CHARLIE McMILLEN LEADS THE THUNDERCARS AT TRI-CITY
by Brian Spaid

June 15, 2007 

   On opening night this season, one driver shocked many fans and teams at Tri-City Speedway winning his first career Thundercar feature. One week later, he repeated the feat. Now, seven weeks into the season, he still leads the point standings, and is in an excellent position to capture a track title.

   That driver is Charlie McMillen.

   The Oil City racer is just as shocked as everybody else about his new found success.

   “I was really surprised,” said McMillen. “I didn’t think I’d win a heat race and the feature on opening night.  It finally sunk in when I was signing autographs in autograph alley. Then I won the second night, and I was blown away by that.”

   Like many drivers before him, McMillen’s venture into racing started as a crewman.

   “When Sportsman’s Speedway in Knox was open, I worked on (current Pro Stock racer) Jason Reagle’s pit crew,” recalled McMillen. “I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I always wanted to race and go into the Pro Stock division, but I couldn’t afford to do it. Then, Tim Deloe (father of Thundercar racer Regina Deloe) lent me some money for me to get my first race car, and I started in Thundercars in 2005.”

   At first, McMillen, 29, struggled behind the wheel. But he gradually improved over the last two years finishing 13^th in points in 2005 and fifth in 2006. He scored two top fives last season along with four heat race wins.

   But his greatest accomplishment in 2006 was an incredible win in a rifle dash. Racing side-by-side with eventual track champion Jeff Manners of Cherrytree, McMillen beat him across the finish line while in a full spin at the end of the four-lap event. The crowd went wild, and McMillen got his first taste of victory lane and a new deer rifle to boot.

   “Last year, I picked myself up with the heat race wins and the rifle dash,” said McMillen, who performs maintenance work for Allegheny Wood Products of Fryburg. “It really built my confidence.  Jason tells me what to do. He was just ‘yelling’ at me Sunday night for racing on the bottom and letting Bill Myers take that feature win.”

   McMillen’s success doesn’t come without accusations. As always, whenever a race team wins after appearing to come from nowhere, cries of cheating fill the air. To top it off, McMillen’s teammate and good friend, Jon Huff of Oil City, captured a first career feature win the third week out.

   “Some of the other guys say that I have a stroker motor and that I switch motors with Jon. None of that is true.  I’m still running the same motor I started with in my first year.  It’s been torn down at Tri-City. Jon and I have worked hard and we work out of the same garage. Just our sponsors, Gil Dahlstrom and R.K. Virgile, don’t like each other. They have quite a rivalry going in the Pro Stocks and Thundercars.”

   So, what has led to McMillen’s success in 2007? Other than some new tires on his silver Chevrolet No. 61M, he attributes a lot of it to the help of other racers.

   “I’ve been learning setups from Jason and others. There are weeks when I don’t touch the car unless I have to. In my first year, I didn’t do tire pressures or anything. Now, I work on my own car, and Jon Huff and Jack Mellring help me out.”

   And it isn’t just those men that help make a race team a success, and McMillen knows that.

   “I want to thank all the people that help me. My girlfirend, Tiffany Silvis, Jon and Holly Huff, Paulie and Alan Huff, my son Eric, Tim and Regina Deloe, Ed and Eddie Deloe, Jack and Angela Mellring, Dave Shook.  If I forgot anyone, I’m really sorry.”

   Heading into this weekend, McMillen still leads the points with Bill Myers of Seneca and Josh Seippel of Franklin hot on his tail. Myers is coming off two straight feature wins in a car that is stout.

   “I hope that we can win some more races and win the title. Hopefully, I can go to a Pro Stock in 2008 as a low budget deal.  I have to wait and see how this year ends. I’d like to go up because I think I’d be pretty good in it.”

   So far, he has impressed many people. And the taste of victory is sweet and irresistible. It’s no longer a surprise. Charlie McMillen has arrived.

   McMillen’s car is sponsored by R.K. Virgile Scrap Metal, Quig’s Garage, and Reagle Racing of Oil City, Hondel’s Machine Shop of Cranberry, Gun Town Mountain of Franklin, Jerry’s Auto and Shook’s Garage of Dempseytown.