NHRA

Baytown: Cory McClenathan preview

Henkelman & Baca Motorsports Rick Henkelman & David Baca-Owners NHRA POWERade drag racing series Top Fuel Dragster Cory McClenathan-Driver Henkelman & Baca Motorsports and Cory Mac hope to continue fast start. BAYTOWN, Texas -- With a runner-up ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Henkelman & Baca Motorsports
Rick Henkelman & David Baca-Owners
NHRA POWERade drag racing series
Top Fuel Dragster
Cory McClenathan-Driver

Henkelman & Baca Motorsports and Cory Mac hope to continue fast start.

BAYTOWN, Texas -- With a runner-up finish at last weekend's SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas, and two other semifinal round appearances, Cory McClenathan is off to one of the fastest starts in his 12-year NHRA drag racing career.

McClenathan, driver of the Henkelman and Baca Top Fuel Dragster, hopes to make it two final rounds in a row at this weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, but would like to take it one step further. He would like to win his 27th career Top Fuel victory, fourth all-time among Top Fuel drivers.

"Trying to be consistent has helped this team get through some rounds. Remember this is a new team and we've been playing catch up since the start of the season. On the other hand, we've made a lot of strides and have got close and can now run with the other guys, " said McClenathan, who is in the fourth position in the 2002 NHRA POWERade point standings.

"Wes Cerny is always looking to run better than the rest, but right now we're just trying to be careful. We don't want to go out there and smoke the tires and make stupid mistakes. Losing a run can be costly for a team that doesn't have the total budget of the well financed teams.

"We're looking from the outside like we've made a lot of strides.  On
the inside, we're equally as happy about the way things are going.  Can
we maintain it?  Yes!  We can keep on going and do well here in Houston.

"Houston Raceway Park is a good track for both elapsed time and speed. I'm confident in the car that crew chief Wes Cerny, owners Rick Henkelman and David Baca, and the entire Henkelman and Baca crew give me to race.

"It definitely would be great to go to another final this weekend. Only this time, if I get there, I want to win," concluded McClenathan.

-h&bm-

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Baytown: Ron Capps preview

Next article Baytown: Darrell Russell eliminations day report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

F1 publishes first Social Impact Report; key student scholarship renewed

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

10 min

F1 publishes first Social Impact Report; key student scholarship renewed

Sergio Perez signs fresh Cadillac F1 deal until 2029

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

11 min

Sergio Perez signs fresh Cadillac F1 deal until 2029

Oliver Bearman explains why Haas’ 2026 F1 car is ‘hitting its ceiling’

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

Oliver Bearman explains why Haas’ 2026 F1 car is ‘hitting its ceiling’

Toprak Razgatlioglu going through a "difficult time" after shoulder surgery

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

3 h

Toprak Razgatlioglu going through a "difficult time" after shoulder surgery

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