Drag Illustrated Issue 145, June 2019 | Page 30

Dirt Peep Show Preston ‘Peeps’ Pennington notches Spring Fling Million victory By John DiBartolomeo T he day arrived. Maytag/Silver- state Refrigeration Million Dollar Fri- day, the main event of the K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Bat- teries, a day which can certainly change the life of one person. And so began the first round of eliminations for the main event, the one everyone wants to win, Million Dollar Friday. When the first round was complete almost three hours after it began, 344 entries had taken their shot at the win. According to the progressive winner’s share, someone was going to walk home at the end of the night with a $375,000 check, possibly the largest amount of money paid to date for the win of any single drag race, regardless of class. Because no one hit the Run For The $50K, co-promoters Kyle Seipel and Peter Biondo chose to roll $20,000 over to the first person who laid down a perfect run in Friday’s eliminations, which never occurred, albeit still an admirable effort and the reason so many racers like the Spring Fling brand of races. The PRO38 class of foot-brakers once again battled down to a final round, where Andy Schmall battled Dustin Henry with Schmall get- ting the win. The win included a bonus of $500 and the advancement to the Super Pro round seven with the remaining Super Pro competitors. Round six competitors included Val Torres Jr., Jason Lynch, Chris Northrup, Aaron Gee, Kenny Underwood, Peeps Pennington, Jeremy Maples, Brandon Jamall, Dan Northrop, Dan Lafferty, Shane Carr, Dustin Dee Long, Lane Dicken and John Labbous. Winners that round included Carr, Gee, Dicken, Schmall, Lynch, Pennington, Dan Northrop, Jarrell, in addition to PRO38 winner Schmall. Quarterfinal round and the winners were Carr, Northrop, Pennington and while Pennington was tech- nically in a door car, his roadster, the lone remaining PRO38 door car of Schmall was still hanging tough with the delay box crowd. Four cars and four tough competitors remained. First up was Carr and Northrop, with Carr using a .003 reac- tion time to Northrop’s .022 for the win. Next up were the two remaining “door cars,” Pennington and Schmall, with Pennington taking the win while Schmall ran .004 under his dial. And with that, the final was set with former Vegas Fling winner Pennington looking for his second Fling trophy, while Carr, driving Shane Thompson’s 4.4-second car at this race, has won at just about every big- money race all across the country. In the final, Pennington had the reaction time advantage and held on for the win to add his name to an impressive list of Million Dollar race win- ners, earning a record amount of money for his efforts, taking it all the way back to Three Rivers, Texas. The one question he asked after the final? “Can I still race tomorrow on the last day?” Not a good idea. But he enjoyed a two-night stay at the Cosmopolitan Resort as part of his winnings. DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI Must Have Experience Ray Miller III leans on a lifetime of education to forge success By Kelly Wade 30 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com ness, Miller Race Cars in Spring City, Tennessee, where they build proven, championship-caliber vehicles – not just for themselves, but also for others, including 2017 Super Comp world champ Austin Williams. “You have to be prepared, and between equip- ment and cars, we were ready to start the season,” he continues. “So far, things have been falling my way and working out really well.” Miller grew up in a world of chassis refinement and competition, learning the ins-and-outs as he worked with his father at the shop and accom- panied him to the racetrack. The Miller family is all about racing, in most every way, and their achievements on the racetrack speak to that dedication. “I pretty much live around racing,” says Miller. “If I’m not racing, I’m either building race cars for customers or working on my own. We have a cabin up north that we go to in the summertime for a couple of weeks, but most days it’s race cars or racing-related.” Issue 145 T he beginning of any race season is a fresh page of a new story, and for Ray Miller III, the early chapters of 2019 NHRA competition have been promising page-turners. This isn’t the first vol- ume of his racing career, though, and Miller is calling on past experience to compose a favorable ending to the year. By mid-May, Miller had raced in three national and three divisional events. He was leading the points in Super Comp with three wins and a runner-up and had lodged himself into the top 10 in Super Gas. “My equipment and cars have just been really good,” says Miller, who is dedicated to his craft in more ways than one. He logs countless hours alongside his father, Ray Jr., at their family busi-