For NDRC’s defending XPRO Nitro Funny Car Champ Morice McMillin, it was a wild ride to back-to-back Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs victories – last weekend.

For that event’s conclusion, the CEO of Rocket Industries had to fight his 11,000 hp machine all the way to taking the win over his team-mate, and last year’s runner-up, Josh Leahy, with a 4.143 second pass at 400.61kph. Leahy meanwhile was off the throttle early after going up in tyre smoke.

Top Qualifier McMillin had started his day with an ugly 10.742 second round one win over Paton who tripped the tree .04 early before going on to wiggle down the track, while Leahy also was successful in round one with a 3.956/515.56kph pass following a motor swap, over Walshe’s 4.019/506.18kph effort.

In round two, McMillin turned another tough drive into a 4.378 win, this time over Walshe who up in smoke and shut off at the start line. Leahy (3.999/498.41kph) and Paton meanwhile were on for a drag race early before Paton got crossed up at mid-track (4.373/350.01kph).

“That thing was wild; it was all over the place. I was steering the ‘you-know-what’ out of it that I can’t say here!” laughed McMillin after the A-Final. “We’ve been working on this combo for a while, and this weekend we showed potential. At half-track, this thing is a bullet; it is so fast.”

While he didn’t get to go to the A-Final, you would have been forgiven for assuming otherwise when witnessing the emotional celebrations from a fist-pumping Walshe and his crew at the end of the event, such was their elation at breaking through for their first ever three second pass (3.964 at 525.78kph).

The new personal best came as part of their B-Final win over another tough red light for Paton – seeing them finally able to don the commemorative three-second merch the team had had at the ready.

“Man, that is for the crew. Driving these cars, it is like pulling a freight train. It was hauling down the track and I’m thinking, ‘Yea, this is going! This is going!’” he said with an exhale as the moment began to sink in.

Also impressing in XPRO Nitro Funny Car at the Nitro Champs was Luke Shepherd, who completed a number of exhibition passes across the weekend as he works towards completing his licensing. Luke collected a personal best 4.255 secs showing promising progress made so far.

Posted by Amanda Salmon
Photos by Grant Stephens (Cackling Pipes)