Clay Millican celebrates the biggest payday in his racing career at the top end of Huntsville Dragway.

HUNTSVILLE, AL. - 7/3/05 -11:45 p.m.

…. And the big winnah of the $101,000 Rocket City Nationals Top Fuel purse is … Clay Millican.

Realistically, that should come as no surprise. The Drummondsville, Tenn. driver was driving for the Werner Enterprises team, a group that has won four straight IHRA World titles, obviously benefiting from the tuning talents of crew chief Mike Kloeber and mechanical advisor Lance Larsen.

Millican killed them with consistency, reeling off three winning eliminations runs of 3.243, 3.285, and a final round 3.246/256.85, which came at the expense of red-lighting engineer and blower manufacturer Tim Gibson at the wheel of the Stevens Family entry.

Gibsontold DRO that he thought his foot was in the wrong position on the throttle and started to moveit, but when he did he tapped the throttle.

"It was just a mistake on my part," Gibson said.

After shooting past longshot Roger Dean in round one, Millican cranked the 3.28 that drilled a 3.674 by John Smith in Virgil Hartman’s entry. The Millican-Smith confab probably drew the biggest roar out of the crowd as their duel was preceded by a 30-second staging burndown. In the same frame, T.J. Zizzo jumped the gun against Gibson, tossing out a 3.302 and allowing the Californian and former Alabamian’s shut-off 4.62, vaulting him to the biggest final of his career.
That career description was easily applicable to Millican and Kloeber, who by being Low Qualifiers actually earned a total purse of $106,000.
Millican enthused, "This is the biggest one for me. My first ‘Wally" and the biggest payday. Cliché or not, it doesn’t get much better than that. Kloeber was nearly on that same wave length. "This ties my greatest day. I’ll put it this way, I can’t say that my ’89 U.S. Nationals and Big Bud Shootout win with Don Prudhomme was any better. Hey, $101 grand, that makes it great.

To the victor go the spoils. Shannon Jenkins enjoys congratulations after winning the Pro Mod race at Huntsville Dragway's Rocket City Nationals.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/3/05 - 11:45 p.m.

If a general description could be anchored to the Pro Mod quarter, semi, and overall final, it would be that they got quicker and quicker, and nobody got quicker and quicker than winner and former IHRA Pro Mod kingpin Shannon Jenkins. "The Iceman’s" 738-cid-equipped ’68 Camaro wasn’t the quickest driver in each of the final three rounds, but he was always near the top.

To wit, in the quarters, Jenkins’ 4.144/180.00 to 4.191/177.58 thriller over Billy Harper’s Dodge wasn’t the quickest of the frame. Bil Clanton (and that’s the correct spelling) and his "Big Money" (that’s not "Wheel of Fortune") Studebaker clocked a 4.133/174.28 win over Terry Leggett, who incidentally won the meet’s Best Appearing Car award with his dazzling ’41 Willys, which was flying, too, at a 4.23.

In the semi's, Jenkins won the best race of the eliminator when he took a 4.13 toBauknecht's quicker 4.12.. Clanton soloed into a final where he red-lighted away 10 grand to Jenkins.

Jimmy Blackmon’s march to the Outlaw 10.5 title in Huntsville began with a second-place qualifying effort, followed by a first-round win over Jack Barfield, a round-two bye, a win over Marcus Birt, and beating Mark Micke in the semis. On the other side of the ladder, Craig Pio got past Scottie Wortham, Bobby Cole, Stacey Nowak, and a bye run to reach the final against Blackmon. Pio, from Bellmore, NY, left first, but almost immediately went into severe tire shake and had to pedal his ’98 Camaro to recover. Meanwhile, Rockmart, Ga.’s Blackmon also lost traction in his turbo-assisted ’92 Trans Am. "That was almost an ‘abort-the-mission’" Blackmon admitted later. "That was scary. I almost crossed the centerline and balled it up there." In the final, Blackmon crossed the finish line in 4.958 seconds at 145.86 mph, while Pio put together a 5.334/149.30 combo.

Greg Holt went for a teeth-rattling ride in first round Pro Mod action at the Rocket City Nationals in Huntsville, Ala.

Best Appearing Car honors went to Pinetown, NC's Terry "Legbone" Leggett with his swashbuckling and blown '41 Willys.

The unofficial Best Holeshot award had to go to Toney Russell in the '55 Lowmad, when he strapped a .410 leave on Phil Osborne in his "Thunderstruck" Corvette.

Tim Gibson was confident going into the Top Fuel final, but a redlight start against Clay Millican ended his title hopes.

Roger Dean nearly pulled off a huge upset of reigning IHRA Top Fuel champ Clay Millican at Huntsville Dragway, but a starting-line miscue cost him the race against a redlighting Millican.

