{"id":25767,"date":"2016-03-31T09:58:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T16:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=25767"},"modified":"2018-08-16T12:37:14","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:37:14","slug":"terry-mcmillen-in-top-fuel-top-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/terry-mcmillen-in-top-fuel-top-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry McMillen in Top Fuel Top Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

The vociferous Terry McMillen is a drag racing fan magnet.\u00a0 It\u2019s been quite a long time, almost back to the 1980s, since a driver has topped John Force in the post race category of boisterous interviews, but the Elkhart Lake, Indiana driver isn\u2019t about to slow down after reaching his first final round of his career.\u00a0 \u00a0He raced to the very end, turning the bout into a close finish coming up only feet shy against Brittany Force at NHRA\u2019s last race at the Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals in Florida.<\/p>\n

Normally, that would be disappointing, but according to McMillen the feeling after his best finish during his tenure as an NHRA Top Fuel drag racer that began in Richmond in 2007, you would have thought he had won the race with that patented positive attitude that made even his final round loss sound good.\u00a0 Looking at the current Mello Yello points, he\u2019s fifth, proving his recent run to the head of the pack is no fluke.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, there\u2019s no way I could have ever scripted it any better other than winning the race,\u201d said the 61-year old McMillen, reminiscing of his run.\u00a0 \u201cGetting beat by Brittany in the finals was a situation that we were more than elated because there have been times when we didn\u2019t qualify for Gainesville, at our own Amalie race.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to go out there in front of the president of the company, having around 400 of our special guests, and our employees all there all I can say is what a way to give back to say \u2018thank you\u2019 to the job and the support they\u2019ve given us over the years to allow us to have the opportunity to come out here to compete.\u00a0 I think right we have the longest running marketing program, as partners, in motorsports.\u00a0 While we\u2019re very fortunate and blessed to be doing what we do, you\u2019ve got to remember where you came from.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you, if it wasn\u2019t for Amalie and all the wonderful people that buy the Amalie products, there wouldn\u2019t be a Terry McMillen out here racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

As the rounds wins came in Gainesville, it just amped up McMillen more and more offering spectacular descriptions of every run bringing all those new viewers on NHRA All-Access right into the cockpit taking it home.<\/p>\n

Actually, he said that bravado in his interviews that booms over the loud speakers at the track doesn\u2019t come natural to him, but was derived from seeing other drivers over the years knowing and wanting his interviews to be the best and ones that race fans won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of long story,\u201d laughed McMillen, driver of the Amalie Oil Top Fueler called the XTERMIGATOR for its alligator livery and design.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not a very outgoing person, but once I get in that racing mode it\u2019s all adrenaline, it all energy, let\u2019s make our sport into something.\u00a0 You want to have a connection with the fans with what we do because it\u2019s a business, but it\u2019s still to me very personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember growing up watching interviews on TV and you would hear drivers say, \u2018Ah, yeah, the car smoked the tires\u2019.\u00a0 I was like, \u2018Man, I\u2019m going to do one thing different than that when I do them and at that is \u2013 you\u2019re going to get some exercise with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re either going to one, get up and turn off the TV because you don\u2019t like me or two \u2013 you\u2019re gonna sit there not going to get anything to drink.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to sit there and watch me talk and then later turn around and get something to drink out of the refrigerator.\u00a0 But, it\u2019s just something that to me, we need to make sure that we move the people that we\u2019re with because it\u2019s exciting to us.\u00a0 Vicariously, I think fans live through us in a lot of ways, so if we have the energy then they feel the motivation.\u00a0 That\u2019s just kind of the way I\u2019ve always analyzed that and thought that it\u2019s the way it should be.\u00a0 So, when I get in the racing mode, I\u2019m a whole different person.\u201d<\/p>\n

