Blown Away in Texas
I have an interest in Motorsport, mainly circuit racing. When YouTube suggested a video by USA Top Fuel racer Clay Millican, I watched out of curiosity. The style was attention grabbing. Here was a video taken from an insider’s perspective of a drag racing team at work. Nothing pretentious, but an honest window onto a team at work – the real personalities and interactions of a group of people as they prepare their car for competition.
“I’ll just watch one more” turned into the season to date and of course the sought-after ‘like and subscribe.’ The videos capture the highs and lows, success and ‘so nearlies’ and the tough realities that those few thousandths of a second are the difference between progression to the next round and the end of the day.
As the episodes click by, I feel as if I have got to know Clay and the team and the routines that they go through to warm up the car and at the start line. Then there are the ‘explainers’ – insights into specific aspects of the team – the clutch assembly or matching of balanced components ready for the next full engine rebuild. Clay also talks me through the steps involved in warming up the car and the routine to launch at the start line. Many of his viewers have questions about things they see in the videos and ask them in the video comments. Clay obviously reads all the comments and answers some (what IS that extendable mirror for during warm up?) and says where he cannot answer others in case he gives away ‘trade secrets’ (what IS under the tape that masks part of the dashboard in those onboard shots?).
Early in 2024, I decided that I wanted to see topflight drag racing in real life – but where? Clay’s car is part of the ‘Rick Ware Racing’ team (RWR). RWR are also a part of the NASCAR series and in a couple of videos Clay had been a guest of RWR at a NASCAR event. I have been to several Indy car events, but never to NASCAR and it was a series I wanted to experience as well. My research led me to back-to-back weekends in October – NASCAR at the legendary Talladega Super Speedway and the following weekend at the Texas Motorplex for the ‘Stampede of Speed’ NHRA Texas Fall Nationals. Tickets, flights, hotels, and cars were booked – off to the races.
First stop – Talladega and 3 days of great racing, made all the better by a really good commentary team who managed to explain the subtleties of drafting, racing and strategies, making the race exciting throughout. Watching the entire field 3 or 4 abreast and covered by less than 3 seconds for lap after lap was extraordinary, Watching the field on the 33-degree banking looked more like a very large formation display at an air show – the formations changing as one of the line of cars got a run and moved relative to the other lines. This carried on largely incident-free until close to the end. The field came up to lap a car which had been dropped from the pack (with a consequential loss of the draft of around 3 seconds per lap) and ‘formation flying’ turned into ‘the big one’.
From Talladega to Dallas ready for the NHRA Fall Nationals. Friday was a chance to see Drag Racing for the first time with most of the day taken by ‘lower categories’ – which were by no means slow! Whilst I had purchased a specific seat for the 3 days, the crowd was nowhere near capacity, and I was able to go into any of the stands to experience the cars from different vantage points. There was a stand near the finish line where I could appreciate the speed of the cars. From this vantage point I could see the Start Light Tree and it was interesting to note the delay between the yellow lights going off, the puff of smoke from the exhausts and the sound reaching me. As the faster categories came to the line, the ‘Doppler Effect’ became more extreme (the rising note as a car approaches and falls after it has passed).
Before the first runs of the Top Fuel Funny Cars, the finish line was moved so as to shorten the track length. It did not look like a huge difference – until the first car made its run. This was the first really big ‘Wow’ moment as I tried to take in the speed and visible acceleration of the cars as they crossed the (shortened) finish line.
Once the first round of Top Fuel qualifying runs had been completed, I headed back into paddock to look around. The first thing that struck me was how wonderfully open the paddock was. The cars and bikes were worked on under awnings with little more than a Tensabarrier to separate spectators from the team. Team members were willing to engage in conversation with spectators, answer questions and pose for photographs. Given that this was the top level of the sport, this level of openness is a stark contrast to many other top-level categories of racing I have experienced.
One of my objectives was to try and meet Clay Millican – the man who I had ‘got to know’ so well over the past couple of years. I found the ‘Parts Plus’ team trailer and there were the familiar faces hard at work rebuilding the car ready for Q2. I knew them by name, of course. It was a strange feeling of looking at ‘friends’ who did not know any of the faces watching them at work!
