Top Fuel fan-favorite Clay Millican has a past. 

Long before he became a working man's champion from the small hamlet of Drummonds, Tennessee, located outside of Memphis, he was a sportsman drag racer when he wasn't busy driving a forklift at the Kroger warehouse. 

"I love my sportsman racing and still very much to this day I keep up with what is going on," Millican said. "I’m an avid listener to the Luke and Jed podcast. I don’t miss an episode of it. I may not listen to it the day it comes out, but I’ll listen to it. Do my dangdest to keep up with kind of what’s happening with the points. 

"Just to give you a good example, I am so excited that David Rampy is at 99 wins. Can’t wait for him to get the next one. I thought he was going to get it last week because he made two finals and it’s unusual that he loses two finals."

Millican cannot relate to losing sportsman finals. Twice he reached the finals in IHRA Modified competition and emerged victorious including the one where he arrived at the track with no engine in his dragster. 

"Truth is, I was a horrible bracket racer just for the simple fact that I had zero trouble with the tree, hitting the tree was not a problem. My problem was I loved going fast, and I never could leave my car alone," Millican admitted. "When I found a spot that was consistent with whatever car I had at the time, I was never happy with how fast I went, and so I continually tried to make my car go faster, which is a bad idea as a bracket racer. 

"Modified kind of fit me good because then it became a weight per cubic inch deal, so I was able to make the car try to go fast with the restrictions of weight per cubic inch."

As NASCAR racer Clint Bowyer sees it, racers are race fans. https://t.co/juGEUB52HM

— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) October 15, 2018

Millican has found the perfect niche racing Top Fuel and remains the closest challenger to the runaway train Steve Torrence is piloting. Don't think for a moment he isn't grateful for the fact he doesn't have to go sportsman racing for a living.  

"I’m always intrigued with Comp eliminator but I really still love the super classes," Millican said. "I try to watch all the guys and what’s happening. There’s some people out there now that are just brutal, they’re incredible. What they do and how they drive the finish line. 

"Everybody is holding numbers these days. I don’t know anything about holding numbers the way they do it now, but man it sure is interesting. If you look at the Cummings boys, Slate in particular, like in Stock, he’s subject to hold a tenth. So he’ll be down there ripping the throttle and slamming the brakes, it’s just incredible. Justin Lamb is an awesome, awesome racer. There are so many of them now that are just the last person you’d want to pull up beside if it’s a must-win round. Man, I find it interesting."

In a perfect world, Millican would foot-brake race a Top Fuel car. 

"Absolutely," Millican confirmed. "My bracket racing background shows up all the time. Here’s a prime example of that, I wasn’t the fastest guy on the tree last week but my lights were four-thou spread. I look at that. I was .072, .072, .068 during eliminations. I pay attention to that. I told Brett, “man, I need to get in my Super Stocker. Bottom bulb I’m four-thou spread.” 

'Not that I would be on the bottom bulb because obviously, we’re on the pro tree, but there’s been a lot of races where I think, “man, this Top Fuel car is pretty deadly.” 

Millican understands in eighth-mile bracket racing; the minimum head starts he'd surrender would likely be one-second. He'd have to foot-brake race too since delay boxes have likely never been tested on nitro cars. 

"It’s a no box class for sure because fuel cars definitely don’t need a delay box because they’re too slow reacting as it is," Millican said with a laugh. "No throttle stops for sure. Running on a full tree, no delay box."