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MILLICAN MAKES IT HAPPEN
Before the race at "The Rock," Clay Millican said he and
his team would just have to start a new winning streak after Jack Ostrander
interrupted their perfect 2002 record with a first-round victory over
them just three weeks earlier at Budd's Creek, MD. True to his word,
Millican returned to the top of the Hooter's IHRA Top Fuel heap in Rockingham
by qualifying number one for the 11th time this season, then taking
his 11th victory in a schedule that includes only 12 events.
To call it domination would be an understatement, but
it was far from routine, he claimed.
"We've got all kinds of gizmos on the car that we haven't
told anybody about, but [crew chief Mike] Kloeber's been testing," Millican
revealed in a post-race interview. "His mind is just always going. When
we knew we were going to win the championship -- even before going to
Budd's Creek we were pretty confident -- we put some new parts on the
car and had to get a hold of those things and make them work."
After Paul Romine seized the number-one qualifying slot
with a 4.790 pass during Saturday's "Night of Fire," in dramatic fashion
Millican went out immediately after him and ran a 4.762 solo pass to
gain the advantage.
Millican made short work of Louie Allison and Tim Cullinan
in the preliminaries on Sunday, running 4.887 and 4.854-sec, respectively,
then faced off once more against Bruce Litton in the final round. The
Atoka, TN-based driver laid down a stellar .438 reaction, then stormed
through the traps in a winning 4.831 secs at 301.07 mph -- the only
300-plus mph pass of the weekend -- while Litton had a .504 reaction
and went 4.965 at 291.82 mph.
Despite his success, Millican called the track, "really
tricky" on raceday, with traction at a premium. Plus, he admitted to
not helping his cause any against Litton when he got distracted about
the 1,000-foot mark.
"I did my normal little 'Millican sashay' there in the
final, and that was from trying to look over and see if Bruce was there
or not," he said. "That's a mistake on my part, but it's just such a
hard thing not to do. You've just got to look over sometimes."
STOTT STRONG IN LATE SEASON
It's a tired, old clichÈ, but Mitch Stott won the battle
and lost the war at Rockingham Dragway. Stott qualified his Radiac Abrasives-backed
'63 Corvette second on the Pro Mod ladder and went on to win his third
straight event, but came up just 54 points short of the championship.
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| Mitch Stott made the switch from nitrous-assisted
to supercharged engines this year under the guidance of 2002 Funny
Car champion Jimmy Rector (behind car with arms crossed). Stott
credits Rector, veteran crewmember Ted Chavarria, and sponsor Dave
Pryor for much of his team's success. |
To be fair, Stott had only the slimmest of chances to
leave Rockingham with the season title since Shannon Jenkins, the points
leader heading into the race, merely had to qualify -- which he did
in the number-nine slot -- in order to clinch his second Mopar Parts
Pro Modified championship. Stott entered the race in third place, but
easily advanced to second over Al Billes when the Canadian surprisingly
failed to qualify.
"I honestly felt that after Jimmy Rector and I finally
decided to go with this blower program this year that we could win a
championship," Stott said. "In fact, if not for just a couple of races
where we struggled a bit, we would have done it. Three in a row is a
great way to end the season, though, and the momentum it gives us, not
to mention the burning desire we have to take it all, will make us really
tough to beat in 2003."
In Rockingham, Stott defeated Harold Martin's nitrous-
and fuel-injected 2002 Grand Am in round one, then eliminated the blown
cars of Chip King and Tim McAmis to reach Rickie Smith and his nitrous-boosted
2001 Viper in the final.
Smith left first, by .022, but Stott reeled him in by
half-track and went on to win with a 6.253 at 224.88 against Smith's
6.325 at 220.12.
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