Drag
Grand Bend: Mark McElwee has tough weekend
GRAND BEND, ONT. - IHRA Pro Outlaw driver Mark McElwee had what all racers dread at the Mopar Parts Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol And hosted by the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, a weekend filled with bad luck. Pro Outlaw ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
GRAND BEND, ONT. - IHRA Pro Outlaw driver Mark McElwee had what all racers dread at the Mopar Parts Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol And hosted by the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, a weekend filled with bad luck. Pro Outlaw points leader Laurie Cannister put away McElwee in the first round when his PowershieldCoatings.com entry broke after the burnout. Cannister went on to run a tough 6.124/212.31 on her single.
McElwee was optimistic about the race coming into Grand Bend, debuting his new Spitzer Y2K dragster, and running a 6.450/218.34 off the trailer to put him in the fifth spot. The road was downhill from there. McElwee's problems started when they hurt the motor during the warm up prior to the second session.
McElwee's crew, lead by his brother "Buzz" McElwee, thrashed to get the car ready to run, but it all went down the drain when the car left before the tree was activated due to parts failure. To add insult to injury, he fireballed the motor just past half-track, destroying the motor. McElwee sat out the last session, and stayed in the sixth spot, putting him against the third quickest qualifier Cannister in round one.
The team eventually withdrew from competition and was a no-show versus Cannister in round one.
"We hurt a lot of stuff this weekend," explained Mark, who finished tenth in last year's points despite missing over half of the season. "You try to have a set budget for each race and that is what allows you to follow the tour. I guess you could say that we exceeded our allotment."
McElwee will regroup and move on to the IHRA Amalie Oil Summer Nationals to be held in Cordova, Illinois, June 15-17. McElwee looks for better things to come.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ESS: Cornwall: Alain Bergeron wins wire to wire event
Next article BUSCH: Buckshot Jones says South Boston is a tough track
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
Latest news
Honda Racing US echoes Porsche urgency over unified 2030 rules framework
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 1 h
Honda Racing US echoes Porsche urgency over unified 2030 rules framework
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
1 h
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe