Millican Runs the First-Ever IHRA Top Fuel

[Jason]

If you took a breath and closed your eyes for five seconds, you

would have missed it all.

 

Clay Millican, of Drummonds, Tenn., took advantage of the cool,

moist air at San Antonio Raceway Saturday night to make history for the

growing International Drag Racing Association. He set the quickest time, of

4.591-seconds, and crossed through the timing lights at an impressive 316.30

miles per hour to get first seed in Sunday's eliminations.

 

Millican, 36, praised the smoothness of the three-year old drag

racing facility and encouraged the 10,000 spectators present to whoop it up

to celebrate with him. Rhonda Hartman-Smith was just a bit slower in her

dragster in a separate run against her husband, stopping the clocks at

4.629-seconds, but crossing the finish line with a high speed of 319.52 mph.

 

On Sunday, eight Top Fuel dragsters will begin their final

eliminations. If Millican can run within one-percent of his Saturday run,

he will formally have established an IHRA record. This is the first season

that the Top Fuel rules for the National Hot Rod Association and the IHRA

are duplicate, so teams are more likely to switch to the other series during

an off weekend.

 

Following the record run, Millican spoke fondly of his first run in

south Texas and thanked the spectators for supporting the sport, following

the rain out a week ago. Later, he was asked about the red lights on radio

towers directly in his line of sight in the distance, but he said "I didn't

even notice them. I kept my eyes shut," he kidded. Millican flashed his

wide smile to everyone who approached him and later spent hours signing

autographs near his pit area.

 

The eliminations pit the first seeded driver against the

eighth-placed driver, and the second-placed driver against the

seventh-placed driver, and so on. This is also done when there are 16

finalists, and the first placed driver is pitted against the 16th-placed

driver, etc.

 

In the Pro Modified class, Mike Janis of Lancaster, N.Y., qualified

first in his Corvette-bodied car, by turning in a 6.119-second, 227 mph

blast down the quarter mile. He will be paired against Kevin O'Dell, of

South Sioux City, Neb., in a Studebaker-bodied Pro Mod car.

 

The Funny Car class has Mark Thomas of Louisville, Ohio in a Dodge

Avenger qualified first with his Saturday run of 5.821-seconds at 242.76

mph.

 

In Pro Stock, Charlie Peppers of Auburn, Ga., took his Mustang on an

elapsed time run of 6.590-seconds at 210.05 mph. Peppers will run again

Steve Spiess of Manhattan, Ill. in his Grand Am.

 

Entries in this Hooters IHRA National event come from about half the

states in the nation, and those traveling to San Antonio from out of state

are primarily from the mid west and the east coast states, where the IHRA is

most entrenched.

 

Spectators came from quite a distance also. After driving down from

Dallas last weekend, only to see this event rained out, Mark and Carol

Leinen drove down again this weekend to watch the IHRA event. "We want to

support this IHRA organization, and we didn't mind coming to San Antonio

twice," Mark Leinen said. "This is really a nice track and the event is

much better attended than the last one I attended in Shreveport, La."

 

This was the first time that South Texas crowds have heard and felt

the Top Fuel thunder since the early 1980s when the NHRA ran a national

event at Alamo Dragway south of San Antonio.

 

In the non-electronic classes, Noreen Soefje of Seguin got the best

reaction time of the evening when she cut a perfect light of 0.500-second as

she left the line in her 1968 Mustang on her run. Other local drivers in

that class included Chuck Mrazek of Alice, Joe Munsch of Floresville, Roger

Kelly, Mac Garcia, Roger Hernandez, Adolph Jimenez, David Bixler, Robert

Lazenbery, Silvia Zemgals, Michael Pearson, Gari Valdez, Greg Schwanz,

Travis Metheny, Charlton Sanders, Gary Tate, Curtis Jeffords, and Buddy

Marvin, all of San Antonio. As you can see, the local drag racing community

has really come out to celebrate the first visit of the IHRA to South Texas.

