Rob Wendland is steering Terry McMillen in the right direction By Josh Hachat

Rob Wendland brought some much-needed experience and expertise to McMillen ’ s operation when he became the crew chief before the 2015 season , and the effects include a much more stable race program . McMillen now finds himself in a battle to finish the top 10 in the rugged NHRA Top Fuel class , having also advanced to his first career final round earlier this year .

All it took was a little — well , maybe a lot of — patience .

“ It ’ s really been kind of frustrating for me because I ’ ve always been a hands-on guy ,” McMillen says . “ I worked on my own car and all those things , and I think the biggest thing I ’ ve learned in the process is that even though you want it overnight , it ’ s not going to happen that way . I think the biggest thing has been patience , learning to go after the car and tweak it a little bit .

“ As we started picking away at those things and spending time with Rob looking at the computer , we ’ ve been able to pick up here and there . Once you start running in the low 3.80s , everything after that is very minute moves . It ’ s something that you just can ’ t jump in and make something work . You can ’ t just do that because you ’ re so close to the edge .”

Wendland ’ s hiring signaled a significant shift in McMillen ’ s program , as the goal of competing for a spot in the top 10 and the NHRA ’ s six-race Countdown to the Championship became apparent . “ I ’ m not getting any younger so obviously it ’ s a situation that I really want to do ,” McMillen says of Wendland ’ s hiring . “ From there we ’ ve continued to build the team around him .

“ Rob has just done an excellent job of making everything come together ,” McMillen adds . “ We ’ ve spent countless hours at the shop to get everything prepared . We ’ re doing a lot of our own repairs , so we ’ ve got a little more quality control for what takes place .”

Wendland ’ s experience included a run at Don Schumacher Racing ( DSR ), picking up four wins in 2013 as crew chief for Johnny Gray ’ s Funny Car . That relationship meant it made perfect sense for McMillen to work with DSR when it came to

parts . McMillen uses cylinder heads , superchargers and much more from Schumacher ’ s shop and there ’ s no coincidence that a more consistent car has followed . This year , McMillen dipped into the 3.70s for the first time in his career as he continues making steps in the right direction .

“ That technology they have at Schumacher ’ s , with the performance of their cars , is certainly trickling over to what we ’ re doing . At the end of the day , it ’ s becoming a more consistent car . I think the key with what we ’ ve learned with Schumacher parts is we don ’ t have to make the car work as hard to make it run as good . It starts with the superchargers and the combinations we have .

“ Could we get by with anything else ? Absolutely , but Rob has had a better handle with Don ’ s stuff because he worked there and I think his persistence is starting to pay off .”

That much is obvious . Through 17 events in 2016 , McMillen already has more round wins than he did all of last year , and he ’ s qualified for every event as well , proving he can compete against any driver who may be in the opposite lane .

Again , it is baby steps for a talented driver who knows his uphill battle means he doesn ’ t get to compare notes with the team ’ s second , third or even fourth car . It also means McMillen doesn ’ t have unlimited funding , but he ’ s also the first

to admit he has good parts and a hungry , albeit young , team willing to put in the work .

“ As the puzzle has been put together , all the pieces are starting to line up now and we ’ re being a consistent car that is going to go down the track ,” McMillen says . “ Rob ’ s building a good motor and he ’ s given us a lot to work with . The car is running in the 3.70s now . That ’ s something we ’ ve been trying to do for quite a few years . It ’ s just the relentlessness of Rob and instilling that into the crew guys to keep the passion there . It ’ s a passion-driven sport . Rob has instilled that in everybody on the team and with that we ’ re seeing some positive results . We don ’ t want to be done yet .”

The DSR relationship also became a major factor in what very well could be the turning point in McMillen ’ s season earlier this year at Houston . He hit the wall there after a massive explosion in the first round of eliminations against , coincidentally enough , Tony Schumacher . But thanks to Don Schumacher , McMillen had a car again by Wednesday after crashing on a Sunday , continuing to give the season hope . “ If it wasn ’ t for Don Schumacher stepping up we probably wouldn ’ t be here today ,” McMillen admits .

It was very much a trial by fire in a lot of ways for McMillen ’ s young team , which has an average age of 23 by the team owner ’ s estimates . Growing pains remain , but McMillen and Wendland have tried to use that youthful inexperience to their advantage in molding the direction and philosophy of their program .

“ What we ’ ve learned is we ’ ve been able to train them the way we want them ,” McMillen says . “ You can ’ t just make it happen overnight . You have to be able to understand what the prize is you ’ re shooting for . In our case , the first step is getting in the top 10 and the second step is we want to win a race .”

Coming close in Gainesville this year only has McMillen hungry to finish the job for the first time in his Top Fuel career . It also has him thinking about future possibilities and he ’ s not afraid to dream big — patience be damned — at least for a moment .

“ It ’ s extremely rewarding right now when the car is on its game ,” McMillen says . “ The one thing we ’ ve instilled in our entire team is that no matter what it is , whoever makes the mistake , whatever happens , we ’ re a team and we ’ re going win as a team and lose as a team . Our goal is to just become a better-oiled machine . I guarantee we ’ ve turned the corner .” DI

PHOTO : NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER