In advance of the 2015 GatorNationals — the third race event in the 2015 National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel series — nine-year professional drag racing veteran Terry McMillen and his crew from Amalie Motor Oil demonstrated just how much work goes it takes to prepare to drive down the quarter-mile track.
In front of a crowd of about 20 people Wednesday outside Peisano's Stone Fired Pizza, located at 1250 W. University Ave., McMillen and his crew took out and rebuilt the engine of his 10,000 horsepower dragster and restarted the vehicle in less than 30 minutes, showing the importance of efficiency and accuracy in professional drag racing.
“We practiced right now just a little bit of what we can do,” McMillen, 60, said after the event. “My guys ... they did a perfect job.”
A member of drag racer Terry McMillen’s pit crew services the Top Fuel dragster at a National Hot Rod Association media event near Piesano’s Pizza on Wednesday at noon. Pit crew members at the event demonstrated starting the dragster’s engine, removing it, rebuilding it and then reattaching it before starting it again.