Top Fuel first round results
The highlight of round one at George Howard’s $101,000-to-win Rocket City Nationals was nearly the biggest surprise of the season if not the decade.

It is no secret that the odds-on favorite to win this event is four-time IHRA Top Fuel world champ Clay Millican aboard the Mike Kloeber-tuned Werner Enterprises dragster, which qualified No. 1 at a track record 3.18 with a top speed at 262 mph.
In round one, Millican drew West Virginia insurance agent and independent racer Roger Dean, who on his only qualifying lap limped down track to a 10.37 at low speed of the meet 55.43 mph. The two staged, Dean then deep-staged and left before the tree activated. Millican followed with what -- at first look -- appeared to be a red-light with a -.2567 reaction. However, a check of the clocks and the videotape replay revealed that Dean left before the tree activated, resulting in no numbers on his side of the computer screen.

In the remaining three races, John Smith pushed the Craftsman/Hartman Racing dragster to a 3.461/222.00 win over a tire-hazing Mitch King. Vicky Fanning, in Hartman’s second car could only crank out a tire-smoking 3.835 at 187.81 to fall to Tim Gibson’s on/off the throttle 3.483/230.53 in the Stevens Family’s entry. Finally, C.J. Stevens in the San Diego, Calif.-based Full Scope Motorsports machine broke on the line against T.J. Zizzo, who ran the second best time of eliminations with a 3.349 at 246.58 mph pass.

The first round of Pro Mod had its share of upsets and tire-smoking match-ups. The upset of the event came when local racer Toney Russell and his trick ’55 Nomad gave Florida racer Phil Osborne a thrashing using a .408 to Osborne’s surreal .822 reaction time. In the other match ups Todd Bauknecht used up Tommy Mauney with a 4.70 to Mauney’s tire spinning, shut off 5.02. Shannon Jenkins’ 4.26 was too much for St. Louis racer Bill Hill’s guardrail-hunting, nine-second pass. Bil Clanton’s 4.15 was too much for Greg Holt’s 5.057 and Mel Eaves eight-second lap was no good against T. Leggett’s 4.26. Billy Harper (above) went 6.67/104.00 to beat an even more off-the-pace 11.76 by Frankie Taylor.

Second-round action saw Clanton continue his march to the final round with another "teen," going 4.134/174 to put Leggett’s ’41 Willys on the trailer. Bauknecht edged Russell to go the semi finals with a 4.23 to a 4.27 for Russell. Harper’s 4.192 was no match Jenkins’ 4.14/180.00 and number-one qualifier Clanton will get a bye run into the final round to meet either Jenkins or Bauknecht.

With a clear dose of nitro in the tank, Don Garlits put on a great smoke show for the fans at Huntsville Dragway's Rocket City Nationals.

Clay Millican and Mike Kloeber made the pass of the event on their last qualifying lap setting Low ET and Top Speed of the met going into Sunday's final Eliminatios. Millican lined up next to Illinois second generation driver T.J. Zizzo, who moved into the second spot with a stellar 3.286/250.66 lap.

The late arrival of Roger Dean filled the eight-car field. Dean idled down track on his ownly qulaifying lap with a 10.37/55.43 pass.

Final Qualifying 1) Clay Millican 3.18/262.39 (NTR) 2) T.J. Zizzo 3.286/250.56 3) Tim Gibson 3.322/245.23 4) Mitch King 3.392/211.86 5) John Smith 3.438/241.16 6) Vicky Fanning 3.445/219.30 7) C.J. Nelson 3.875/191.82 8) Roger Dean 10.374/55.43

Shannon Jenkins' 4.09 lap recorded duriing the last qualifying session was disallowed after he staged, the tree activated, and then Jenkins backed out of the beams and restaged. A definite no-no! that put Bil Clanton's 4.10 back on the pole.

Proving he's still the man to beat, nitrous ace Shannon Jenkins secured the number-one qualifying slot with a 4.135-seconds pass in the second round of qualifying, but briefly lost it when Bil Clanton went 4.106 in the third and final session. Not to be outdone, Jenkins answered with a dramatic 4.090 at 180.58 mph to start on top for raceday.

Shannon Jenkins who has made many laps down the Huntsville eighth-mile drew on that experience to set Low ET of the day with his '69 nitrous oxide injected Camaro with a stellar4.090/180.58 blast that put him on the pole. Local Outlaw Pro Mod star Bil "Big Money" Clanton was right behind Jenkins with a 4.106-seconds pass at 174.55 mph.

Results from the final round of Pro Mod qualifying at Huntsville:

11) Shannon Jenkins 4.0990/180.58 2) Bil Clanton 4.106/174.55 3) Tommy Mauney 4.128/177.58 4) Frankie "Madman" Taylor 4.130/176.68 5)Phil Osborne 4.201/170.45 6) Mel Eaves 4.208/175.92 7) Terry Leggett 4.262/167.35 8) 7) Toney Russell 4.290/169.24

Flying the American flag's colors on the Fourth of July weekend, Greg Holt's turbocharged 'Vette is qualified number 12 before a sold-out crowd at Huntsville Dragway's Rocket City Nationals with a 5.079/126.87.

