This is the week Clay Millican has been anticipating for some time. He gets to look at his newly-sponsored Parts Plus Top Fuel dragster at the race track instead of at the team’s shop near Memphis, Tenn.
Better yet, he gets to drive it this weekend in NHRA’s Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.
“It’s time to go back to work, and I am excited about it,” Millican said. “Not only do I get to drive the race car, but I get to go out and take care of the Parts Plus vendors. We did get to race twice last year, including the second one in Las Vegas, so it’s not like we haven’t been on the track recently.”
Co-crew chiefs Justin Crosslin and Mike Domalaga, who were at the mechanical helm in the races at Reading, Pa. and Vegas, will again be doing tuning, and the rest of the crew remained intact.
“We missed a real opportunity to test after the Vegas race (Oct. 31),” Millican continued. “We are going to plan all we can for Friday’s first qualifying session. I think it is going to be good.”
Millican qualified 11th at Reading and the car ran well in an opening round loss. The car’s performance stepped up at Las Vegas, where he qualified sixth and was slowed by tire spin.
“I know there are going to be a lot of good cars at Gainesville, but we are very happy we get to show off our car’s new colors. Everything looks great,”
Parts Plus has parts stores, warehouses and car care centers around the country and Millican plans to visit with store employees at all 12 races the team will attend this year.
“Their response to the sponsorship has been very favorable,” he said. “The Parts House in Florida will have more than 250 guests coming to watch us in Gainesville. That means the people of Parts Plus love racing. We are going to do everything we can to give them a car that runs up front and a race team I know they will be proud of.”
Better yet, he gets to drive it this weekend in NHRA’s Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.
“It’s time to go back to work, and I am excited about it,” Millican said. “Not only do I get to drive the race car, but I get to go out and take care of the Parts Plus vendors. We did get to race twice last year, including the second one in Las Vegas, so it’s not like we haven’t been on the track recently.”
Co-crew chiefs Justin Crosslin and Mike Domalaga, who were at the mechanical helm in the races at Reading, Pa. and Vegas, will again be doing tuning, and the rest of the crew remained intact.
“We missed a real opportunity to test after the Vegas race (Oct. 31),” Millican continued. “We are going to plan all we can for Friday’s first qualifying session. I think it is going to be good.”
Millican qualified 11th at Reading and the car ran well in an opening round loss. The car’s performance stepped up at Las Vegas, where he qualified sixth and was slowed by tire spin.
“I know there are going to be a lot of good cars at Gainesville, but we are very happy we get to show off our car’s new colors. Everything looks great,”
Parts Plus has parts stores, warehouses and car care centers around the country and Millican plans to visit with store employees at all 12 races the team will attend this year.
“Their response to the sponsorship has been very favorable,” he said. “The Parts House in Florida will have more than 250 guests coming to watch us in Gainesville. That means the people of Parts Plus love racing. We are going to do everything we can to give them a car that runs up front and a race team I know they will be proud of.”
