On Jan. 19, veteran Top Fuel racer Terry McMillen announced he was returning to the track in 2022 in NHRA after sitting out last season when he lost his primary sponsor Amalie Oil.

McMillen will be competing on a limited schedule, competing in six to eight national events in 2022, so he can continue to support his son Cameron’s junior dragster career. McMillen will race under the Dan Mercier Racing banner. Cameron is 8 years old, and he competes in the 1190 division in Junior Dragsters.

McMillen said he’s thrilled to be racing again but acknowledged sitting at home in 2021 took a toll on him, especially racing is all he had known for 20 years.

“It was extremely frustrating and difficult,” McMillen said. “It was to the point that I couldn’t even go to a race. The fans when I went to Indy (last season) were amazing. They were just so supportive and want you out there, but mentally I just didn’t want to be there because if I was going to be there I wanted to be racing.

“Knowing that you can compete you can compete with anybody out there on any given day, you want to be in that mix. You have been on the road X of number of years every weekend running somewhere and all of sudden you’re not going anywhere. Now your home and you can only mow so much grass and plant so many flowers. Mentally it took some time to deal with because it was a situation where you have been running every day at 200 mph with your hair on fire and then all of sudden the brakes are on.”

Searching what to do next, McMillen spent his time finding some additional marketing partners to come up with a plan to go back racing again.

“We are going to be racing again (in 2022), but it was extremely frustrating and difficult to go to the track other than it was super cool to see the fans,” McMillen said. “The fans motivate me, and they always have. When I left Indy last year, I realized we were not done yet and we were going to keep fighting the fight. Unfortunately, it was nobody’s fault. We got hit with this virus. Amalie had to make some decisions which I 100 percent supported because if we don’t have employee working then we should not be out racing. Until things get straightened up in our economy, it has been a very difficult time for everybody.”

McMillen said he didn’t know how legendary world champion John Force could walkaway from racing in the COVID-19-marred 2021 season, but now he does.

“Nowhere ever saw John and I get it now,” McMillen said. “I truly understand what he was going through because you’re wired to do be doing what you do and running around on fire constantly and then all of a sudden it is taken away. It took a lot to get past that. I understand why they did what they did because I have to believe I went through the same withdrawals of doing what you love to do and have it all put on hold.”

Part of McMillen’s frustration also dealt with the fact racing is his only job.

“One of the things that made the relationship with Amalie and myself good was the fact that when I wasn’t racing, I was helping sell products for them,” he said. “My goal was to go out there and create distribution points or things like that. I was paid to race, but in return I also gave back to them 200 percent so we could increase our market shares.”