Drag Illustrated Issue 153, February 2020 | Page 72

DRAG ILLUSTRATED ROUNDTABLE
Clay Millican, who reached three final rounds
in 2019, believes the close racing in several
top classes contributes to the current
amount of fan interest in drag racing.
DERIC KRAMER: No. For the most part, I like
the rule changes. I got a brief look at them at the
end of last year, then when they were posted and
made official, they all seem fine to me. Being able
to kill master power permanently from in the car,
I was a little worried about, but don’t bump it
and you’ll be fine.
TC: We always have to stay on top of the technol-
ogy. From a track operator standpoint, you look
at the bracket racing where people are trying to
sneak in an ARC module or some kind of timing
manipulation device. You have to stay ahead of
that on the racetrack side.
On the PDRA side, same thing. You have
companies that are pushing the limits because
companies want to be up front. They want to see
their products in the winner’s circle, along with
72 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
their stickers and branding. It’s our job through
the series to keep our series as fair as possible
for all the power adders and combinations. A
lot of times that does create some arguments,
but in the grand scheme of things it’s for the
greater good of the series and everybody in the
parking lot, not just one certain combination or
one certain person.
Each season, new players seem to emerge in
every class or series. Who are you keeping an
eye on this year?
CM: Well, the one car you see some spark out
of every now and then, with the people that are
over there, is Mike Salinas. That car is a win
waiting to happen at every race. He’s got arguably
the greatest tuner of all time in Top Fuel [Alan
Johnson] over there. That car, when it wins is
no surprise to me. As he gets more comfortable
driving the thing, it’ll just go better and better.
And he’s won already. It’s not even newsworthy
when you’re talking about a car that AJ works
on, but that’s one guy I’m watching.
Terry McMillen didn’t make the Countdown.
They seemed to hit a slump that I think Rob
[Wendland] will have figured out. I mean holy
moly, they won the U.S. Nationals not that long
ago. I see that car as a car that can win. I don’t
know how many races Billy [Torrence] is doing,
but that’s another guy you gotta watch. Aaron
Brooks and Justin Ashley, that thing rips. I’m
watching those guys for sure. I have no ques-
tions that they can go up and down the track
and can win.
We’ve got [Shawn] Langdon coming back to
Top Fuel. That car is an instant threat. It was
with Richie [Crampton] in there. He beat me in
the final at Gainesville and was involved in the
late rounds at Pomona, and a lot of late rounds.
That car will be a threat.
CG: It’s hard not to watch Ken Singleton in the
Funny Car Chaos. He’s our defending champi-
on. He’s a champion for a reason: he found out
how to haul ass on all kinds of tracks in different
conditions.
You never know who’s going to show up at a
Funny Car Chaos race. You’ve got 10-15 racers
committed to running for the points champion-
ship and they’re gonna go to every race. Then you
have 25-30 other guys that may show up here or
there and easily throw a curveball at people in the
championship hunt. You never know when a guy
like Allan Middendorf in the “American Outlaw”
is going to show up, or when Mark McElwee in
the “Buzzy Bomber” are going to show up with
their new car. We’ve got NHRA-legal Top Alcohol
Funny Cars showing up. You never really know.
But the target is on Singleton for sure.
In OFAA, it’s amazing because it never fails,
It comes down to the elimination rounds at the
last race of the year to determine the champion.
This year, it was between four racers going into
the last race. By the time qualifying was over, it
was between two: Jody Austin’s “Bushwhacker”
and Mary Reep’s “Grim Reaper.” Mary won the
deal by six points. The target will be on her as
the defending champion, but then you have guys
like Jimmy Jones, Bobby Marriott, Jody Austin,
who were in contention going into the last race.
DK: That’s the thing in Pro Stock: it’s so close,
you kind of have to be looking at everybody.
There’s not a lot of room to be that much better
Issue 153
On the OFAA side of things, it’s a more tra-
ditional approach. But they have opened up the
rulebook a little more this year. We basically run
on a 3.80 index. With that index, we’ve gone
into 2020 allowing screw blowers. It had been
a root-style-only series for 23 years, along with a
3-disc clutch, single mag, some limitations on the
size of the fuel lines and things like that. We’ve
waived all those rules. All those rules are out. You
can run a screw blower, a 6-disc clutch, you can
have eight magnetos, I don’t care. The index is
3.80 and that’s what’s going to keep everything
in line. They’re already running 3.80s. Opening
up the rulebook a little bit will hopefully give us
more car count and give the teams the ability to
play with new things.
In both groups, there’s definitely a more open
window to play with new devices and catch up
with technology.