If close counted for anything in drag racing, Terry McMillen would have already won his first round
in NHRA competition. While McMillen plays a high speed version of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, the
element of surprise may no longer be a secret weapon for the Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and
Apparel Top Fuel Dragster.
McMillen captured the 11th spot in the rain shortened qualifying session at the United Association
NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown this past weekend. He would face rookie of the year candidate,
Shawn Langdon, in round one of eliminations. McMillen's starting line advantage (0.029) would help
him to lead much of the race, but Langdon would take the win in one of the closest battles of the
weekend.
McMillen's 3.891 second elapsed time @ 308.99 mph was a career best performance in 1000 foot NHRA
racing. "We wanted to go out there and make a statement today," McMillen said after the loss. "We
didn't get the job done, but we came really close. It might be a little tougher for us to sneak up
and surprise someone now. We made a race of it. We hated to lose, but we're pretty happy with that
performance."
"We've got a handle on this car now," McMillen added. "I think Doug Kuch (crew chief) has found the
set up on all of these new parts we have. Now that we have a solid base line we can really start to
lean on it a little. There is a lot of power left in this car. We've got more that we can throw at
it."
McMillen's next NHRA appearance will be September 17-20 at the NHRA Nationals in Concord North
Carolina.
The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team's next race will be July 3-5 at the IHRA River Cree Resort and
Casino Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton Alberta.
Hoosier Thunder Motorsports partners with high-quality and high-performance companies like: Amalie
Oil, Jet Label & Tape, Auto Meter, Mahle Clevite, Perfect Circle, Flatout Gaskets, Impact Racing,
NGK Spark Plugs, MSD, Permatex, ieGraphics, Holbrook Performance Parts, Global Power Systems,
Paradise RV & Coach, Ringers Gloves and Wolverine Boots and Apparel.
