Well-known funny car racer Morice McMilin will be out in a new vehicle this season, the Ex Mark Thomas Ford Customline Top Doorslammer. The deal came about through a bit of friendly banter (as you can find out more about in Morice’s new monthly column in our next issue) but is set to see one of the most competitive drivers in a highly competitive vehicle. While the change from funny car to doorslammer will no doubt be an interesting one, Morice is looking forward to the challenge. Existing funny car sponsor Shapes Roadies, will be on board with the vehicle for the season also. We wish him all the best for the change, and you’ll be able to keep an eye on his progress and see what it takes to run at a top level through his column.

A press release from The Shapes Roadies Team is below.

Major Changes For The Shapes Roadies Drag Racing Team

After a successful 2011-2012 season; winning the New Zealand Top Alcohol championship in the Shapes Roadies Funny Car, Drag Racer Morice McMillin will return to the track for the 2013 season once again in the Arnott’s Shapes Roadies livery.

The big difference is that the team will not be out to defend their New Zealand Championship Title they earned last season. Instead, the team from Hamilton will be joining the crowd favorite; Top Doorslammer division. The big goal for Morice is to become the first person to win a championship in both classes.

“To be the first person to win both Championships would be amazing” says McMillin of the goal. “There will be some tough competition out there so we know we have our work cut out for us.”

To achieve the goal, Morice and his young crew have teamed up with John Neilan Racing to campaign a 1956 Ford Customline powered by a 3000 horsepower Hemi V8 engine. With this package, the team will be looking for mid 6-second quarter-mile times at speeds of over 350kmh. The Customline had previously competed under the John Nielan Racing banner with Mark Thomas at the helm, who will now move into the role of Crew Chief for the team.

Of the partnership, Debbie McGowan from Arnott’s says “The Shapes Roadies Team at Arnott’s are really proud to be associated with Morice and his team after a really successful 2012 season, and are looking forward to another successful partnership in the new Roadies Doorslammer. We wish Morice all the best for the season ahead.”

Morice is naturally very excited about the season ahead, saying “I am very happy to be driving the Roadies Doorslammer for the 2013 season; to sign with Roadies for another season was huge for our team and we can’t thank Roadies enough for their support. I have always had a love of Doorslammers, so to drive a car of this quality and work with John, Mark and the entire Neilan Racing team will be a real pleasure and a great learning experience.”

The Roadies Doorslammer Team is aiming to debut at the Nostalgia Nitro Reunion in Taupo on December 29, followed by the first round of the 2012 New Zealand Dragracing Championships on January 2-3, also in Taupo.

The team will have plenty of Roadies samples and team posters to give away, so drop in and say “Hi” to the team at an event near you.
The Roadies Doorslammer team is proudly supported by Arnott’s Shapes Roadies, Digga NZ, Nostalgia Motors, Jonesy’s Garage, Haas Machinery, Century Batteries, iSign It and Pixelsaurus.

Check out the teams Roadies-Racing FaceBook page for more info.

With some serious upgrades to the LG-TengTools-Hauraki top alcohol funny car but just a handful of high speed runs completed, Hamilton’s Morice McMillin is ready to take on the big guns at the Century Batteries Power Series, the three-round National Drag Racing Championship.

The first round at Fram Autolite Raceway, takes place on 6 February and sees the 24-year-old fully prepared to take another step closer to the highly experienced and well funded racers leading the Castrol Edge top alcohol division.

McMillin signed with LG Motorsport this season, bringing the well-known brand imagery of LG Electronics and Radio Hauraki to sit alongside the logo of his team’s major sponsor TengTools on the Dodge Avenger funny car.

“Competing in New Zealand’s fastest motorsport certainly has its dangers and challenges,” says the talented young racer who started racing at the age of eight in junior dragsters.

“But we take things very much in our stride. Compared to several other teams, we’re all pretty young, up against guys who have been racing at this level for 20-plus years. Every season we keep learning fast and, this year, we’re out to catch some of the bigger names of the sport, that’s for sure.”

