Brainerd: Cory McClenathan Saturday notes

  MCCLENATHAN POSTS NO. 3 QUALIFYING EFFORT IN BRAINERD   BRAINERD, Minn. (August 9, 2008) – Cory McClenathan qualified the FRAM Top Fuel dragster No. 3 for the 27th annual NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. He made four runs in the three-second zone to qualify in the top half of the 16-car field for the 10th time in 16 races this season.   McClenathan made his quickest run Friday night with an elapsed time of 3.877 seconds at 311.77 mph that held up for No. 3, then made a run of 3.954/302.89 earlier Friday and a 3.949/302.48 and a 3.950/276.46 on Saturday, never swaying from the No. 3 spot.   "It's one of those things where every time we make a good run right off the bat on Friday the FRAM dragster seems to make good runs throughout qualifying, and it has this weekend," said McClenathan, winner here in 1997. "To go out there and run four very consistent numbers and bring it back without hurting anything gives you confidence.   "Right now we're just thinking about tomorrow," added McClenathan. "Obviously we'd like to go out and win this race, but we need certain people to go out a little bit early if we want to move up in the points. This FRAM Top Fuel dragster just keeps getting more and more consistent, thanks to (crew chief) Mike Green and (assistant crew chief) Neal Strausbaugh."   McClenathan will race against No. 14 qualifier Luigi Novelli in round one of eliminations on Sunday.   -credit: dsr