The sanctioning body’s programs like the IHRA Summit SuperSeries and the IHRA Summit Team Finals have worked extremely well for the racers at Indiana’s oldest drag strip. That includes Shawn Morgan (Box), Fred Brazzle (No Box), Thomas Wetter (Sportsman) and Nicolas Rasmus (Junior Dragster) who were Bunker Hill representatives at the 2022 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals.

“It’s a great, great program for the Sportsman racer,” McMillen said. “While they are the backbone of drag racing, sometimes they’re forgotten. This is a good way for them to go out there, compete, get the recognition and win some serious money.”

As track owners, the McMillens' goals have been to incorporate some of the best of their experiences traveling to different tracks. 

There are plans for a new concrete burnout pad, moving some of the timing system outside the walls so a car getting loose can’t take out the equipment and doing needed work on the left lane. A new restaurant at the track is scheduled to be open in the next month.

McMillen described all the work between his own Top Fuel team and the race track as being constant on the go. He joked, “The way I look at it, you sleep when you die.” He also praised previous track owner Mark Creiger for his work at Bunker Hill. 

For his part, McMillen has been able to bring in a team of folks and it’s resulted in a number of positives. From a business standpoint, the track is doing well with sponsorships which ultimately helps the racers, and there’s an exciting schedule of events planned for 2023. 

“It’s been really good. Our sponsorships are up a lot,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot of different types of races beside the points races. We have some the Gassers and Nostalgia Pro Stocks, a Drag and Drive event, and Thrill at the Hill, a no prep event. We are trying to mix it up a little bit. We’re going to have some big-dollar bracket races as well.”

With his experience, McMillen is able to view things from the racers’ perspective. He appreciates the racers’ support and how they’ve bought in to the concept of everyone working together as a team.

“I can’t say enough about the racers. Without them or a track, you have nothing,” McMillen said. “Ultimately we’ve all agreed, we’re going to move forward as a team and build the race track where it used to be. We’re going to have a lot of good racing and a lot of fun.”

Click here to check out at the Bunker Hill Dragstrip website and keep up to date on the track news.