JOLIET, Ill. — When dirt first began being moved in 1997 for the construction of Route 66 Raceway, NHRA Top Fuel driver and Chicago native Tony Schumacher was there. And when the track hosted its first NHRA event in 1998, Clay Millican was the first Top Fuel driver to make a pass down the fresh asphalt of the stadium-style facility.
Today, the two drivers are teammates at Rick Ware Racing (RWR), and as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to Route 66 for this weekend’s Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Schumacher and Millican bring a winning pedigree with seven combined Top Fuel victories at the Chicagoland venue.
Schumacher, NHRA’s all-time winningest Top Fuel driver with 88 career victories, scored five of those wins at Route 66 (2003, 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2015). Millican earned his first Route 66 win in 2018 and his second in 2023. That second win, however, was still a milestone, as it was RWR’s first NHRA victory.
“To be able to get Rick his first national win was incredible,” said Millican, driver of the No. 51 Parts Plus Top Fuel dragster. “Rick was so freaking pumped and excited, and I was too, but he was at a different level. He took a chance on going drag racing and it paid off relatively quickly. Rick is a racer through and through, so when you can hand him a Wally after a weekend, it’s a pretty dang good feeling.”
Schumacher has held more Top Fuel Wallys than anyone. His drive for an 89th win remains the same as when he was seeking his first win when he joined the Top Fuel ranks in 1996. But when it comes to racing at his hometown track, Schumacher admits the stakes are higher.
“Five times Chicago was really good. The other 25 weren’t as good. What makes winning there super special, being home around your family, makes it devastating when you don’t win. So let’s just call it a pressure cooker,” said Schumacher, driver of the No. 15 Aloha Beauty Lounge Top Fuel dragster. “That being said, I’ve always felt like we perform better under pressure. Most of the drivers do. When it’s a special moment, or a special place like Chicago is to me, I always sit up in the seat and do my job.”
Schumacher sat up in his seat when construction first began on Route 66 Raceway.
“I was there when they built it, and to have a big, new track like that being built, watching it going up was awesome,” Schumacher said. “When it was done, I remember pulling into that stadium, looking around, and I thought, ‘This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.’ It’s a big horseshoe, and it creates a massive echo when the cars leave the line. It’s insane.”
Once it was built, Millican christened the track from a Top Fuel standpoint.
“My first-ever NHRA Top Fuel race was at Route 66 Raceway, and I drove the first Top Fuel car down that track,” Millican said. “It was June of 1998. I had just gotten my NHRA license to drive a Top Fuel car the week before Chicago, and it was the opening weekend for the track. I didn’t do anything spectacular, but it was my first race. Then, 20 years later in 2018, I won.”
In addition to being the first Top Fuel driver to take his car down the strip at Route 66, Millican owns two more anecdotes. His wins in 2018 and 2023 came in the track’s 20th and 25th anniversaries, respectively.
“It was the 20th anniversary of the racetrack and my 20th anniversary of being a Top Fuel guy. And following that up five years later, it was the 25th anniversary of the track and it was 25 years of me driving Top Fuel cars,” Millican said. “Now, it’s pretty cool that I won the 20th and 25th anniversaries there, but I don’t want them all to be five years apart. We’re there to win every time we go there.”
Five races into the 2026 season, Millican believes a complete weekend that culminates with a final-round victory is in reach.
“We’ve been like a yo-yo so far this year, up and down, up and down. We need to find a little more consistency, but we know we’re getting there,” Millican said. “In the specialty races, we’ve done very well, with a final-round appearance in the All-Star Callout at Gainesville, and then winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at Charlotte. And we just had a semifinal finish at South Georgia. So, I feel we’re headed in the right direction.
“Every change you make affects something else, and it’s so minute what can make the car go down the track or not. But when you find one little thing, you’re ripping off wins again.”
Schumacher agrees.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and you have to recognize the differences in each season, and this one here, I recognize that we’ve made some great moves,” Schumacher said. “So as we go into Chicago and get a few more runs under our belt with the team we’ve assembled, we’re going to do great.”
