Clay Millican never expected to race until the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, so racing at the NHRA Toyo Tires in Reading, Pa., proved to be a pleasant surprise.

If that’s a pleasant experience, how does one describe a semi-finalist finish in a race where they only expected to take a few practice swings?

“We had no pretenses about going rounds here because coming to this race was such a last-minute thing,” said Millican.

Millican, new owners Mark and Lauren Pickens, crew chief Lance Larsen and the crew were very happy and surprised with their semifinal finish.

Millican was one of the multitudes of drivers put out of racing when sponsor Torco Race Fuels abruptly pulled the plug on its racing endeavors.

Clay Millican never expected to race until the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, so racing at the NHRA Toyo Tires in Reading, Pa., proved to be a pleasant surprise.

If that’s a pleasant experience, how does one describe a semi-finalist finish in a race where they only expected to take a few practice swings?

“We had no pretenses about going rounds here because coming to this race was such a last-minute thing,” said Millican.

Millican, new owners Mark and Lauren Pickens, crew chief Lance Larsen and the crew were very happy and surprised with their semifinal finish.

Millican was one of the multitudes of drivers put out of racing when sponsor Torco Race Fuels abruptly pulled the plug on its racing endeavors.

Millican, who lives on the outskirts of Memphis, Tenn., was saved by successful hometown businessman Mark Pickens, who purchased some of the Top Fuel racing assets belonging to Evan Knoll.

Pickens had every intention of returning Millican to competition.

Last minute sponsorship from former team owner Kenny Koretsky’s Nitro Fish brand enabled the Nitro Fish/Hope4Sudan Top Fuel team become the pleasant surprise at Maple Grove Raceway.

Pickens thanked Nitro Fish Wear owner Kenny Koretsky for sponsoring the team for this race. “That enabled us to come here early and we really appreciate it,” Pickens said. “We want to thank the fans and the other racing teams for welcoming us back to the track.”

Millican qualified 13th and upset J.R. Todd in the opening round (3.967 seconds at 298.01 mph to 4.208 at 258.86) and came back in the quarterfinals to eliminate Todd’s team owner, Morgan Lucas, on the strength of a great .039 reaction time. The winning time was 3.994 seconds at 292.58 mph to Lucas’ 3.963 at 289.92).

The team’s unexpectedly long day ended against Tony Schumacher in a tight race (3.928 at 306.40 to 3.945 at 298.21) in semifinals. The margin of victory was just nine-thousandths of a second. Schumacher then went on to win his fifth straight race.

“I was as nervous as I’ve ever been in the first round, but after that I felt fine,” Millican said. “I’m happy we had as good a day as we did. We got to make seven runs this weekend instead of four. We all learned a lot. It was really, really more successful than we could’ve asked for.”