MILLICAN: SITTING OUT VEGAS HIS DECISION
Tue, 2009-04-07 11:30
The decision to keep the MPE Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at home versus entering the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las 
Vegas was made by driver Clay Millican, who manages the team for owner Mark Pickens.
Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion who now drives exclusively in NHRA Full Throttle competition, confirmed he made the decision to ensure the future for the organization. The team will return to competition in Commerce, Ga., the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, April 16 – 19, 2009, the next event on the NHRA Pro schedule.
“It is Mark's team,” reminded Millican when asked about the decision. “He put me in charge of his money and I am doing my best to take care of it.”
Millican said Pickens supported his driver/manager’s decision to skip the fifth race of the 24-race tour.
“Mark told me that he knows what my budget is and appreciates me treating his money as if it were mine,” Millican said Monday afternoon from his Memphis, TN.-based shop. The decision to keep the MPE Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at home versus entering the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in LasVegas was made by driver Clay Millican, who manages the team for owner Mark Pickens.
Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion who now drives exclusively in NHRA Full Throttle competition, confirmed he made the decision to ensure the future for the organization. The team will return to competition in Commerce, Ga., the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, April 16 – 19, 2009, the next event on the NHRA Pro schedule.
“It is Mark's team,” reminded Millican when asked about the decision. “He put me in charge of his money and I am doing my best to take care of it.”
Millican said Pickens supported his driver/manager’s decision to skip the fifth race of the 24-race tour.
“Mark told me that he knows what my budget is and appreciates me treating his money as if it were mine,” Millican said Monday afternoon from his Memphis, TN.-based shop.
“That was why I decided we shouldn't go. Our whole goal in everything is that whenever we go to the starting line our car is 100 percent. It's not going to be 75 percent. We have the best parts that can be bought. I was afraid if we made the back to back races there, that at some point we might have to cut back on something that we need parts-wise and I just couldn't do that in good conscience.”
Millican drove the MPE dragster to a quarter-final finish in Houston, the team’s best this year.
Pickens committed to running 2009 for the full tour without major sponsorship during the latter part of last season. He acquired the team last spring when former owner Evan Knoll ceased operations.
MPE Motorsports debuted last season with a semi-final finish at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.
Millican was unable to confirm whether or not the team will attend the Western Swing, the three-race portion of the schedule which includes stops in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, or miss any more races in 2009.
He was able to confirm the team is performing as good if not better than he and Pickens expected at this point in the season.
“The team is good. Performance-wise the car was fantastic in Houston,” Millican confirmed. “I definitely second-guessed my decision about missing Vegas after how well the car ran in Houston. But, I stuck with the decision not to go for the simple cost of money. We're running this car out of Mark's pocket at the moment. We're working our tails off to get some sponsorship; some business partners to go along with us here. It definitely was not an easy decision to go.”
When it comes to the race team one could conclude the buck stops with Millican. In reality, it's when to spend the buck that stops with Millican.
Vegas was made by driver Clay Millican, who manages the team for owner Mark Pickens.Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion who now drives exclusively in NHRA Full Throttle competition, confirmed he made the decision to ensure the future for the organization. The team will return to competition in Commerce, Ga., the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, April 16 – 19, 2009, the next event on the NHRA Pro schedule.
“It is Mark's team,” reminded Millican when asked about the decision. “He put me in charge of his money and I am doing my best to take care of it.”
Millican said Pickens supported his driver/manager’s decision to skip the fifth race of the 24-race tour.
“Mark told me that he knows what my budget is and appreciates me treating his money as if it were mine,” Millican said Monday afternoon from his Memphis, TN.-based shop. The decision to keep the MPE Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at home versus entering the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las
Vegas was made by driver Clay Millican, who manages the team for owner Mark Pickens.Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion who now drives exclusively in NHRA Full Throttle competition, confirmed he made the decision to ensure the future for the organization. The team will return to competition in Commerce, Ga., the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, April 16 – 19, 2009, the next event on the NHRA Pro schedule.
“It is Mark's team,” reminded Millican when asked about the decision. “He put me in charge of his money and I am doing my best to take care of it.”
Millican said Pickens supported his driver/manager’s decision to skip the fifth race of the 24-race tour.
“Mark told me that he knows what my budget is and appreciates me treating his money as if it were mine,” Millican said Monday afternoon from his Memphis, TN.-based shop.
“That was why I decided we shouldn't go. Our whole goal in everything is that whenever we go to the starting line our car is 100 percent. It's not going to be 75 percent. We have the best parts that can be bought. I was afraid if we made the back to back races there, that at some point we might have to cut back on something that we need parts-wise and I just couldn't do that in good conscience.”
Millican drove the MPE dragster to a quarter-final finish in Houston, the team’s best this year.
Pickens committed to running 2009 for the full tour without major sponsorship during the latter part of last season. He acquired the team last spring when former owner Evan Knoll ceased operations.
MPE Motorsports debuted last season with a semi-final finish at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.
Millican was unable to confirm whether or not the team will attend the Western Swing, the three-race portion of the schedule which includes stops in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, or miss any more races in 2009.
He was able to confirm the team is performing as good if not better than he and Pickens expected at this point in the season.
“The team is good. Performance-wise the car was fantastic in Houston,” Millican confirmed. “I definitely second-guessed my decision about missing Vegas after how well the car ran in Houston. But, I stuck with the decision not to go for the simple cost of money. We're running this car out of Mark's pocket at the moment. We're working our tails off to get some sponsorship; some business partners to go along with us here. It definitely was not an easy decision to go.”
When it comes to the race team one could conclude the buck stops with Millican. In reality, it's when to spend the buck that stops with Millican.
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