That different person of McMillen brings his excitement to the track and back in the pits feels compelled to sharing his time by always being accommodating to fans and it\u2019s their feedback listening to what fans have to say is what gives him his post round inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible, actually it\u2019s overwhelming,\u201d said McMillen expressing his love of the NHRA Drag Racing fans.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a year ago when I was in Charlotte, I had the mishap with an engine explosion and people took it that I was leaving the sport.\u00a0 The support was awe-inspiring.\u00a0 At that point, I really, really realized how many people and fans were out there supporting us and just really appreciated, whom I was and what we were doing.\u00a0 It made me realize then that our fan base is bigger than I ever thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no matter how good my run is or how bad my run was or how bad my day is fans still want to come up and talk to you.\u00a0 They want their picture taken, whether they want a hero card or around the car tour.\u00a0 Think about it, they pay a lot of money to come to these races and it\u2019s our job as owners and drivers to make sure we make their experience as pleasurable as we can.\u00a0 Chances are we get to see them once a year, so I want to make it tremendous for them.\u00a0 It\u2019s just my way of giving back to what I\u2019ve been so fortunate to have and that\u2019s an opportunity to race\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

McMillen is rolling along in 2016, racing to two quarterfinals along with his final round finish in Gainesville, placing his efforts up to fifth in the Top Fuel points standings.\u00a0 What\u2019s impressive are all the \u2018major\u2019 names behind him.\u00a0 It starts with Leah Pritchett, the Phoenix winner in sixth, J.R. Todd, seventh, 8-time champ, Tony Schumacher, eighth, former U.S. National champion, Richie Crampton in ninth and last year\u2019s champion, Antron Brown rounds out the Top 10.\u00a0 He\u2019s never been this high in the Top Fuel points and has a legitimate chance of making his first NHRA Countdown to the Championship presently finding his Amalie team only 73 points out of the lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a battle because you look at the greats that are behind us.\u00a0 They are World Champions, almost all of them within their own right, so you when look at that, you have to say \u2018Man, that\u2019s a who\u2019s who list\u2019,\u201d exclaimed McMillen.\u00a0 \u201cWe still have a lot of work to do.\u00a0 I think the key right now is for Rob Wenland (crew chief) to keep doing the great job he\u2019s doing, keeping the crew together, and keeping everyone moving forward on the same page.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis philosophy has been really simple and that is if the car can get down the track we put ourselves in a better position to win.\u00a0 Such was the case in Gainesville when we just continually went down the track.\u00a0 It got us round wins.\u00a0 If the finals had turned out to be a pedalfest, who knows how it would have ended up.\u00a0 But, at the end of the day, that\u2019s what\u2019s gets you to the winner\u2019s circle.\u00a0 We need to be a car that will go down the track 90 per cent of the time on race day, if not more to put ourselves in that position to have the opportunity to be in the Top 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was once out of it by eight points and another time by 16.\u00a0 Our goal right now is very clear.\u00a0 We just have to stay focused, keep doing the same thing we\u2019re doing and still pick up the performance.\u00a0 The car is trying to perform; it\u2019s just struggling a little bit in the 60-foot area.\u00a0 If we ever get the 60-foot up, the car is going to go right into the 3.70s.\u00a0 It\u2019s been trying to run in the 70s for a long time.\u00a0 Once we fix that, then, we\u2019ll be a contender able to run with anybody on a given day.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMillen\u2019s rampage on the track continues this weekend for the DENSO Spark Plug NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that starts on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to do well.\u00a0 Rob (Wendland) has a handle on things,\u201d stated McMillen.\u00a0 \u201cThe key for us is to keep working on that 60-foot push.\u00a0 If we continue to focus on that, sooner or later, we\u2019re going to find that combination and then I think we\u2019re going to be deadly.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re going to keep doing what we have done.\u00a0 We just have to make sure on race day no matter what, that car it goes down the track.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way to put us in a position to race.<\/p>\n

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re going to get beat.\u00a0 Sometimes, first round.\u00a0 If we continue at this rate, we\u2019re going to end up in the top 10.\u00a0 Our goal is to take it one round a time.\u00a0 Now, we just need to go to Vegas and keep doing what we\u2019re doing trying to come out of there with round wins and keep our position in the Top 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qualifying starts on Friday, April 1, at 1:30 p.m. PDT at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1 later that evening starting at 11 p.m. EDT.\u00a0 Sunday\u2019s DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals goes LIVE at 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 3 on FS1.<\/p>\n

Follow Jay Wells on Twitter @jaywells500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terry McMillen is hopeful that he will excel this season and thanks his fans for the support.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,3399],"tags":[3815,637,2723,73],"class_list":["post-25767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-nhra","tag-2016-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-gainesville","tag-terry-mcmillen","tag-top-fuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/featured13.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-6HB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25773,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25767\/revisions\/25773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}