A win at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park over Labor Day Weekend is one of the most sought-after awards in drag racing. Some drivers feel their career wouldn’t be complete without one, and more than a few drivers would say they’d rather have an Indy win over a world championship. With all that considered, it’s no surprise that Clay Millican’s post-win-light celebration in his Arby’s Top Fuel dragster could nearly be heard from the starting line when he defeated Steve Torrence in the final round of the 70th Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in early September.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #191, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November / December of 2024.]
Millican joined DI’s Wes Buck, Mike Carpenter, and J.T. Hudson on The Wes Buck Show just a few days after his monumental win to talk about the victory, everything that led up to it, and the moments that followed.
Millican started by sharing a little bit of his backstory to help convey just how meaningful the Indy win was for him.
“I grew up in little bitty Drummonds, Tennessee, which is where I still live,” Millican said. “I grew up in a grocery store. Mom and Daddy didn’t have no money. But we all loved drag racing – the whole family. Not just drag racing. We loved motorsports. My oldest son is named Cale, if that tells you anything, after Cale Yarborough. We loved motorsports.”
Like many in the sport, Millican got his start in drag racing through bracket racing. He quit his job as a Kroger fork lift operator when he was offered the chance to move up to Top Fuel in 1998. He never looked back, going on to win six world championships and 51 national event wins in IHRA competition. For the last nearly 20 years, he’s focused on NHRA competition, with an Indy win and a world championship at the top of his to-do list.
“Peter Lehman gave me an opportunity in a Top Fuel car, and that’s been 26 years ago,” Millican said. “There’s been a lot of amazing nitro burning in between there. A lot of incredible highs and some amazing lows. For everything to come together on Monday the way it did was an absolute, total lifetime to get to that moment, that final round.”
The marathon U.S. Nationals weekend started in dramatic fashion as well. For one, Millican’s Rick Ware Racing team unveiled a brand-new Arby’s livery on their Top Fuel dragster ahead of the first qualifying session. Knowing an Arby’s executive was on the grounds – and all eyes were on the car wrapped with the major mainstream sponsor – Millican was determined to make a strong first impression in the opening qualifying session. He accomplished that goal, just not in the way he planned.
“At about 2.8 seconds into the run Friday night, the butt-o-meter said this thing’s not happy,” Millican remembered. “The ego meter said, ‘You’ve got Arby’s standing on the starting line. Drive this thing all the way to the finish line.’ And I did. And it blowed up. It was blowed up good. We didn’t oil the racetrack and all those things, but I went right into the lounge to Jim O [Oberhofer, crew chief] and Nicky [Boninfante, co-crew chief] and I’m like, ‘Y’all can kick me right square in the butt because I should’ve shut it off, I knew it.’ Both of them were like, ‘We get it.’ Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bullet to hit your target. I didn’t know what was going to happen after that. Nicky came back later and said, ‘You know, that could be the quickest six-cylinder run of all time – 3.81 at 293.”
Millican went on to qualify No. 13 out of the 20 cars that attempted to qualify for the Big Go. He set low E.T. of the first round of eliminations to knock out defending event winner Antron Brown, then used a pair of 3.75s to take down Josh Hart and Brittany Force to advance to the final round.
In the final, Torrence left first with a .070 reaction time to Millican’s .082, but Torrence’s Capco Contractors dragster started to haze the tires and ultimately suffered engine damage. Meanwhile, Millican ran a 3.792 at 327.82 to turn on one of the biggest win lights of his career.
“I didn’t hear him and I didn’t see him,” Millican said. “I had an idea that little light on the wall over there was about to come on. If you watch [the video], which I have probably 10 times now, you’ll notice the car is wiggling around a little bit. That’s because at that point I’m 100 percent looking into the right lane and the parachutes were horribly late because I didn’t care. I knew I just won.”
Back on the starting line, team owner Rick Ware and the Arby’s team erupted in celebration. While Ware is known as a NASCAR team owner, he grew up following drag racing and knew that Indy is a big deal. And though many of the crew members were born not long before Millican started driving a Top Fuel car, they all felt the weight of the moment as well.
“There’s so much of me that wishes I could be part of what is happening on that starting line,” Millican said. “It never fails that when I go back and watch those videos of my friends, my family, my team on that starting line, the tears just roll. I can’t help it. I’m so proud and excited to see them that excited. If you watch Rick, he didn’t even know what to do.”
The 58-year-old fan favorite driver now owns the title “U.S. Nationals winner,” adding an instantly recognizable accolade to his résumé. The effect was immediately felt by Millican, who fielded hundreds of congratulatory text messages and calls and spent days after the win taking part in various interviews and media opportunities. An Indy win is truly a gamechanger.
“That is the top of the top,” Millican said. “It’s a career-making kind of thing. I think it was Ed McCulloch who said, ‘I don’t care how many championships you’ve won. You’ve done nothing unless you’ve won the U.S. Nationals.’ That rolling under that archway, I’ll never forget that. I’ll also never forget tears running down my face as the parachutes were still out. The rest of it is just a nonstop blur that has just been an amazing three days now.”
This story was originally published on December 27, 2024. 
The post Looking Back on Clay Millican Going Big at The Big Go first appeared on Drag Illustrated.