"Never in my life did I imagine that we could do this," an emotional Millican said afterwards. "This is something very special and a lot of people contributed to these 26 wins. Without (team owner) Peter Lehman, Werner Enterprises, crew chief Mike Kloeber, and all of my crew guys, we never could have accomplished something so big."

In a post-race ceremony, IHRA President Bill Bader presented Millican the green starting bulb from his record-setting lane. Then, in a scene reminiscent of Garlits triumphantly shaving his beard off after breaking into the sixes for the first time and winning the U.S. Nationals in 1967, Millican's crew treated him to a full head shave. No word yet on whether the newly exposed surface is available for sponsorship opportunities.

PRO MOD

Mitch Stott managed to keep his hair, but his frustrated competition may have pulled out a few strands of their own after the Radiac Abrasives driver put together a string of 6.20s that lasted to the final round. Stott qualified his blown '63 Corvette third at 6.255 behind the

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similar cars of his brother Quain (6.220) and Mike Janis, who set the track E.T. record at 6.212 to lead the 16-car Pro Mod field. The bump spot went to Charles Carpenter with a 6.393 in his nitrous-assisted '55 Chevy, ahead of 10 drivers who went home early.

Stott ran 6.273 in the first elimination round against Johnny Rocca, 6.296 against Harold Martin in round two, then got to make a leisurely 10-second bye run in the semis when Tim McAmis was unable to answer the call to stage.

On the other side of the ladder, Fred Hahn drove Jim Oddy's Summit Racing 2002 Corvette past the entries of Kevin O'Dell, Tony Pontieri, and Janis to reach the final, where he got the jump on Stott with a .056 light, but Stott quickly reeled him in and went 6.295 at 225.97 against Hahn's 6.442 at 210.31 mph.

Stott failed to qualify two races prior to visiting Martin, largely due to a questionable racing surface and new IHRA rules that restrict blown engine combinations. He said it felt good to return to winning ways. "I told them that they could beat on us and kick us, but they can't knock us down forever. We just had a few racetracks that my car didn't like at the beginning and we just had to get back to a good facility. I think we were able to truly display our horsepower and today provided a prime example."

FUNNY CAR

Funny Car points leader Rob Atchison set a new track E.T. record in his Erickson Manufacturing-backed ride for the sixth race in a row at Martin, and earned his fifth number-one qualifying position with a 5.845-secs pass.

Twenty-one cars were on hand trying to break into the 16-car field, with Ray Drew rounding out the qualifiers with a 6.135 pass at 228.96 mph. Mark Poyser, a first-time finalist at the last race, tagged the wall in the final qualifying session, but managed to race Mike Comella in the first round, where he lost to a holeshot.

Atchison's Chevy-powered flopper -- the only one of its type in the class -- ran like a finely tuned bracket car on Sunday, going 5.85, 5.83, 5.85, and 5.85 in defeating Drew, Comella, John Vouros, and three-time former class champ Von Smith, respectively.

After losing to Smith in nine previous first-round matchups, Atchison enjoyed the outcome of this race much more. "He can have all the first rounds," he said. "It means a little more in the finals."