 

 

For specific information on Sunday's San Antonio Raceway

competition, call (210) 698-2310, or check out their web site at

www.sanantonioraceway.com for more details. The track is located about 12

miles east of the Alamo City on IH-10 toward Seguin. Take the Santa Clara

Rd. exit (Exit 597) off the Interstate highway and cross over the bridge to

the track.

 

The official times and pairings are shown below for Sunday's racing

at San Antonio Raceway.

 

Top Fuel -- 1. Clay Millican, 4.591 seconds, 316.30 mph vs. 8. Bob

Hallock, 5.206,

276.58; 2. Rhonda Hartman-Smith, 4.629, 319.52 vs. 7. Donald Sosenka,

5.184, 274.00; 3. John

Smith, 4.706, 300.33 vs. 6. Louie Allison, 5.114, 293.60; 4. Bruce Litton,

4.731, 312.28 vs.

5. Josh Starcher, 4.816, 305.36.

 

Pro Modified -- 1. Mike Janis, Chevy Corvette, 6.119, 227.42 vs.

16. Kevin O'Dell,

Studebaker, 6.452, 219.76; 2. Mitch Stott, Corvette, 6.219, 226.39 vs. 15.

Frankie Taylor,

Pontiac Firebird, 6.429, 219.44; 3. Al Billes, Studebaker, 6.262, 225.45

vs. 14. Ed Hoover,

Corvette, 6.416, 218.83; 4. Fred Hahn, Corvette, 6.273, 224.28 vs. 13. Mike

Castellana, Chevy

Camaro, 6.390, 217.28; 5. Steve Vick, Camaro, 6.276, 221.71 vs. 12. Dale

Brinsfield, Willys,

6.388, 221.34; 6. Billy Harper, Dodge Viper, 6.293, 223.88 vs. 11. Shannon

Jenkins, Camaro,

6.380, 218.76; 7. Quain Stott, Corvette, 6.321, 226.54 vs. 10. Paul Athey,

Corvette, 6.378,

228.89; 8. Thomas Patterson, Corvette, 6.333, 224.70 vs. 9. Chip King,

Dodge Avenger, 6.373,

221.96.

 

Funny Car -- 1. Mark Thomas, Dodge Avenger, 5.821, 242.76 vs. Bye;

2. Terry McMillen,

Avenger, 5.965, 235.47 vs. 11. Steve Burck, Avenger, 6.531, 208.88; 3. Mike

Comella, Avenger,

5.970, 237.30 vs. 10. Ron Rice, Dodge Daytona, 6.507, 212.03; 4. Ronnie

Midyette, Chevy Camaro,

5.983, 235.31 vs. 9. Dan Crownhart, Chevy Corvette, 6.419, 215.34; 5. Tony

Bogolo, Olds

Achieva, 6.026, 220.26 vs. 8. John Sullivan, Pontiac Firehawk, 6.179,

226.73; 6. Ray Drew, Ford

Mustang, 6.048, 233.32 vs. 7. Chris Foster, Avenger, 6.091, 233.03.

 

Pro Stock -- 1. Charlie Peppers, Ford Mustang, 6.590, 210.73 vs.

16. Steve Spiess,

Pontiac Grand Am, 6.672, 209.07; 2. Jason Collins, Mercury Cougar, 6.592,

212.09 vs. 15. Pete

Berner, Mustang, 6.664, 208.52; 3. Doug Kirk, Mustang, 6.593, 210.37 vs.

14. John Bartunek,

Grand Am, 6.655, 209.49; 4. Rick Jones, Dodge Neon R/T, 6.609, 210.28 vs.

13. Jeff Dobbins,

Ford Probe, 6.646, 211.26; 5. Elijah Morton, Mustang, 6.623, 210.93 vs. 12.

Floyd Cheek,

Mustang, 6.641, 209.95; 6. Chuck DeMory, Probe, 6.623, 206.04 vs. 11. John

Montecalvo, Chevy

Cavalier, 6.639, 208.97; 7. Brian Gahm, Mustang, 6.624, 210.44 vs. 10. John

Nobile, Cavalier,

6.633, 208.46; 8. Steve Williford, Cavalier, 6.627, 209.69 vs. 9. Frank

Gugliotta, Cougar,

6.631, 210.41.