Terry McMillen knows where he stands on the issues, but he was a bit unsure about where he should stand Tuesday, Nov. 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports owner-driver never had needed to know before. He's usually in the cockpit, absorbing the moment of a Top Fuel staging and launch sitting just inches above the pavement, the crowd a colorful blur in his peripheral vision, the grey ribbons of racing surface stretched out straight in front of him, tempting him.
 
But 23-year-old Austin Lambright was bringing McMillen's Amalie Oil Dragster through the staging lanes, rolling it up to the starting line, eager to make his first pass in the nitro-burning beast after five years of building its engines, working on its superchargers, packing its parachutes, and sending McMillen on five-second thrill-rides.
 
Shop mate Tad Heflick was watching it all from the tow vehicle but couldn't avoid having to dodge the pacing McMillen, too.

Terry McMillen knows where he stands on the issues, but he was a bit unsure about where he should stand Tuesday, Nov. 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
The Hoosier Thunder Motorsports owner-driver never had needed to know before. He's usually in the cockpit, absorbing the moment of a Top Fuel staging and launch sitting just inches above the pavement, the crowd a colorful blur in his peripheral vision, the grey ribbons of racing surface stretched out straight in front of him, tempting him.
 
But 23-year-old Austin Lambright was bringing McMillen's Amalie Oil Dragster through the staging lanes, rolling it up to the starting line, eager to make his first pass in the nitro-burning beast after five years of building its engines, working on its superchargers, packing its parachutes, and sending McMillen on five-second thrill-rides.
 
Shop mate Tad Heflick was watching it all from the tow vehicle but couldn't avoid having to dodge the pacing McMillen, too.
 
"He almost got backed over by the van. They were pushing me out and he walked right in front of the water box. If it wasn't for me pulling the brake, he would have got hit by the front wing," Lambright said with one of the few smiles he allows himself. "He was so out of place he didn't know where to stand. After I made the run, he came up to me. He had a serious look on his face, and he said, 'How much did you pay Tad to run me over with the van?' I didn't have anything to do with that."
 
He didn't. But physically running over McMillen is maybe the only thing that Lambright wouldn't do to drive the dragster.
 
The Junior Dragster veteran from Middlebury, Ind., whose parents named him after Austin Coil, dean of NHRA Funny Car crew chiefs, and who claims to "love Pat Austin" . . . the CAD-trained designer who woke up one morning at age 18 deciding to make drag racing his career, saying, "There's nobody telling me I can't do it" . . . This kid was getting his shot.
 
"He's somebody I believe in, and he's just like one of my kids. You want to make sure he's going to be OK. You think, 'That's my boy in there.' I know that he has a good head on his shoulders, so he's not going to do anything stupid," McMillen said, admitting that watching his protégé that day was "like you’re waiting on your baby to be delivered."
 
In his own defense, McMillen -- who underwent replacement surgery on both knees less than three weeks ago -- said, "My good ol' knees at the time weren't the greatest. I thought I could give him the sign to burn out and then try to back up. But my legs didn't want to go backwards for a second. I was almost part of a Goodyear tire."
 
In fewer than four seconds, his anxiety had subsided.
 
"To see him going out there was such a rewarding feeling. I was really proud of him. It was a really joyous day," the boss from Elkhart, Ind., said. "It was a moving experience, a nervous experience -- not that he couldn't drive the car, just that everything went right. With a fuel car, you could hit the throttle and it could explode. You just never know.
 
"I just believed that he knew what to do. He had prepared himself. And we had prepared him, talking and making him sit in the car for hours and just close his eyes and imagine each run. So when tire smoke reared its ugly head, he was right off the throttle -- didn't over-rev the motor, didn't hurt the burst panel. Some of these guys who have been out here forever don't catch it that quick," McMillen said.
 
"He drove it to where we told him to drive it to. We set the car up to go to that point, nice and safe. It's all about his safety," he said. "I believe in giving young people a chance."
 
Why Austin Lambright? It was an easy choice for McMillen.
 
"I just can't say enough about Austin," McMillen said. "He's young and energetic. He just wants to live and breathe this."
 
The serious, direct, articulate Lambright said, "He saw the drive in me, that I wanted to drive and that I wasn't scared to work."
 
That's the image he projects. He looks like a rock star but parties like a scientist. He's remarkably serious, intelligent, passionate about living his love. McMillen recognized that and quickly incorporated Lambright into his ambitious and growing program.
 
"I worked for him for a year with no pay," Lambright said, not proudly but rather self-assuredly. "When I was 18 years old, I wanted to go drag racing. It was always just a hobby to me, and I wanted to make it a career. He gave me the opportunity, and I made a commitment that I would work for free -- IHRA races, go with him, travel. I knew I had to prove myself and work my way up.
 
"Now I got a lot of respect from him, and we've created a really, really strong relationship. It's moving forward pretty fast, faster than I expected, driving the fuel car. And I'm excited. I think we're going to do good things together," he said, adding that McMillen "believes in me, shows a lot of respect, and that's what you need.
 
