After a frustrating San Antonio parts failure, McMillen exacts revenge on rookie Spencer Massey

Terry McMillen isn’t a Top Fuel driver who cries over spilled milk. That’s why, when a throttle cable prevented him from running for the Top Fuel crown at the 2008 IHRA season-opener, he didn’t fret.

McMillen just bode his time knowing another opportunity to race the up-and-coming rookie Spencer Massey would present itself.

Sunday afternoon in Grand Bend, Ont., McMillen had the opportunity for a little bit of payback during the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals.

After a frustrating San Antonio parts failure, McMillen exacts revenge on rookie Spencer Massey

Terry McMillen isn’t a Top Fuel driver who cries over spilled milk. That’s why, when a throttle cable prevented him from running for the Top Fuel crown at the 2008 IHRA season-opener, he didn’t fret.

McMillen just bode his time knowing another opportunity to race the up-and-coming rookie Spencer Massey would present itself.

Sunday afternoon in Grand Bend, Ont., McMillen had the opportunity for a little bit of payback during the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals.

“This was a tough win and racing Spencer Massey, he has a great team behind him with Paul Smith tuning,” McMillen said. “We didn’t get to race him heads-up in San Antonio. We broke the throttle cable and only got a chance to stage that race.”

Massey was quicker off of the line but that did little to deter McMillen from driving around his rookie foe. McMillen had a larger prize in mind. A victory for his Top Fuel team would provide his first double up triumph as a team owner.

 

Our team is dedicated to what we are doing. The bottom line is we have five races left, and we are going to do everything we can to make this championship fun at the end. I hope we prevail at the end. -

McMillen was in line to run when hired driver Paul Noakes drove the Alcohol Funny Car to victory.

“This is a dream that you have of putting both of your cars in the finals,” McMillen said. “When both win, it’s unbelievable. My hat’s off to our teams, both Top Fuel and Funny Car, and the guys back at the shop. My guys just busted their butts and they never gave up. It’s the halfway point in the season and we needed to make a change.

“This is where we needed to get things turned around.”

McMillen went into the final round with an aggressive tune-up and only found out that tidbit as he was being strapped into the race car in the staging lanes.

“It was flying,” McMillen admitted. “Doug told me to tighten my straps a little tighter because he was going to send me on a lap. It was and I had to lift a bit earlier than I wanted because it started dropping cylinders and spinning the tires. We could have run some more.”

His victory marked his second Top Fuel victory and second final round of 2008. He heads into the next IHRA event in Martin, Mich., ranked sixth in the points and a legitimate contender for the championship only 138 points out of first.

McMillen is ready to effectively throw a monkey wrench into the once clearly-defined championship battle.

“We’re getting ready to mix that up,” McMillen said. “Our team is dedicated to what we are doing. The bottom line is we have five races left, and we are going to do everything we can to make this championship fun at the end. I hope we prevail at the end.”