“ I told Tim [ Davis ] seven years ago that I wanted to be the baddest man on drag radials, and we sure ain’ t done yet.”
THE CHAMPIONS ISSUE
GOING FOR THE GOLD
With the NMCA Radial Wars championship and elusive No Mercy win under his belt, Mills is focused now more than ever on collecting big trophies and laying down even bigger numbers. His next goal towards becoming“ the baddest man on drag radials” is recording the class’ first 3.6-second run. the race itself,” he confessed.“ You can tell people‘ sorry about your cancer’ but when they tell you that you have it, it’ s eye-opening. I had a lot of sleepless nights worrying about it, but I made it through.”
Being faced with his own mortality at such a young age made Mills appreciate the little things in life a lot more.“ You have to live each day like it’ s your last and be thankful for the time that you have,” he preached. Ironically, it wasn’ t the first time that Mills had a medical brush with death.“ Back in 2000, I found out I was allergic to peanuts and had a few major reactions. But when you’ ve got God on your side, there’ s nothing that can go wrong. You might have some test and a bumpy road along the way, but as long as you keep your faith, you’ ll be good.” It’ s that strong commitment to his faith that’ s helped him to get through the ups and downs of life, and of racing. Every Sunday morning without fail, Mills can be found at church – even when he’ s at the track.
“ I told Tim [ Davis ] seven years ago that I wanted to be the baddest man on drag radials, and we sure ain’ t done yet.”
Similarly, the driver of the“ Golden Gorilla” prides himself on sticking to the“ Golden Rule”.“ In the‘ 80s, Scotty Cannon signed a shirt for me and it was really special and inspired me to do the same for every kid I can,” said the driver who doubles as a goodwill ambassador for the sport.“ When we’ re at the track, we hand out kids’ t-shirts and want to take care of them. If we can make a good impression on them to keep this sport going, or convince them to stay in school and work hard and stay out of trouble, then what’ s what we’ re going to do to make this sport even greater than it already is.” He regularly opens his pit area, as well as his winner’ s circle photo opportunities, to the littlest of horsepower heroes and jokes that most of his fan base is made up of children.
In a sport where everyone’ s constantly trying to one-up each other, it’ s Mills’ s genuine and caring personality that makes him so likeable, and so well-respected. His success is welcomed( and celebrated by his peers) and there are no grudges to be held when he shatters a new record.
Although Mills made history in 2014 with his 4.10-second pass, he now regularly runs in the 3.80s. He was the first turbo entry to run in the 3.70s when he ran 3.799 at 206.45 mph in mid-July at Gateway Motorsports Park during the PSCA’ s“ Rage by the River” race and has run 212 mph with a best 60-foot time of 1.05-seconds. It’ s taken a lot of testing and hundreds of laps to get where he is today, and Mills isn’ t afraid to work hard to achieve his goals.
Now, Mills is determined to be the first to crack into the 3.6-second zone on radials. To do so, he’ s working on a new combination – a Pro Line Racing Hemi engine that he hopes to have out for the U. S. Nationals race in Bradenton, Florida, in late January. It’ s all a numbers game, and Mills is confident he’ s got the math to make it work.
“ The Hemi cars have better back splits than what we’ ve got by two or three numbers. We went a 4.76 so take a few off and there’ s a. 73. Then, if I pick up the 60-foot and go one-second flat, there’ s three more numbers for our. 70. If I can pick one number up in the middle, that’ ll be a. 69,” he extrapolated of his hypothetical formula.“ I told Tim [ Davis ] seven years ago that I wanted to be the baddest man on drag radials, and we sure ain’ t done yet.” DI
PHOTO: CHRIS SEARS
74 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 117