Let the record reflect: Clay Millican wasn’t angry he was disqualified from the NHRA FallNationals for having unsecured ballast on his Top Fuel dragster. After all, in his world, rules are rules, and he was taught as a kid growing up in Drummonds, Tenn., to play by the rules.
Drag Racing fans might be hearing about Millican’s disqualification for the first time because the disciplinary action wasn’t publicized. Nor was it delivered in a timely fashion.
“Probably more than anything, I was taken aback a little by the fact that it took six days for us to know that that happened, which I found to be strange,” Millican said.
Last Saturday morning, almost a week after losing in the semi-finals, Millican opened his email at 7:19 AM to see a notice from the NHRA’s Tech Department. The letter, Millican confirmed, informed him he’d been disqualified from the event and lost any associated points. He was also fined $5000.
“I’ve never been disqualified for anything, ever. I’ve never been in trouble with anything as far as competition goes,” Millican admitted.
Millican, purely in jest, blames it on the excellent conditions.
“Obviously it was one of the best performing races of all time in all the classes,” Millican said. “So the track was spectacular, the weather was spectacular. We were having trouble with the car carrying the front end and not just on the starting line like down track is wobbling the front end.”
Millican confirmed his team added a bigger tank and a bag of lead shot in a location common with Top Fuel dragsters adding weight. In his race against Leah Pruett, his tires shook, and the front end lifted.
“I pedaled it, and it literally drove the front end up so fast that it dislodged it out of the tube that it lives in, and that’s against the rules,” Millican said. “I don’t really understand how it come out to be honest with you, but it did.”
What Millican doesn’t understand either is how the incident was handled all those days later.
“I’m at a loss. I really am. But there’s no knock on any of it because if you don’t know, you don’t know,” admitted Millican, whose team is owned by Rick Ware Racing. “I know how they do it in NASCAR, and I don’t drive in NASCAR, but I know the team’s getting notified when it happens, there’s an investigation. The team receives a phone call on Monday and Tuesday, and the public knows about it.
“[The ballast] landed on the track. It came out of the car, and it was brought back to us, and nothing was said at that point.”
CompetitionPlus.com reached out multiple times to the NHRA for clarification on why the penalty took so long to hand down and instead was given the following statement.
“Clay was discovered to have loose ballast in the semi-final round.
“Per the NHRA rulebook. Discovery of loose or disguised ballast will result in disqualification from the event, regardless of whether infraction occurs during qualifying or eliminations.”