McMillin finished third in the national championship in his debut season and secured a new quarter-mile national record for the funny car class with his best time of 6.66 sec, which saw him hit a top speed of 339 km/h (211 mph).

“We have always been behind horsepower-wise over the last two years, so with some new equipment this year we hope to make that gap smaller. We know there is a lot of hard work in front of us, but I also know the team is more capable of making our mark in the championship hunt!”

Over the past decade, McMillin has quickly gone from a self-described annoying young teenager asking all the questions to a respected competitor in the class.

“I do have to pinch myself sometimes when suiting up to race guys who I have looked up to for years. All we need to do now is beat them!”

We know it’s been a long, tough winter without you’re favourite car show on the telly. But the bad times are over friend, and now it’s time for NZV8 TV to return to your television for your viewing pleasure

The third season kicks off this Sunday (7th Nov) on TV1 at 2:30pm so lock it in. This time round we’re coming at you harder and faster than ever before and we have new presenters in the form of kiwi racing legend Angus Fogg and drag-racing master Morice McMillin.

The first episode of the season is set to be a beauty as we check out the upcoming BNT NZV8 series test day where presenter Morice McMillin a devout drag racer finds out about turning corners. We take a ride with Frank Kereopa in his awesome big block 1965 Impala (pictured) as seen in the current issue of NZV8. And for a change of pace we go cruising with the Cadillac Club of New Zealand.

NZV8 TV is on at 2:30 pm, Sunday 7th of November on TV1. It will run each week at the same time so check it out.

Also watch this week for your chance to win a 3D LG TV and other prizes. Click here to find out more.

Click here to view full profiles of this season’s presenters.

Morice McMillin has been competing in drag racing in New Zealand since he was 8 years of age when he entered the junior dragster division, half scale dragsters based on the real thing. It was in this class that he learnt his trade of racing and working on Drag Cars, after five successful years including three Points Championships and competing at the Junior Dragster World Champs finishing a creditable 8th. While in Australia he also competed at the Winter Nationals, although much to his disappointment he only got three runs in before the event was rained out.

After a few years Morice moved on to crewing duties for numerous teams to learn some race craft at the high end of the scale.

Morice’s first venture into fast full-size vehicles was when he got the spare Mustang Funny Car body from Brett Wilson, who was the first local Funny Car driver to run a six-second pass. With an old chassis design and a fairly Stock motor he went on to run a best of 8.36 at 160mph. After running the Mustang for a few years, the desire for more speed took hold.

The new Dodge Avenger funny car was purchased and Morice went into partnership for a couple of years culminating in a national record and a NZ National series third place finish with a best time of 6.66 sec @211mph (339km/h).

“Vroooooooooom!”

I’ve always had a dream of owning my own business, and it always seemed like one of those cool ideas I had until I realised how much work was involved, and being the lazy teenager I was, that idea went up in a very big cloud of smoke…

One man that has pulled off owning his own business and has done so rather successfully is Noel McMillin. (Didn’t I promise something special last blog?) What makes this so special is I’m putting Noel and his famous Chevy Pickup in the spotlight.

Now as most of you reading this may already know (and for those who seriously have no clue) Noel started his business (Nostalgia Motors) about sixteen years ago when he and his family moved to Hamilton. The truck was purchased roughly about eleven years ago, a 1937 Chevy Pickup, which was a flat shade of black. To this day she still remains that same shade of black. She was purchased for the job of the work truck, as Mr. McMillin used to cycle to work every day, and is still used for that purpose as well as taking her out for a workout on the drag strip every now and then. She’s a tidy old girl, and is practically used for every purpose possible, so she definitely wins the award of the multipurpose vehicle.

