Clay Millican is known as one of the most excitable drivers in Top Fuel, and as such, his enthusiasm level for the upcoming SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage is pegged to the max. He\u2019s set to arrive at Bradenton Motorsports Park a full week before competition will begin Feb. 8-10. His Parts Plus\/Rick Ware Racing team will start testing early in the week before joining the 11 other elite Top Fuel teams that will attempt to qualify for the eight-car, $250,000-to-win Top Fuel show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing there knowing that there\u2019s $250,000 on the line, knowing the best cars in the world are going to be there, and having an opportunity to race at Victor\u2019s house is going to be cool,\u201d said Millican, referring to track owner Victor Alvarez. \u201cThat is one place that is constantly doing some amazing races. What PRO, Drag Illustrated, and FloRacing have put together is going to be I think the biggest show that we will have seen in who knows how many years. It\u2019s just such a different venue and such a different format. I\u2019m truly pumped about the opportunity to go down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Top Fuel winner\u2019s share of the $1.3 million in total prize money for the PRO Superstar Shootout is without a doubt on Millican\u2019s mind, but it doesn\u2019t add an intimidation factor. In 2005, Millican won the Rocket City Nationals at Huntsville Dragway, collecting a then-record $101,000 payday and a $5,000 low qualifier bonus. The $250,000 winners\u2019 shares in both Top Fuel and Funny Car at the PRO Superstar Shootout are now the largest single-event paydays in professional drag racing history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the Huntsville deal and my early life as a bracket racer, the dollar figure doesn\u2019t typically bother me when we roll up there and stage for that kind of money,\u201d Millican said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome. We don\u2019t get to race for this kind of money. I\u2019ve done it once at Huntsville and was fortunate enough to win that. I\u2019d be setting here not telling you the truth if I didn\u2019t tell you I\u2019m going to be excited and nervous if we get to that final round. At the same time, I have done it before. I don\u2019t know that that gives me an advantage. That was so long ago. But I\u2019m certainly ready to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two and a half solid days of testing, Millican and the rest of the PRO Superstar Shootout drivers will hit the track Thursday evening for the first of four qualifying sessions. The other three sessions will take place on Friday, including a final session in the evening. The idea of two night sessions, plus Saturday\u2019s final round of eliminations under the lights, appeals to Millican.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that makes nitro cars so different \u2013 the header flames,\u201d Millican said. \u201cEverybody loves header flames. Man, there\u2019s just nothing like these things at night. They\u2019re so awesome at night. I just love that. It\u2019s going to be like a throwback for me to some of our late-night runs in the IHRA days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millican is one of the most experienced drivers in the class as a 26-year Top Fuel veteran. But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s set in his ways. He\u2019s all about trying new things, such as the random chip draws that will be used to determine matchups in eliminations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what this whole event is about \u2013 let\u2019s do things different than what we\u2019re used to doing,\u201d Millican said. \u201cI love that challenge. It\u2019s a little bit like when the four-wides were brand-new and everyone was having trouble. I love mixing things up.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the PRO Superstar Shootout is the first time that modern-day nitro cars have competed at Bradenton, Millican has been down the Florida Gulf Coast track numerous times. He won an IHRA national event in Modified Eliminator there in 1998. A few years later, he returned in his Top Fuel dragster for an MSD ignition test session. Around 20 years later, he\u2019ll return once again with a Top Fuel entry capable of 330-plus MPH passes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never made full rips at Bradenton in a Top Fuel car, but I have staged up and launched a Top Fuel car at Bradenton,\u201d Millican said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a special one-off event to start the season, the PRO Superstar Shootout will allow teams the opportunity to step outside the box when it comes to paint schemes, content creation, and other areas. Millican teased that his Rick Ware Racing team will take full advantage of that opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got something cooking that the majority of car people are not going to believe it and they\u2019re gonna want to come and see it,\u201d Millican said. \u201cYou won\u2019t want to miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Top Fuel, the inaugural SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by JHG will feature $250,000-to-win Funny Car and $125,000-to-win Pro Stock, FTI Top Sportsman, Stock, and Super Stock. Off-track entertainment will include live music, a vendor village, autograph and Q&A sessions, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tickets now are on sale at https:\/\/bit.ly\/scagpro<\/a>. Fans at home can tune in to the official FloRacing livestream at https:\/\/flosports.link\/3t04gHk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Clay Millican Gearing Up for Historic $250,000 Top Fuel Showdown at PRO Superstar Shootout<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clay Millican is known as one of the most excitable drivers in Top Fuel, and as such, his enthusiasm level for the upcoming SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage is pegged to the max. He\u2019s set to arrive at Bradenton Motorsports Park a full week before competition will begin Feb. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}