Fri, 18 Sep 2009, 11:18 PM Millican 17th Going into Saturday Qualifying at Charlotte

Courtesy of Joe Sherk

CONCORD, N.C. -- Clay Millican wasted no time Friday night taking the blame for an out-of-character -- but easy to understand -- two-step throttle start in his second qualifying session for Sunday's Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

"It scared me when the guy next to me stepped on the throttle way to soon," explained the driver of the Hope4Sudan/Motorvation Top Fuel dragster of his reaction to a .239-second red light start (.000 is perfect) from Terry McMillen. "There's no excuse, but when an 8,000-horsepower motor leaves next to you when you aren't expecting it, it startles you, and I hit the throttle twice.

"That was too bad because we weren't able to get any data off the run. We needed it because we've changed so many things. I guess the only thing we learned is that we didn't learn anything."

Millican had 1,000-foot runs of 4.005 (17th quickest) and 4.026 seconds. The good news is the team has two more attempts Saturday to get into starting lineup.