DENSO Sponsors NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racer Clay Millican

Clay Millican

At the upcoming DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas, Top Fuel racer Clay Millican will fly down the track at speeds of more than 300 mph with DENSO on his side. The company’s logo will wrap around the champ’s dragster to celebrate the longstanding relationship between Millican, his team sponsor Parts Plus, and DENSO.

DENSO Products and Services Americas, Inc., an affiliate of leading global automotive supplier DENSO Corp., is sponsoring Millican at the April 6-8 weekend race.

“On the track and on the road, DENSO is an amazing partner," Millican said. “I’m honored to have DENSO as a sponsor. The name stands for excellence, ingenuity and safety, all the right ingredients for success."

“We’re proud to sponsor Clay, who is a tough competitor and a tremendous role model," said Fran Labun, vice president of Aftermarket Sales and Product Management Group at DENSO Products and Services Americas. “He is on fire this year. If you want to see him in action, don’t blink!"

A native of Drummonds, Tenn., Millican won his first race at the age of 16. He holds six consecutive World Championships and 52 national events – the most ever – in the International Hot Rod Association.

In the NHRA, Millican’s career highlights include a world record title with a best elapsed time of 3.628 seconds, set this year at the season opener in Pomona, Calif., where he broke his own record (3.631 seconds) set last year in Madison, Ill. During the 2017 season, he also captured first place in Top Fuel at his hometown racetrack in Bristol, Tenn.

Millican has clocked a top speed of 335.23 mph on the NHRA’s 1,000-foot straightaway, making him one of the most competitive drivers behind the wheel of the world’s fastest accelerating vehicles. This season, he currently holds third place in overall points in the Top Fuel category.

DENSO and Millican also support each other off the track. Millican, an advocate of road safety, helped to promote DENSO’s safety efforts in North America with a 10-city mobile road tour in 2017. Additionally, Millican has been a featured guest of DENSO’s at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit — where he spoke to youngsters about safe driving and his racing career, and at AAPEX in Las Vegas.

In addition to serving as the title sponsor at the weekend race in Las Vegas, DENSO is a supporting sponsor of all 24 races in the 2018 Mello Yello series crisscrossing the nation through November. DENSO’s other support for the NHRA includes the recent creation of the DENSO Spark Plugs 200 MPH Club to honor the first racers in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class who break the 200 mph barrier.

At every race, fans will find DENSO’s full line of spark plugs at Nitro Alley, the midway where they can learn more about and purchase DENSO plugs. Throughout the series, DENSO posts race and product updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

For nearly half a century, DENSO has sponsored world-class motor sports, including NHRA, NASCAR, Formula One, World Rally Championship and Super GT races. In addition to spark plugs, alternators, radiators and engine management systems are among DENSO’s precision original equipment and replacement auto parts that professional drivers and pit crews count on for the best performance under the most demanding conditions and motorists rely on every day.

More information on DENSO spark plugs, as well as DENSO’s comprehensive lines of auto parts, is available at retail stores, wholesale distributors and www.densoautoparts.com.