PHOTO : DEVIN DEES |
In the Groove Scares in his personal life and on-track have led DeWayne Mills to make changes in the way he approaches a race , be it one of Donald “ Duck ” Long ’ s prestigious biannual events or an NMCA Radial Wars race . The result has been a safe , consistently quick race car capable of winning any time it hits the track .
Indianapolis , Indiana ; Joliet , Illinois ; and Norwalk , Ohio .
Along the way , Mills earned three more number-one qualifiers , set the class elapsed time record of 3.871-seconds , and even got a prestigious win for Team NMCA at the NMRA vs . NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing on his way to taking the overall title for the year . “ Having the pressure on me pushes me to do my best ,” Mills explained of his attitude , not anxiety . “ It was really great winning the championship after everything else that had happened , especially
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since this was the first year we were able to run all the NMCA races in a season .”
Although he made winning the championship look like child ’ s play , there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes . “ Every single time we took the car to the track , we brought it back and rebuilt the motor afterwards ,” Mills openly shared . “ We would lean on it hard , and that took a toll . If you want to win , that ’ s what you ’ ve got to do . You won ’ t run as fast if you want to save parts . Jamie [ Miller ] did a great job managing the tune , but it was used up after each race with bent rods or hurt bearings .” When they ’ re not at the track , crew chief Davis is had at working keeping the miracle machine up to date on maintenance , or working full-time at Mills ’ s business .
Last October , less than two years after his jaw-dropping flight , Mills went back to South Georgia Motorsports Park and found redemption at the same track that almost cost him his life . While racing at No Mercy 7 , he once again made history but did it shiny side up .
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The race offered up an astounding payout of $ 60,000 to the winner of the Radial vs . the World class , and Mills knew he had a shot at the prize . “ I was tickled to be able to go back ,” said Mills . “ I had surgery coming up to remove cancer from my neck , and I didn ’ t know what the future held for me – if it was never drag racing again or whatever – but I wanted to win this race more than anything .”
Putting his mind to the task , Mills made sure that every single nut and bolt on the car had been checked and that Davis and Miller had it in its prime condition . “ I wasn ’ t stressed at all to be racing there again ,” he bravely admitted . Although he shook the tires in the first round of qualifying , by the third session Mills was on top in the number one spot with a 3.793 at 208.88 mph despite the 40-mph headwind . “ I told Jamie [ Miller ] and Tim [ Davis ] that I wanted to step on it one time , and we did . They turned it back down to save parts after , and I felt really good going into the race .”
Mills powered through eliminations , and his hot rod was on point . He advanced over Brad Edwards in round one , and round two ’ s 3.837 at 209.07 mph run earned a win over Frank Soldridge . Mills moved on again in round three in a bittersweet victory over Stevie Jackson , whose catastrophic wreck was reminiscent of Mills ’ s own . Fortunately , Mills was not caught up in the melee , and took out Alan Pittman in the semi-finals .
As he lined up against Joe Albrecht in the final round , Mills knew he could go the distance . It wound up being the quickest side-by-side pass in radial tire history , and Mills was the quicker of the two as his 3.765 at 209.72 mph run outpaced Albrecht ’ s 3.781 at 200.00 mph effort . “ Big Daddy ” had done it , and it would be his name that was to be inked on the $ 60,000 paycheck to prove he was the baddest of the bad . “ Getting the win was really incredible , but it was absolutely a team effort and I couldn ’ t have done it without my family and my guys ,” said Mills , always quick to give credit where it ’ s due .
Mills didn ’ t keep the money for himself , however , and instead chose to share it with those he loved . “ We gave about half of it away to various children ’ s charities , and then I gave Tim and Jamie family vacations to Florida in July . It ’ s tough enough to be out here racing and to be away from your family , and I ’ m fortunate that mine can come with me , but not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do that ,” he candidly shared of how the cash was spent . Perhaps it ’ s his generosity and his eagerness to reward and recognize the hard work of those who surround him that plays into Mills ’ s success . “ If you can ’ t have fun doing it , it ’ s not worth doing .”
The post-race celebration was short-lived , though , as Mills had been battling cancer and had to go in for a round of radiation “ and some other junk ” just one month after the race . Although he was declared cancer-free and in remission over the Thanksgiving break , the ordeal was never far from his mind . “ That was a bigger win than
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January 2017 |
DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 73 |