Eventually Clay appeared from the trailer and was talking to the team and some of the guests in the Parts Plus hospitality area. Without anyone calling or signalling to him, he then walked over to the assembled spectators and started to greet them in turn. He posed for selfies and signed all manner of items that were offered to him with a pen he had in his pocket. I have seen many famous sportsmen sign autographs – a process that usually takes about 1 second and results in a squiggle that with some study may yield a clue as to who just signed, but often not! Not Clay. Every autograph was carefully written ‘Clay Millican’ carefully placed on the item in question and always identical and legible. What a wonderful thing to see!
I am not an autograph or memorabilia hunter, so I stood to the side at the far end of the line of supporters to make sure that they all got their photo/selfie/autograph etc. How many times have I seen disappointed fans when a session has been cut short due to understandable time pressures? Not Clay – every person who came up to the line got what they wanted and turned away happy. Eventually I was the ‘last man standing’ and Clay came over to me to start our interaction. I had not really thought about what I would say, so I said something along the lines of ‘Nothing to sign, I just wanted to say Hi’ and told him how I had enjoyed the YouTube channel and had come over from the UK to experience top level Drag Racing in real life. His response took me by surprise! ‘Wow, that’s so cool’ he said and pulled his phone out of his pocket and before I knew it, he was recording us. This is Clay Millican, Top Fuel celebrity, a name known throughout the Drag Racing world, telling me, an unknown nobody, that it is cool that I came to meet him from the UK and recording the moment!
It is probably this kind of spontaneity that is captured in his videos that makes them so engaging. I came to his trailer hoping to say ‘Hi’ (mission accomplished) and ended up in the video he posted that evening to his 100,000+ subscribers – unreal!
It is Saturday morning, and I am walking around the assembly area where the competitors are waiting to take their runs. An NHRA official comes up to me: “Excuse me, Sir.” Oops, maybe I am not supposed to me in this area! “Are you the gentleman from the UK who spoke to Clay yesterday? Clay sent us a copy of his video. Would you mind coming to see me in the Media Centre before the next set of Top Fuel qualification runs?” I was a little taken aback that this official had identified me. I presumed that they wanted some more detail about my visit for some form of marketing follow up.
Later that day I called into the Media Centre and was surprised when the officials attached some wrist bands to me and then took me out to a buggy. “We are going to take you to watch Clay from the start line area.” As if yesterday was not already a little unreal!
First stop was the assembly area where the Top Fuel competitors were preparing for their runs. Clay arrives at his car in his race suit and with his helmet on. A team member helps him into his fireproof gloves and then he goes around the car and ‘high fives’ every member of his team. Then he climbs into his car and is strapped in. This is clearly a well refined pre-run routine. The NHRA official then leads me through to a small pen adjacent to the start line ‘Christmas Tree.’
The first car fires up. At first a rather smooth, almost purring noise, as it burns regular petroleum squirted into the air intakes. Once fired, the driver opens the feed of Nitro fuel and the engine noise changes to a staccato crackle, accompanied by plumes of exhaust from each of the 8 exhaust pipes.
The car edges forward through an area that has just been watered by an NHRA official and on a signal from a crew member, performs a burn out. The burn out, on what are unheated tyres, seems remarkably short and there is little, or no tyre smoke produced. There is a sense of a gentle mist falling on me – I will later learn these are tiny pieces of tyre rubber, known as “Goodyear Freckles” – and a look in the mirror that evening proves this to be an apt description!
Burn out complete, the car starts to reverse back towards the start line, guided by a team member passing directional signals to the driver. This is far more than just guiding the driver back to the start line, this is reversing to a precise point in the starting area. Prior to even starting the engine, I had observed crew members using some form of grip measurement device on the area around the start line. As well as taking several measurements in different places, they had used a tape measure to place marks on the ground which were used by the team to guide the driver to the precise point which they determined as optimal for launch.
As this crackling monster reversed towards me, I was ready to see what Nitro smells like. The answer was more of a sensation than a smell! As the cloud of exhaust enveloped me, the inside of my nose started to smart with a similar sensation to a nasal decongestion inhaler! Shortly after, I felt my eyes starting to water as the part-burnt Nitro created a gentle itching sensation. After a few seconds, the tears in my eyes started to blur my vision, so I reached into my pocket for a handkerchief to wipe them. Before I had time to do this, the car launched.
