Torco's Competition Plus readers perusing the CSR Eastern Spring Time Nationals entry list aren’t seeing things.  That is Clay Millican’s name on the Top Fuel driver roster.

And yes, one of the sport’s most fan-friendly drivers and tough competitors will indeed be making test runs in the ESTN, March 6-10, at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Cecil, Ga., near Valdosta.   But before your thoughts wander any farther – no, Millican will not be racing in NHRA’s AC-Delco Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., the following weekend.  Or any other weekend, for that matter.

“My bosses said to go test and be prepared, so that’s what we’re doing – getting ready to test,” Millican, of Drummonds, Tenn., said Monday, as he took timeout from helping load the hauler.

Millican’s competitive season was put on ice when team owner Evan Knoll took a sabbatical from team sponsorships this year.  Millican’s team, however, remains intact and anxious to see action, albeit making test laps at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Torco's Competition Plus readers perusing the Eastern Spring Time Nationals entry list aren’t seeing things.  That is Clay Millican’s name on the Top Fuel driver roster.

And yes, one of the sport’s most fan-friendly drivers and tough competitors will indeed be making test runs in the ESTN, March 6-10, at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Cecil, Ga., near Valdosta.   But before your thoughts wander any farther – no, Millican will not be racing in NHRA’s AC-Delco Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., the following weekend.  Or any other weekend, for that matter.

“My bosses said to go test and be prepared, so that’s what we’re doing – getting ready to test,” Millican, of Drummonds, Tenn., said Monday, as he took timeout from helping load the hauler.

Millican’s competitive season was put on ice when team owner Evan Knoll took a sabbatical from team sponsorships this year.  Millican’s team, however, remains intact and anxious to see action, albeit making test laps at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

“They said we could go test, but there will be no racing,” Millican pointed out.  “They’ve told me all along they want us to test, but we hadn’t planned to go to Valdosta.  We want to support the efforts of Bobby Bennett and CompetitionPlus.com this weekend.  It is Evan and Latrell’s (Preston) thinking to keep running the car.”

To keep busy, Millican has taken on several new responsibilities, one of which will find him attending all the IHRA races, only as a team manager instead of a driver.  “I am now team manager for Bobby Lagana’s Top Fuel team that will run out of our new shop in Atoka (Tenn.). We have all of Bobby’s race equipment and all of Scotty Cannon’s stuff, too. 

“Lance Larson and Johnny West (co-crew chiefs on Millican’s dragster) are going to tune Bobby’s car at the IHRA races,” Millican continued.  “I’m overseeing the business end of it.  This is Bobby’s deal; it’s just being run out of our Tennessee shop.  They run the car on a shoestring (budget) with qualifying money and a little money from here and there.  Bobby will have a Torco logo on the car but there is no sponsorship money involved.”

The second project has kept him very busy at home. 

“We have been building a new shop close to our other one,” Millican said.  “We have been doing the construction work ourselves to save money. The new shop will be bigger and nicer, once we get it done.”

He has discovered during the process that he “doesn’t do construction work very well.  I’m sick of construction work.  If we were racing, we would’ve hired it done, but since we’re not . . . it was either build the building or do nothing.”

Millican said the team is taking two cars to Valdosta, his and Lagana’s. Lagana will be getting test time before the first IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam event at San Antonio, Texas, April 4-6.

“This season will be fun because at least we get to go to the race track some,” added Millican, a five-time IHRA champion and 51-race winner. “His car should run pretty good, really.  The same setup we used when I tested at Gainesville in December will be in the car, so it will be competitive.

“Bobby will be getting ready for San Antonio and the IHRA series and I will be getting ready for . . . the next test session.”

So it is “wait until next year!” time for Millican and his fans.