"My parents aren't rich. I don't have the money to buy a ride. You just have to do hard work," Lambright said. "I've worked many hours. I don't complain about it. I love what I do. I want just one chance to make a name -- just one year. That's all I'm asking. I probably shouldn't say that, but just a chance to make a name . . . Terry has brought me up through the marketing program, worked with me one on one. I'm out on my own now, calling people, making hard calls, making contacts."
 
According to Lambright, McMillen has been the perfect mentor.
 
"Terry has taught me a lot of marketing stuff. He never quits working. He has really taken me under his wing. He's read a lot of books. He basically is self-taught. He never quits working. That's one thing about Terry -- there's never anybody who's going to outdo him," Lambright said.
 
"He just got two knees replaced and the guy's up walking around. There's nothing that can slow him down. He has really showed me what it takes. I've accepted that, and I'm willing to give that to do this. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of hours. I'm just blessed that Terry has taken me under his wing and shown me everything he has," he said.
 
They have clicked, McMillen and Lambright. McMillen has presented him the keys not just to his dragster but to his future -- a bright one for both.
 
For Lambright, it's not exactly a birthright, but he knows he's on the threshold of an extraordinary adventure, something thousands of Hoosier boys -- the ones who aren't dreaming of basketball glory -- long to embrace.
 
"I don't know what it is . . . Just being a race-car driver from Indiana . . . I don't know if it's the Indy 500 -- Indy. There's something about Indy. It's the U.S. Nationals -- it's just, I don't know. . . " Lambright tried to explain.
 
"My mom took me to the racetrack when I was six months old. I lived at the racetrack from then on. My dad raced. I just worked my way up, started racing when I was 10 years old. It was always just a hobby to me, and one day I woke up and said, 'You know what? I want to make this a career.' I had to find a way to do it. I had a CAD degree (from Northridge High School). I did a college course on the side and got my CAD degree. I thought that's what I wanted to do. I had fun. I love it," he said.
 
After a top-10 Eastern Conference finish in the Junior Dragster ranks in 1999, he graduated to his dad's Super Gas Corvette, raced that, then raced in the Super Comp class. He quit driving to begin working for McMillen. Eventually, Lambright got to race in McMillen Amalie Oil "Instigator" Alcohol Funny Car in an IHRA race and got a taste of match racing.
 
"Austin came to me when he was about 18 years old. He grew up racing Junior Dragsters, but he really knew nothing about working on a car. He came onboard with us when we had the Funny Car," McMillen said.
 
"He just wanted to learn. He never had enough knowledge -- he was always wanting to learn. That was impressive. At 18 years old, to be that focused is mind-boggling in today's environment," he said. "In about two years, he took over being the car chief of the alcohol car, making sure things were done. He did a great job, but with the alcohol car we didn't have a big team, didn't need a big team to run that. But with the fuel car, it was a whole different ballgame. When we moved into the fuel car, we made him the car chief. All the guys report to him. He reports to Richard [crew chief Hartman]. He and Richard are on the phone daily together. He's on it all the time.
 
"We've never gone to the racetrack this year where the car wasn't 100 percent ready to go," he said. "That's a compliment to him and Tad at the shop.
 
"It's been amazing," McMillen said, "that this kid who's now 23 years old builds my motors, does my superchargers, and basically runs my shop because I'm out trying to find money and take care of marketing and promotions. So I'm not there as much as I used to be. I'm not as hands-on anymore. I don't get to work on my own stuff anymore. I've trusted this kid with everything, and he has done an awesome job."

Lambright said he fully understood the consequences of his commitment.
 
When he made a conscious choice to be a drag racer, he said, "I'm only 18. I'm young. I don't have a house. I don't have any bills." His passion hasn’t changed, but five quick years later, he has a house and the inevitable bills.
 
"It's not a big house, but it's a nice house. And it's mine. I'm just building toward hopefully someday taking over, keeping Hoosier Thunder Motorsports alive," he said.
 
"Drag racing (has) pretty unique people," Lambright said. "It takes a unique type of person to survive in this sport. You see a lot of people come in and leave the next year. You don't see a lot of people who come in and say, 'This is what I want to do for the rest of my life' and be happy with themselves. This is what I want to do. I've made that choice. So here we are. And hang on -- 'cause here we go!"
 
His 9-to-5 (-and-beyond) duties are in the shop. "I build all of his motors, do all of his superchargers, basically run the shop," Lambright said. "He has put a lot on my shoulders. I want to own my own team one day, and I want to take this over."
 
McMillen is happy with that. He said, "I'm 56 years old. If something should happen to me, my operation would be parked. And then I would be
doing my sponsors a disservice. So with my marketing partners, I don't feel that's the right thing to do. My belief is to have a back-up plan for everything we do. He's my back-up plan. It's time to get him the seat time so that if something should happen, he could jump in that car and take care of my working partners just as I would."
 
Lambright needs to make two full passes to earn his NHRA Top Fuel license. If he can get McMillen's new Murf McKinney-prepped dragster up to speed in the preseason, he'll take a stab at driving McMillen's 2010 Amalie Oil entry for the licensing attempt in January at Florida's Palm Beach International Raceway.
 