Tim Gibson streaks to a second-place pass in Top Fuel qualifying at Huntsville.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/1/05 - 9:30 p.m.

Let's take it from the top. Before today, Friday, July 1, the NHRA's last official eighth-mile Top Fuel elapsed time record was a 4.13 set in 1974 by the English-Frakes-Funk/"Kentucky Moonshiner" at Ohio Valley Raceway in Kentucky. Shortly afterwards, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco joined with NHRA and IHRA for the presentation of championship QUARTER-mile drag racing. And because of that, eighth mile racing on the pro level took a hellacious dump. No one's interested. Sooooo ... what we are witnessing here at George Howard's Rocket City Nationals at Huntsville Dragway in "Alabammer" is the first opportunity to set eighth-mile Top Fuel records on a large scale level in 31 years -- and all within the backdrop pf winning a potential $101,000 payday.

Here are the highlights at what is undeniably a very historic drag race. I'll keep it brief, but the plain and simple is that Clay Millican, the four-time IHRA boss in the Werner Enterprises dragster has the first leg on the new record, not to mention low e.t. and a new track record (old mark - Shirley at a 3.27) with a 3.252. A cool seven back is ace John Force aero-engineer Tim Gibson in the Torco dragster with a 3.322.

First Round Qualifying Results

1.) Clay Millican - 3.258/255.39 (NTR) 2.) Tim Gibson - 3.322/245.23 3.) T.J. Zizzo - 3.352/237.59 4.) Mitch King - 3.433, 225.23 5.) John Smith - 3.438/241.16 6. Vicky Fanning - 3.445/219.30 EDITOR'S NOTE C.J. Nelson in the Nelson & Phillips failed to go down the track when the blower let go in the burnout area. Roger Dean arrived late and will run when the next and final qualifying session begins at approximately 10 p.m. Which will mean a full eight-car qualified field.

Outlaw 10.5 pioneer Steve Kirk qualified number one at the Rocket City Nationals.

Outlaw 10.5 qualifying concluded with Steve Kirk ending up on top with a 4.760-seconds pass at 157.34 mph in his nitrous-assisted 2002 Camaro. Following Kirk was fellow Georgian Jimmy Blackmon in a turbocharged 1992 Trans Am, who led the first two qualifying sessions, at 4.773 and 156.30 mph.

Before his final effort Kirk said the high temperatures were a challenge, but the track was in good condition. He also mentioned track temperatures exceeded 140 degrees in the first session, but were down to below 100 degrees for the last.

Following up on a couple of previous DRO items, Mike Hill qualified sixth with his experimental Goodyear tires and Jack Barfield is yet to make a pass in his new Camaro after mechanical glitches forced him to abandon two qualifying attempts.

Outlaw 10.5 final qualifying results:

1) S. Kirk - 4.760/157.34 2) J. Blackmon - 4.773/156.30 3) M. Micke - 4.814 4) T. Moyer 4.824/160.26 5) B. Cole - 4.827/151.21 6) M. Hill - 4.863/156.47 7) S. Wortham - 4.891/151.77 8) R. Hale 4.918/151.46

Clay Millican and tuner Mike Kloeber took advantage of a test session offered to the Top Fuel racers and the Rocket City Nationals to test Huntsville's right lane. Mike Kloeber dispelled any doubt about the quality of the starting line with a .890 sixty-foot time. The tires just started to haze at about 100ft and Millican stepped off of the throttle and coasted through the lights at 4.42 seconds at just 105.75 mph. Apparently Kloeber wanted to test the right lane which is supposedly the bumpier of the two.

Mel Eaves suprised the crowd and the insiders by getting low E.T of the test session in his nitro-burning RacNsur backed 'Vette.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/2/05 - 3:45 p.m.

Nine Pro Mod cars came out for a Test session prior to the first round of qualifying later this evening. Super Chevy regular Mel Eaves burning 15% nitro inthe tank made the quikest and straightest pass of the session recording a 4.2192/171.36 lap. He was followed by veteran driver Tommy Mauney and Billy Harper. Mauney ran a 4.2671 at 172.08 which gave him the top speed of the event at this point. Harper recorded the best time for the nitorus contingent with a 4.4741/162.28. Many of the races including former NHRA Pro Mod World Champ Shannon Jenkins blew the tires off as did veteran Texas Match racer Franke Taylor in his Jeffer's Pro Cars '59 'Vette.

