The 2006 season was the best year yet for the Bill Miller Engineering Top Fuel team in the intensely competitive NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Starting the season with rookie Top Fuel driver Alan Bradshaw at the wheel of the BME Okuma dragster, the team competed in 13 rounds of the 23-race series. Bradshaw finished 15th in the championship standings and raced to career-best marks for elapsed time (4.545 seconds) and top speed (326.32 mph).
Bradshaw was the highest-ranked driver who ran a partial schedule, finishing behind 14 full-time touring pros. Along the way, the BME team knocked off several heavy-hitters, including 2006 Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher, 2006 Auto Club Rookie of the Year J.R Todd, and second-generation driver Brandon Bernstein.
“All in all, 2006 was a very good year,” said team owner/crew chief Bill Miller. “Finishing 15th in the championship competing in less than 60 percent of the races was quite an accomplishment. It’s a testament to what can be done by an enthusiastic and talented team of volunteers who put their hearts and souls into Top Fuel racing.”
The performance of the BME dragster improved from a 4.69-second E.T. at the season-opening Winternationals to a 4.55 at the U.S. Nationals and 4.58s at the season-ending races in Las Vegas and Pomona. The highlight of the 2006 season was a semifinal finish in Chicago at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in June. Bradshaw defeated No. 1 qualifier Schumacher in the opening round and took out Todd in the second stanza before losing to points-leader Melanie Troxel.
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