Dom Lagana, who had lots of IHRA and limited NHRA experience, mostly with the wrenches, dazzled the fans that previous weekend in November at Las Vegas, driving to his first final round -- against Tony Schumacher and defeating Larry Dixon and Antron Brown along the way. Lagana signed Lambright's license there at Las Vegas for the two passes he made.
 
"We kind of grew up together in IHRA," Lambright said. "Didn't really hang out with them, because they were always ahead of us. But talk about some hard workers. They know what it's about, the highs and the lows. I really look up to them for what they do, because they've been through everything. I was really excited for them in Vegas."
 
Seeing Bob Bode win the Funny Car trophy at Brainerd, Minn., in August was equally inspiring.
 
"It gives you an extra confidence that we can win a race, we can be competitive, even though we don't have all the money in the world," Lambright said. "We'll get there someday. It takes time. It's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen a year from now.
 
"Our goal is to get in the Countdown. My main goal is to get Terry his first (NHRA) win. I was there for his first IHRA win, and it was an emotional day for him. It has taken him a long time to get here," he said. "I'd like to have him win before I win."
 
What if the opposite happens? Said Lambright, "If that does happen, it's going to be a good day for Hoosier Thunder. We'd both be happy. But we'd have to duke it out. The finals -- that probably would be the highlight of probably both of our careers."
 
So far that has been the Las Vegas experience.
 
"It was a big deal for him to let me get in, because if something would have happened, we didn't have a second car. We were on the contract to run that last race. It just goes to show how much confidence he has in me. It could've been bad for us. It could've been bad for the relationship with Amalie," Lambright said. "But [the car] went straight down the track. It was a great experience -- and I'm ready to do more, that's for sure.
 
He ran .841 (at the) 60 foot (mark), 221 (at the 330-foot mark). "I was out of it at 500 feet. That .841 was the second-fastest the car has ever gone," he said. "With me so light, Richard said he had it tuned down. It wanted to go."
 
McMillen said, "He did an awesome job. The first time he smoked the tires and did a really decent job of reeling it in. He's ready to make two full passes and get his license."
 
Lambright agrees but understands that the pace of his progress depends on how well he attends to McMillen's dragster.
 
"If everything goes OK with the new car, we're going to try to get two more [passes] in. My car's ready, but he's got a new one. So I'm excited. Hopefully we can come up with a couple more marketing partners and see where it goes."
 
The team owner acknowledged that letting Lambright drive "was a huge risk." But he said it was worth the gamble.
 
"You know when to believe in somebody. Across the board, he was the guy to believe in," McMillen said. "I put him in the alcohol car, told him what I wanted him to do when he was driving that car, and he did everything just the way we said. That told me that this young guy is going to be somebody you want to invest in and build your program around in the long run. He is a good driver."
 
Just the same, McMillen won't rush Lambright.
 
"I don't want him to race any more than five races [in 2011], because there's a huge benefit to campaigning a car when we have a full-season sponsorship and he can have an opportunity to run for Rookie of the Year," McMillen said.
 
"There's a lot more press that goes with that. There's a decent check at the end of the day with that. He's a good-looking kid. He has a good head on his shoulders. He could win this thing hands-down when the opportunity is right. But there's no reason to go out there and struggle. We just have to do it the right way," he said. "He has the patience, but he also has the determination to make this work. He's got it all. It's my job to make sure I give him the tools to get to that point."
 
Lambright, even with his burning desire to drive, said he is content to bide his time and stick with the mechanics.
 
"I've got a lot of responsibilities on the car. It would be hard for me to step away from it," he said. "It's going to be hard, but at the same time, I'm going to have responsibilities on my own car. I'd have to jump back and forth to be happy. I'd have to have a part in both cars, because that's just how I am.
 
"Our main goal is to get this new car running competitive and in the top 10," Lambright said. "As much as I want to drive, at the end of the day it's a business. Terry has a lot on the line. And just [his] letting me drive his cars [it's an] unbelievable amount of respect he has shown me. If he says we can't do it, I understand. This is a business for him. The A car is the No. 1 priority. We're going to look at that before we proceed into any races for me."
 
Lambright know he has the chance to lead a new wave of talent.
 
"Look what happened with the Cory Mac deal. It's sad to see Cory Mac have to step away, but at the same time, it IS time for a new generation to come along," he said. "Matt Hagan, Ashley [Force Hood], maybe Courtney [Force] . . . It seems like every five to seven years, you turn over a new [wave] of racers."
 
He indicated he's hoping the next generation will add a little animation to the competition.
 
"I think you're going to see a couple more guys come out. They'll flip over a new leaf for drag racing and maybe get it more back to the pushy-pushy, shovey-shovey, let's-go-up-there-and-duke-it-out. Let's have some staging duels," Lambright said.
 
Too often, he said, "They've been doing it for five, 10 years and they're not excited. It's just another run. It's time to get rowdy again."
 
It's time to get rowdy, time to get to work, for Austin Lambright. And McMillen knows where he stands about that.

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