Denver: Cory McClenathan final report

Tire Spin Leads to Opening Round Loss for McClenathan

Cory McClenathan gave David  Grubnic a good drag race for awhile Sunday, but
Grubnic got to the finish line  first in opening round of the Mopar Mile-High
Nationals at Bandimere  Speedway.

"It was a good side-by-side race but the engine dropped  cylinders and he
pulled away," said the veteran driver of the Scott Griffin  Motorsports FRAM Top
Fuel dragster.  "That was an important round for us  when it comes to picking
up POWERade Series points.  We need round wins but  we have to wait until next
week at Seattle to pick up some  more."

Grubnic won with an elapsed time of 4.805 seconds at 302.29  mph to Cory Mac'
s 4.895 at 267.43 mph after McClenathan's car began spinning the  tires.

"We had a clutch disc problem," said assistant crew chief  Tony Shortall, "
and, basically, it caused the engine to drop  cylinders."

The team resumes competition Friday at Seattle in the fifth of six straight races.

-credit: sgm