of 18 regular season events with the top 10 moving into the
title showdown.
While the car's performance definitely stepped up Saturday afternoon, Millican had competitive runs
of 3.953 and 3.901 seconds Friday. His began the day with a 3.849.
His first-round foe is J.R. Todd, 13th, 3.947 seconds.
