When Clay Millican rolls through the gate at Bradenton Motorsports Park for the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout, forgive him if he smiles a little broader than average. He might even chuckle a bit.
The Top Fuel driver turned social media superstar has his own memory at the facility outside of Tampa, Florida. The memory has nothing to do with Top Fuel drag racing or anything. The thought of racing Top Fuel was too lofty a dream to fathom.
“You’re talking about a guy that made a living driving a forklift who pretty much had every credit card maxed out and a guy named Raymond King and the Koffel family, they felt bad for me and made sure my engine showed up and dad-gummit if we didn’t win,” Millican admitted.
Yes, Millican showed up at the 1998 IHRA Winternationals in Bradenton without an engine in the car or trailer and ended up winning the event.
“Yeah, that’s a story that you cannot make up,” Millican said.
Even more challenging was knowing he could have shown up with ten engines in the trailer, and the likelihood would be if he crossed paths with one particular racer in eliminations, his weekend was done.
“Winning was a very unusual thing for anybody to win an IHRA Modified Eliminator that was not named Anthony Bertozzi,” Millican pointed out.
But when fate is on your side, it is on your side. The Bradenton win sealed his deal as a Top Fuel racer, even though he was a lowly IHRA Modified racer and a broke one at that. The plan was put in motion a year earlier with a chance encounter.
“I won my first race at the IHRA event the year before at Darlington, the last race of the season,” Millican said. “And that was the first time Peter Lehman had gone to a race. Then we followed that right up, going to the first race of the year at Bradenton and won again.”
It was Bradenton that punched his ticket into the Kings of the Sport.
“It was meant to be. I was supposed to win that weekend, and that’s exactly what happened,” Millican said.
Millican said the older he gets, the less superstitious he gets. That said, he’ll likely not show up for the $250,000-to-win PRO Superstar Shootout with a hauler void of engines.
“I think the kids of mine would kill me if I told them to show up down here and then bring the motors later,” Millican admitted.
Millican plans to bring more than engines for this high-stakes affair set to take place Feb. 8-10.
“Going there knowing that there’s $250,000 on the line, knowing the best cars in the world are going to be there, and having an opportunity to race at Victor’s house is going to be cool,” said Millican, referring to track owner Victor Alvarez.
Before this event, Millican was credited with winning the richest independent Top Fuel event, a $106,000-to-win nitro shootout back in 2005.
“Between the Huntsville deal and my early life as a bracket racer, the dollar figure doesn’t typically bother me when we roll up there and stage for that kind of money,” Millican said. “It’s awesome. We don’t get to race for this kind of money. I’ve done it once at Huntsville and was fortunate enough to win that. I’d be setting here not telling you the truth if I didn’t tell you I’m going to be excited and nervous if we get to that final round. At the same time, I have done it before. I don’t know that that gives me an advantage. That was so long ago. But I’m certainly ready to find out.”
Millican has only driven a Top Fuel dragster in Bradenton once, and it was for an MSD ignition test session.
“I’ve never made full rips at Bradenton in a Top Fuel car, but I have staged up and launched a Top Fuel car at Bradenton,” Millican said.
Millican teased that his Rick Ware Racing team will have a unique look for the event.
“We’ve got something cooking that the majority of car people are not going to believe it, and they’re gonna want to come and see it,” Millican said. “You won’t want to miss it.”