I was wearing good quality ear defenders but had already somehow adjusted to the fact that the noise of the engine on tick over next to me was similar to standing next to a more normal vehicle without ear defenders. As I had been trying to wipe my eyes, I had not been able to look at the Christmas Tree lights, so I was not ready for the launch.
The instant increase in noise as the engine went to full power was literally startling. For a brief moment I felt a rush of warm air from the exhausts. I did not hear, so much as feel the noise – and yes it was so loud that for a split second it seemed as if I had forgotten to put my ear defenders on. My whole body was vibrating – I could totally relate to the expression ‘the sound went through me.’ Every sense in my body was being assaulted – smell, sight, sound, noise, vibration and probably some senses I did not know existed.
As soon as it started, the noise subsided and I tried to look down the track to watch the car, but all I could make out through my blurred vision was a win light flashing under the timing screen. Wow! Unreal! Amazing!
As the next pair came to the start line, I was determined to try and add ‘sight’ to the experience of watching a Top Fuel car go down the strip from a start line perspective. Admittedly the direction of the wind was not helping me as it was blowing the exhaust directly towards me, but still the combination of startle factor, noise, assault on the eyes, nose and other senses limited my ability to fully appreciate the runs.
For the next pair, I decided to try and video the run with the camera pointing down the track. I had recently upgraded my phone, and the new phone had a really good camera and great image stabilisation. When I later watched the video, the image stabilisation was unable to correct for the violent shaking at launch and the video had a high-speed vibration – it really captured the moment.
With the Top Fuel Q4 sessions complete, I left the start line and walked back to the paddock to say Thank You to Clay for arranging this extraordinary experience. When I arrived, he was taking the time to meet with the numerous fans who had gathered around and giving them all the time and autographs that they sought. As before I stood back while he spoke to all of them, then he came over to me and, of course, pulled out his camera. I later watched the video clip he included in his daily video and saw someone who came over as younger than my years - still buzzing and excited from the experience!
Race day was a good day for Clay. He reached the final and recorded the fastest ‘ET’ in the final, beaten only by reaction time on the line. I thought that to react in 0.059 of a second was mighty impressive, but to be beaten by someone who reacted in 0.026 – that’s 26 thousandths of a second – is bordering on superhuman. But that, as they say, is drag racing! Still, it was good of Clay to win through to all four of the runs on Sunday so that I could cheer for him – I had come a long way after all!
One regret from the weekend was that I did not stay in the paddock to watch Clay’s amazing team of mechanics at work – something I had intended to do. Instead, I spent race day in my seat taking in the atmosphere and the spectacle. I missed another impressive experience as Clay’s mechanics changed the head gasket in 20 minutes. Later they changed probably everything between runs after the various engine components (valves, pistons, superchargers etc) decided to have an unplanned ‘meet up’ when Clay lifted off having just won (fortunately) a round. Jim Oberhofer, Clay’s crew chief, was interviewed on the start line as they replayed the run on the big screen. As Clay’s engine performed a ‘Rapid Disassembly’ in slow motion, he simply said ‘Not Good’ – a classic understatement of the day!
This is NHRA Top Fuel racing where the teams are preparing cars to the tiniest levels of precision. Where, with 20 minutes before a knockout round, it is deemed necessary to strip the engine down to its pistons in order to adjust the compression level by changing the width of the cylinder head gasket by a few thousandths of an inch. It is also the place where all teams are accessible, and they take the time to make every fan that comes into the paddock feel special.
A couple of years ago, I was sitting at home when YouTube suggested a Clay Millican video. Over the coming months I was drawn into Clay and this team until I decided to go and experience this for myself. I wanted to see and hear Top Fuel, and I hoped to say ‘Hi’ to Clay. The chain of events that followed that meeting on Friday are still hard to take in as I write this a week later. I was so exceptionally privileged to have been given this opportunity. That a driver at the top of his sport took the time to talk to me and then do what he did is truly amazing. I am indeed a very lucky person! Thank You Clay – and Thank You NHRA.
I came to Texas to experience NHRA Top Fuel and had far more than an experience. I was blown away in Texas!!
Pete Berry.