Quick to the Point(s)
Clay Millican Earns 8th No. 1 Qualifier, Picks Up 11 Bonus Points En Route to Semis Run in Crucial Countdown Event
Sept.
18, 2018: Every
point counts. That was the mindset of Parts Plus Top Fuel driver Clay Millican
and the rest of the Stringer Performance-owned team heading into the Dodge
Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, as the Countdown heated up to determine the
2018 NHRA Mello Yello Series champion.
Millican and crew chief David Grubnic, who strived to make every single run
matter on the road to the Countdown in the Parts Plus driver’s best season yet
in Top Fuel, came out swinging on Friday.
Lined up against Steve Torrence in Q1, the Parts Plus driver rocketed to No. 1
faster than a Kenny Chesney hit song with a near-bullet-speed run of 3.747@ 328.30 mph, topping Torrence’s 3.27.74
in an exciting side-by-side race to the finish. Ironically, these two
incredible driving forces would meet again on Sunday in a lightning-quick
battle that was even more thrilling if not satisfying for Millican and his
fans, who are rooting for the Tennessean to claim his first Top Fuel title.
If Millican fans were happy with Q1, then
they had to be ecstatic with Q2, as the Grubby-tuned Parts Plus dragster ran a
blink-and-you-might-miss-it pass of 3.723@330 mph to strengthen the Stringer team’s
grip on the top spot.
You might think Millican and Grubby would be
satisfied and ease up a bit on Saturday, with a top-three spot practically
assured—but again, that’s not how this team is thinking right now. As if
defiantly proving a point that Millican is the one to beat down the homestretch
of the Countdown, the Parts Plus dragster launched hard with a roar, shooting
past Mike Salinas en route to the team’s third-straight 3.7 run.
Officially, Millican ran a 3.766@329.34 mph,
the second-quickest pass of the session, while remaining No. 1.
Millican showed no signs of slowing down much
in Q4, either. Squaring off against Torrence, the Parts Plus car was again the
quicker of the two—and the quickest of the session for the third time with
another impressive 3.7, officially, a 3.746@326.56 mph.
In what was Millican’s most impressive
qualifying effort yet in Top Fuel, the Parts Plus driver and his team were
crowned qualifying kings with green caps for the eighth time this season. For
those of you counting at home, that’s already five more No. 1 qualifiers than
last year, with five events remaining in 2018.
Most important: Millican picked up three more
crucial bonus points that could prove to be the difference down the road in
Pomona. All told, Millican would
finish the weekend with 11 out of a possible 12 bonus points. While the Parts
Plus car’s Q4 pass did not move him up the qualifying ladder, but it did hold
off all comers – such as Tony Schumacher (3.754) and Leah Pritchett (3.758),
who are directly behind him in the run order. Torrence earned a lone bonus
point and moved into fourth with a 3.762. The quick half of the field was
filled with 3.7s and all but the bottom three qualifiers made 3-second runs,
which pointed to an exciting day of Sunday eliminations.
Millican would start Sunday lined vs. No. 16 Jim Maroney in a favorable matchup
for the Parts Plus pilot, who was pleased as punch but not shocked over his
team’s brilliant consistency.
“This is the kind of weekend we’ve been building
to all season,” Millican said Saturday evening. “If we make four runs like
we’ve made the last two days, I like our chances. During these last six races,
every point matters. It’s all points right now, and it’s vitally important we
go down the racetrack [Sunday].”
The Parts Plus car did just that Sunday to
kick things off with, yep, you guessed it—another 3.7 pass that not only bested
Maroney but the rest the field with the quickest of the session. Officially,
Millican’s 3.769@333.12 mph eliminated Maroney, who smoked the tires early and
finally finished with a 4.53@1.76 mph.
Millican advanced to a round-two matchup with
Doug Kalitta, who held a 25-12 win margin over the Parts Plus driver heading
into Sunday. Make that 25-13. Even as the Parts Plus dragster “slowed” to a
finish of 3.810@323.27 mph, Millican still notched another win light; Kalitta
was in trouble early, exiting the event with a 4.475@183.82 mph.
After eliminating Mike Salinas to advance to
the semis, Torrence would have his third opportunity of the weekend to outrun
the popular Parts Plus driver —this time, it was a charmed .014-second
hole-shot win over Millican in a nail-biter. Although the Parts Plus driver ran
a 3.798@327.19 mph compared to Torrence’s 3.798@ 327.19 mph in E3,
the Capco pilot’s quicker reaction time (.068 vs. Millican’s 082) proved to be the
winning difference.
With Millican and the quickest car eliminated, Torrence went on to win the
event, beating Tony Schumacher in the finals. Millican ended the day tied with
Schumacher at 2,169 points each, 50 behind leader Torrence.
Afterward, Millican tipped his green hat to
the hardest-working team in racing, illustrating once again the Parts Plus
driver is a class act, win or lose.
“Oh,
man, that was a close one—one-thousandth of a second, to be exact. But we were
the ones who came up short against Torrence in the semis. When we win, we win
together, and when we lose, we lose together. Look out, because we are heading
to St. Louis with the quickest car, and we will be racing on the home track of
Stringer Performance—that bodes well for us. This team gave it their all to put
me in position to win it all this weekend with four straight incredible
qualifying runs and two win lights to reach the semis. I couldn’t be any
prouder.”
NHRA Top Fuel Point
Standings (following Maple Grove)
1. Steve Torrence, 2,219; 2. Clay Millican, 2,169—tied
with No. 3 Tony Schumacher, 2,169; 4. Leah Pritchett, 2,118; 5. Antron
Brown, 2,116; 6. Doug Kalitta, 2,103; 7. Mike Salinas, 2,067; 8.Terry McMillen,
2,062; 9. Scott Palmer, 2,053; 10. Brittany Force, 2,052.
Next Race: Gateway Motorsports Park, St. Louis; Sept. 21–23.