NHRA
Dallas: Cory McClenathan final report
MCCLENATHAN REACHES SEMIS IN TEXAS, HOLDS NO. 3 IN POINTS ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 21, 2008) -- Cory McClenathan reached the semifinals today for the seventh time this NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season at the 23rd annual NHRA Fall Nationals at ...
Published: Sep 22, 2008, 10:20 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
MCCLENATHAN REACHES SEMIS IN TEXAS, HOLDS NO. 3 IN POINTS
ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 21, 2008) -- Cory McClenathan reached the semifinals today for the seventh time this NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season at the 23rd annual NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. The driver of the FRAM Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing lost to DSR teammate Tony Schumacher but maintained No. 3 in the Countdown to 1 playoffs standings. He is now within seven markers of second-place competitor Antron Brown and 104 behind Schumacher in first.
No. 5 qualifier McClenathan began eliminations by defeating Joe Hartley with an elapsed time of 3.887 seconds at 307.16 mph, the third quickest run of the opening round. He then took out Clay Millican in the quarterfinals with a 3.968/294.37 to set up his third semifinal match-up of the season against his teammate.
The DSR Top Fuel tandem left the starting line together, but McClenathan, without lane choice and in the less-desirable right lane, lost traction down track, slowing to a 4.646/173.45 pass. Schumacher also hazed the tires but still claimed the win with a 4.025/273.66.
"We're doing all the right things with this FRAM Top Fuel dragster," said McClenathan, who advanced to the semifinals for the third straight event. "We're qualifying in the better half of the field and we're going to the semifinals. I feel like a semifinal bridesmaid, so to speak.
"We knew that Tony was going to run good and we've been running strong all weekend, but we figured we needed to go out there and run at least a 3.90. Alan (Johnson, U.S. Army crew chief) and Mike (Green, FRAM crew chief) talked beforehand and I knew that at that point in time all books are closed. We saw the pair in front of us smoke the tires and I knew I had to be ready if the car did something silly, and I was ready. But it didn't recover good enough and it got out there and started spinning the tires even harder, so I had to shut it off and let Tony go on to win.
"When you have to race a car that is that good and running so strong, you tend to make bigger mistakes than they do and that's what we did."
The next race for McClenathan and the FRAM Top Fuel team will be the 21st annual Mid-South Nationals at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park, Sept. 26-28.
-credit: dsr
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 Dallas: Gary Scelzi final report
Next article Standings after Dallas
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tony Schumacher
Capps, Schumacher score their first wins of 2018
NHRA
NHRA
Bristol
Capps, Schumacher score their first wins of 2018
Schumacher unconcerned by new crew chief’s lack of Top Fuel experience
NHRA
NHRA
Schumacher unconcerned by new crew chief’s lack of Top Fuel experience
Hagan, Brown, Enders lead first day of NHRA Spring Training
NHRA
NHRA
Hagan, Brown, Enders lead first day of NHRA Spring Training
Latest news
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
2 h
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
3 h
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 3 h
Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux
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