DeWayne ‘Big Daddy’ Mills has been having arguably the wildest season in Drag Radial history–kicking off the year with a huge wheelstand and crash that made waves across the globe and hurt the famed ‘Golden Gorilla’ in numerous ways. After a trip to Larry Jeffers Race Cars and an extensive makeover, Mills and crew have come out swinging since then, finding themselves in six final rounds this season and capturing the crown in four of those outings, with only seven total events on the car since the rebuild.
DeWayne and his long-time crew chief, Tim Davis, rolled into Cecil County Dragway this past weekend coming off a runner-up finish at the NMCA World Finals at Norwalk, where they set a new class elapsed time record in Radial Wars with a 4.02 at 201 mph. With that performance behind them, Mills and company put their sights on the Yellow Bullet Nationals, one of the most talked about and prestigious events in drag radial all season.
With all eyes on the Golden Gorilla, Mills rolled the hot rod out of the trailer and pushed it to a 4.03 at 200 mph on the first pass of the weekend in testing. After qualifying, Mills stood as the man to beat once again, with a 4.01 at 201 to sit atop the 13-car field in Pro Drag Radial with the small blocks of Rick Thornton ( No. 2) and Keith Berry ( No. 3) chasing the 481X-powered Camaro.
After rolling through the competition in eliminations, the No.s 1 and 2 qualifiers faced off for the prize, with Mills running another 4.01 in the semis to gain lane choice over Thornton’s gorgeous twin-turbocharged ’67 Corvette in the final round. Rolling into the water, the buzz had been building all day–could Mills join Edwards and Michalak as a member of the 3-Second Club?
Mills, Davis, Josh Ledford, and the rest of the Mills Racing/ProLine Racing camps silenced the critics and blasted off a 3.981 at over 202 miles per hour to take home the crown and etch their name into the 3-Second Club as it stands after a killer event in the northeast on Labor Day weekend.
Can Mills continue his hot streak rolling into the back half of the season? With the crammed full autumn schedule just around the corner, will more racers find the three second barrier? It’s going to be one heck of an exciting next few months in Drag Radial racing and we can’t wait to bring you more of the action right here at Dragzine.
Video Credit: Free Life Films