So, why did I pick Mr. Mcmillin and his awesome Chevy you may ask? Honestly, My dad gave me the idea (Thanks dad…again!) after I’d been looking through some hot rod books I had gotten out of the library, and had taken a small fascination at drawing a truck (As I have not attempted this..until now!). And I mean let’s face it. Noel and his truck PLUS his business is world famous right down there in good old Hamilton. Or as dad would say “World Famous in your own lunch time”…

It’s hard nowadays to find decent and friendly service from your local mechanic, I recently had a heated dispute over the young fellow who failed me on my warrant on a leaky exhaust. It resulted in a week of stress and frustration (mainly on my side of the situation!!) and has now resulted in me refusing to return mainly for the insanely poor customer service I received. But I’d be happy to take my old Honda down to Nostalgia Motors for a service or warrant any day (Aside the fact I live in Auckland and the old girl would probably use up more gas than I can afford!) knowing I’d get great service and friendly and helpful advice.

Thanks to Morice McMillin for sneaking me some answers to the questions I asked and thanks Dad for the awesome ideas, and thank you Noel for doing what you do. It’s inspiring to see someone so passionate about what they do, and next time I’m in Hamilton I’ll bring my Honda around for a checkup, and possibly a good cup of coffee! Vrrroooooooom !

Coming up Next:
Project LG Funny Car Part One.

This past drag racing season saw many youngsters coming through the ranks with great results, here we take a closer look at nine of them.

Each season there is an influx of new drivers competing, or existing drivers stepping up to run in a more competitive class. The 2008/2009 season saw more youngsters racing at a competitive level than ever before, so we thought it was about time we took a closer look at those achievers.

While many have come from racing Junior Dragsters as kids, there are a few who have jumped straight into the deep end. Read on to find out where these young achievers have come from and what the future holds.

Morice McMillin

Age: 23
Vehicle: Dodge Avenger Funny Car
Sponsors: Scrap Palace, Teng Tools, Brad Penn Oil, Nostalgia Motors, Upper Hutt Glass, Mitsi Spares Hamilton, Jonsey’s Garage, ISS

Morice McMillin has probably been in the limelight more than any other young driver this year, thanks to his great success in the Scrap Palace-sponsored Dodge Avenger Funny car.

When Morice was just five years old, his father Noel started building a Junior Dragster for him. However, he didn’t get to drive it until he was eight. “It was my Christmas and birthday presents for three years,” Morice says with a laugh. After that car came another two Juniors, which his brother and sister also drove.

Aged 12, Morice competed at the Junior World Champs, where during the one meeting he made more passes than in a whole season of racing back home. While in Australia he also competed at the Winternationals, although much to his disappointment he only got three runs in before the event was rained out.

But Morice didn’t remain in juniors for too long. “I got a bit bored with Juniors,” he says, “so left to crew for Blobby [Mark Thomas] and his ute. Any event that Blobby wasn’t running at, I would race dad’s truck.” The truck in question is Noel’s daily-driver-come-work-hack, which while no doubt fun, is far from fast.

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The first season for the Morice McMillin/Ryan Sheldon Top Alcohol funny car had many highs and some better than expected results, culminating with a 3rd place finish in the NZDRA Top alcohol championship. The 09/10 season looks even better for the Hamilton based team with the announcement of Teng Tools taking over as naming rights sponsor for the team.

TengTools, already involved with the team as an associate sponsor were happy with the teams performance and exposure during the debut season” After a successful season last year we are proud to increase our involvement with Morice and his team. Quoted Teng Tools operations manager Stephen Cole”

The TengTools Funny car is now committed to competing in all 5 rounds of the Century Yuasa Power series Drag Racing Championships this season.¨¨The combination remains essentially the same as last season with only routine maintenance undertaken, giving the team a good baseline to start the season from and improve even more on the teams personal best set last year of 6.73 at 211mph (339 km/h).

The team have also been lucky enough to retain associate sponsors, Brad Penn oil, Nostalgia Motors, Mitsi Spares, Jonesey’s Garage and Horne Engineering for another season.