Top Fuel driver Clay Millican has done more than his share of fishing in the last few months. However, the pole he’s had in the water isn’t down at the local lake.

He’s fishing for a major sponsorship for team owner Mark Pickens Enterprises. The Drummond, Tenn.-based Millican says he’s had a few nibbles lately.

“I’ve done a whole lot more the past couple of months than I’ve done since Pete Lehman owned this team,” Millican admitted. “It’s a crazy, crazy business world out there right now and we’re certainly finding that you have to do crazy, crazy things just to get a sponsor to talk to you nowadays. I’m not a fisherman but we sure do have a lot of hooks in the water right now. We just need to find our way into landing one. Top Fuel driver Clay Millican has done more than his share of fishing in the last few months. However, the pole he’s had in the water isn’t down at the local lake.

He’s fishing for a major sponsorship for team owner Mark Pickens Enterprises. The Drummond, Tenn.-based Millican says he’s had a few nibbles lately.

“I’ve done a whole lot more the past couple of months than I’ve done since Pete Lehman owned this team,” Millican admitted. “It’s a crazy, crazy business world out there right now and we’re certainly finding that you have to do crazy, crazy things just to get a sponsor to talk to you nowadays. I’m not a fisherman but we sure do have a lot of hooks in the water right now. We just need to find our way into landing one.

“We have a bunch of very promising proposals and presentations going for us right now. It’s kind of fun but at the same time aggravating because a lot of these things take so much time and when you’re not a good fisherman these things don’t really work because I’m not patient. You have to be patient to land these big sponsors.”

Millican said Pickens is committed to fielding a team next year regardless of the outcome.

“Mark has got a nice business plan in place here and I need to go out and find a business partner to go with him,” Millican said. “He’s got so many great companies to work with, he’s very businesslike. He owns many very good businesses – two very large businesses. But Mark and his family are just genuinely good people and we’ll be out here racing.”

Millican said his survival in the sport has been largely in part connected to his ability to work the sponsorship angles, something he adds, he’s never had any formal training for.

“I guess I’ve done that my whole life, I just didn’t know it,” Millican said. “I wouldn’t be out here driving one of these race cars if I wasn’t some kind of fisherman. I’ve been very lucky to survive this whole very crazy business we’re in. We just have to prepare for rain, plant our seeds and prepare for rain.”