Terry McMillen’s IHRA Top Fuel victory Sunday in Edmonton produced the kind of happy ending that often appears in Hollywood scripts but rarely in life. McMillen, who cut his teeth driving Nitro Funny Car before taking a hiatus from the sport, has now officially fought his way back into the fuel ranks.

 The journey back has often been painful and the road strewn with obstacles. McMillen and wife Rhonda suffered the loss of a son as well as Terry’s blindness from a contact lens solution defect. That’s why he smiled wider than ever on Sunday. McMillen’s victory was payback.

“It has been a tough road to get to here – a horrible road,” McMillen said. “The greatest thing about that victory is that I was able to drive in the daylight because it gets dark for only a short time in Edmonton. That helped me to see well enough to make it through just fine.

“This makes up for the setbacks because we should have been racing a year ago. I underwent another surgery a week ago and the doctors gave me medical clearance. They keep trying to make the eye better. My eye isn’t to the level it needs to be to be considered fully back, but it is well enough that we can do this safely.

Terry McMillen’s IHRA Top Fuel victory Sunday in Edmonton produced the kind of happy ending that often appears in Hollywood scripts but rarely in life. McMillen, who cut his teeth driving Nitro Funny Car before taking a hiatus from the sport, has now officially fought his way back into the fuel ranks.

The journey back has often been painful and the road strewn with obstacles. McMillen and wife Rhonda suffered the loss of a son as well as Terry’s blindness from a contact lens solution defect. That’s why he smiled wider than ever on Sunday. McMillen’s victory was payback.

“It has been a tough road to get to here – a horrible road,” McMillen said. “The greatest thing about that victory is that I was able to drive in the daylight because it gets dark for only a short time in Edmonton. That helped me to see well enough to make it through just fine.

“This makes up for the setbacks because we should have been racing a year ago. I underwent another surgery a week ago and the doctors gave me medical clearance. They keep trying to make the eye better. My eye isn’t to the level it needs to be to be considered fully back, but it is well enough that we can do this safely.

“This win helped me to get on the right track both mentally and emotionally. It was as if I had just won a million dollars and it made everything better that day. All of the hard work and time away from the family and the ones I love paid off.”

McMillen saw well enough to drive his way to the IHRA Top Fuel Promised Land. This ride to the top of the drag racing pecking order came after many years of white-knuckling it in an IHRA Alcohol Funny Car. He never won a race but runner-upped a few times. But on that Sunday, he won in more ways than one.

McMillen made amends for every time his alligator-themed flopper bounced him around the cockpit or ate an unsuspecting timing cone. Sunday was his day.

“It was just an unbelievable feeling to win,” said McMillen. “I’ve always said Edmonton is one of my favorite tracks. To come out here and win it is an awesome deal. Perseverance by the Torco team was a major factor today. We went out there and got it done. I just can’t say enough about my team, Evan Knoll (sponsor), Tim Lewis, and Doug Foley (team co-owners).”

That’s the McMillen way – in the face of the toughest row he’s ever had to hoe – he never forget those who got him to the dance. Since the late 1990s, he’s cultivated relationships with Torco Race Fuels (now his employer) and Amalie Oil.

“People that believe in me, I certainly want them to know if they give me five dollars, I will dedicate my efforts to returning ten,” McMillen said. “I want to achieve that through hard work and dedication. I just want to make sure they are successful. I just want to know when it comes down to contract and renewal time – because I have had to scrape and struggle to get to this point – I don’t have to struggle with that. We have worked together to get to a point that we can believe in one another. They know I care.”

McMillen’s initial foray into Top Fuel came with the help and confidence of Evan Knoll late in 2005. He obtained his license, and appeared on the fast track to success until an eye injury impeded his progress and threatened his livelihood in drag racing.

McMillen had planned to compete in 2006 but another issue with his eyes prevented him from getting into the game. The 52-year old drag racing veteran lost vision in one eye after developing a rare eye infection called Fusarium Keratitis.

McMillen says that he developed the infection as a result of using Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with Moisture Loc. That product, a contact lens cleaning solution, was pulled from store shelves in April 2006 after it was found that its formulation could cause the infection. Many people who used the solution, including McMillen, claim to have developed infections so severe that they needed cornea transplants.  McMillen has since filed suit against Bausch & Lomb seeking compensation.

That is an unfortunate byproduct of an unfortunate situation that McMillen is content to leave in the hands of the courts for now. He’s just happy to be racing again and it shows.

“Evan Knoll, Amalie Oil, Flatout Gaskets, and all of our sponsors have made this fun for me,” McMillen said. “It’s only because of them that I am able to be in this game. To be successful in this game has been a Godsend.”

And McMillen is enjoying every minute of it.