Results from test session

1) Mel Eaves 4.21 2) Tommy Mauney 4.263) Billy Harper 4.47 4) Lee Bone 4.51 5) T. Russell 4.75 6) Frankie Taylor 5.09 7) Shannon Jenkins 7.29 8) Bill Hill 8.18 9) Phil Osborne 11.18

Vickie Fanning is back driving a Top Fuel car and in contending for the $101,000 winners purse for Top Fuel at Huntsville.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/2/05 - 11:30 a.m.

Seven Top Fuel cars are already on the premises at Huntsville. The teams and drivers already here inlcude Clay Millican, John Smith T.J. Zizzo, Tim Gibson, Mitch King, C.J. Nelson and a late addition to the race Texa- based veteran driver Vickie Fanning.

Fanning told DRO that she was delighted to be driving for the Virgil Hartman team."It's the best car I've ever driven."

In 1997 Fanning won the National Dragster "upset of the year" award when she beat Gary Scelzi at Brainerd.

At least a couple of other teams should be pulling in soon including "Turbo" Tim Cullinan and Scott Palmer.

There will be a bonus 3:00 PM test session for the Top Fuel teams that will not count as an actual qualifying session.

The official qualifying laps are scheduled for 7:30 and 9:30. We'll post the numbers from the 3:00 PM session as soon as it is completed.

Outlaw 10.5 star Mike Hill is testing a new 10-wide tire for GoodYear at the Rocket City Nationals in Huntsville, AL. Hill has been testing for GoodYear since last year and this is the third variation of the tire, with a slightly longer rollout (104 inches) and stiffer sidewalls. So far, Hill is the only one in the pits with the new rubber and some controversy is brewing over its limited availability. Seeking to disprove the naysayers who claimed it was up to 14 inches wide, Hill took the tape measure to the tire and came up with 11.25 inches at 10 psi. Mickey Thompson are the mainstay for the class. In early time trials, low E.T. belongs to Jimmy Blackmon in his '92 Camaro from Dallas, GA, going 4.819 at 158.73 mph. Hill went 5.086 at 145.40.

With track owner George Howard (in cart) looking on, the last few truckloads of dirt are piled behind the new guardwall at Huntsville Dragway, just in time for the inaugural Rocket City Nationals.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/1/05 - 4:45 p.m.

The newly refurbished and repaved pits are filling up with race cars despite the fact that you can cut the heat and humidty with a knife at George Howard's legendary and classicly Southern 1/8th-mile Huntsville Dragway. Huntsville is the location for one of the ultra rare 1/8th-mile open competition Top Fuel shows.

In drag racing history, according to DRO Sr. Editor Chris Martin, NHRA last held eighth-mile Top Fuel races at Ohio Valley Raceway in Kentucky and the IHRA also held an eighth-mile event at Charlotte Motor Speeday, with both events held in the early seventies.Martin thinks that those races were held in 1974-1975 and racers and teams such English, Frakes, and Funk ran the NHRA races and IHRA hitter Paul Longenecker raced at Ohio Valley.

At this race NHRA hitter and four-time IHRA World Champ Clay Millican is already parked and assembling engines. T.J.Zizzo and Mitrch King are parked and John Forces' aerodyamicist Tim Gibson is also on his way. Other racers will arrive soon for Sunday's $101,000 to win event. This is also the first race in about 25 years where the eighth-mile ET and Speed record will be set on an 1/8th mile track. NHRA currently doesn't have an official 1/8th mile record for Top Fuel that we at DRO can verify.

Over a dozen Pro Mods are on thge premises inlcuding Billy Harper, Bill Hill, Shannon Jenkins and many, many more.

Tonight is a test and tune session and DRO will bring you cov erage and photos of tonight's racing in preparation for Saturday's qualifying sessions.

The race is also an NHRA National Open and a large field of Stock and Super Stockers are anticipated.

Defending ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 champ Jack Barfield and crew chief Randy Conner are debuting their brand-new '69 Camaro at the Rocket City Nationals.

HUNTSVILLE, AL.- 7/1/05 - 9:30 p.m.

A test and tune session wrapped up the first day of action at the Inaugural Rocket City Nationals at Huntsville Dragway.

No Top Fuel cars made a lap although the Kenny Koretsky team considered making a lap. Crew Chief Mike Kloeber nixed the idea after deciding the track was just too green. Some of the Top Fuel teams suggested that the promoters allow them to make three laps Saturday. No decision has been made as to whether to allow that to happen.The general feeling among the teams is that they will all stick to the two-lap qualifying format. Right now it looks like between 8-10 Top Fuel cars will be on the premises by Saturday's first round of qualifying.

Several Pro Mods at the event inlcuding Billy Harper made the tow to Huntsville from the IHRA race last weekend at Edmonton, Alberta Canada Nitro Coupe racer Mel Eves was the only Pro Mod to make a lap and went a respectable 4.36/166 lap.