CLAY MILLICAN

but I went right into the lounge to Jim O [ Oberhofer , crew chief ] and Nicky [ Boninfante , cocrew chief ] and I ’ m like , ‘ Y ’ all can kick me right square in the butt because I should ’ ve shut it off , I knew it .’ Both of them were like , ‘ We get it .’ Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bullet to hit your target . I didn ’ t know what was going to happen after that . Nicky came back later and said , ‘ You know , that could be the quickest six-cylinder run of all time – 3.81 at 293 .”

Millican went on to qualify No . 13 out of the 20 cars that attempted to qualify for the Big Go . He set low E . T . of the first round of eliminations to knock out defending event winner Antron Brown , then used a pair of 3.75s to take down Josh Hart and Brittany Force to advance to the final round .

In the final , Torrence left first with a . 070 reaction time to Millican ’ s . 082 , but Torrence ’ s Capco Contractors dragster started to haze the tires and ultimately suffered engine damage . Meanwhile , Millican ran a 3.792 at 327.82 to turn on one of the biggest win lights of his career .

“ I didn ’ t hear him and I didn ’ t see him ,” Millican said . “ I had an idea that little light on the wall over there was about to come on . If you watch [ the video ], which I have probably 10 times now , you ’ ll notice the car is wiggling around a little bit . That ’ s because at that

point I ’ m 100 percent looking into the right lane and the parachutes were horribly late because I didn ’ t care . I knew I just won .”

Back on the starting line , team owner Rick Ware and the Arby ’ s team erupted in celebration . While Ware is known as a NASCAR team owner , he grew up following drag racing and knew that

Indy is a big deal . And though many of the crew members were born not long before Millican started driving a Top Fuel car , they all felt the weight of the moment as well .

“ There ’ s so much of me that wishes I could be part of what is happening on that starting line ,” Millican said . “ It never fails that when I go back and watch those videos of my friends , my family , my team on that starting line , the tears just roll . I can ’ t help it . I ’ m so proud and excited to see them that excited . If you watch Rick , he didn ’ t even know what to do .”

The 58-year-old fan favorite driver now owns the title “ U . S . Nationals winner ,” adding an instantly recognizable accolade to his résumé . The effect was immediately felt by Millican , who fielded hundreds of congratulatory text messages and calls and spent days after the win taking part in various interviews and media opportunities . An Indy win is truly a gamechanger .

“ That is the top of the top ,” Millican said . “ It ’ s a career-making kind of thing . I think it was Ed McCulloch who said , ‘ I don ’ t care how many championships you ’ ve won . You ’ ve done nothing unless you ’ ve won the U . S . Nationals .’ That rolling under that archway , I ’ ll never forget that . I ’ ll also never forget tears running down my face as the parachutes were still out . The rest of it is just a nonstop blur that has just been an amazing three days now .” DI

26 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 191