By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Mighty Fire Breaker & Parts Plus Top Fuel Dragster driver Clay Millican won the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. He defeated Dodge Direct Connection & Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters-sponsored Top Fuel Dragster driver Tony Stewart in the final round at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, California.
The Drummond, Tennessee native went 4.273 at 189.71 mph to get the win. The Indiana native and NASCAR Hall of Famer went 6.187 at 99.83 mph.
“My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) told me he had it loaded up, and a couple of things were going to happen. He said we’re going to win, we’re going to blow up and if we lose, we’re going to be a footnote in history,” Millican said. “Thank goodness we’re not a footnote in history. Tony Stewart is going to win one of these soon, but all I know is we won the Winternationals.
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“But boy, that final round was forever. When you blow it up and – and we blew it up good – and you got a HANS [head restraint] device on, you’re stretching that HANS to its limits, trying to look over like, ‘Is he coming or not?’ I couldn’t get there quick enough. I promise I never let off the throttle, even though it wasn’t running no more. But I had that thing buried. I was stomping on the loud pedal harder than normal. What a day.”
Millican had an engine explosion at the end of the race. Stewart hazed the tires almost immediately.
The Rick Ware Racing driver claimed his eighth Top Fuel Dragster Wally in his career.
In the previous meeting, Stewart won. However, this was the first time that they faced one another in the final round.
According to the NHRA, this is Stewart’s third final-round appearance since he made the switch to Top Fuel Dragster less than two years ago. This was his first final-round appearance this season.
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Millican had the starting line advantage with his 0.038 reaction time. Stewart had a 0.065 reaction time.
“Winning [the Winternationals] is one of the majors. It definitely is. We’ve won Indy, and now we’ve won here, and that’s pretty dang cool. But to come out and win the way we did today, it was a total team effort. I pulled us out once, which rarely ever happens, and the team just stuck together.”
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