Bristol is third weekend to inspire McMillen

For the third time in as many races Terry McMillen’s Amalie Oil/UNOH Top Fuel team has set new career bests in performance.  The improvement is something McMillen is excited about.

“We’re finally getting our car to respond,” McMillen said. “It’s a good feeling to see the car not only get into the 80s, but into the low 80s.”

At the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals McMillen’s team was able to not only reset their personal best elapsed time (3.823 seconds), but also improve their career best qualifying effort to third. During Friday’s second round of qualifying McMillen was able to hold the top spot until the last two cars completed their pass, missing an opportunity to earn his first No. 1 by just 0.009 seconds.

McMillen acknowledges the performance improvement and now sets his sights on improving consistency after his second round loss to Clay Millican. “It felt good to get past first round,” McMillen acknowledged. “But to get back into the thick of things – to make a run at the countdown – we’ve got to be able to string about four consistent runs together on a Sunday. It’s the only way we’re going to get back in the hunt.”

McMillen Atlanta Post Race

Terry McMillen drove the Amalie Oil/UNOH/Allstar Performance Top Fuel Dragster to its second round win of the 2012 season, defeating the Qatar sponsored team driven by Khalid alBalooshi. The win keeps McMillen in front of alBalooshi for the 12^th spot in NHRA standings. Both McMillen and alBalooshi were tied for 12^th Sunday morning before their first round matchup.

McMillen’s team had their best qualifying effort of the year, just outside of the top half of the 16 car field in the ninth position. “Anytime you can qualify in the middle of the pack or better it’s a good day,” McMillen said of his 3.876 e.t. pass at 317m.p.h.

“We still have some things to figure out,” McMillen said after being eliminated in round two by Tony Schumacher. “We destroyed two motors Sunday and we just can’t afford to do things like that. Our clutch assistant on the team, Dave McQuay, came up with a acronym, FAC, for Fast And Clean. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on so we can hopefully score a few round wins at the next race in Topeka.”

The next stop on the NHRA tour is the Dollar General Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas May 18-20.