NHRA
Las Vegas II: Cory McClenathan
MCCLENATHAN SUFFERS RARE FIRST-ROUND LOSS IN VEGAS LAS VEGAS (Oct. 31, 2010) - "It was a $5.00 part and it cost us a chance at $500,000 (the championship)," said crew chief Phil Shuler after Cory McClenathan, No. 2 qualifier at the 10th annual ...
Published: Nov 1, 2010, 4:23 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
MCCLENATHAN SUFFERS RARE FIRST-ROUND LOSS IN VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (Oct. 31, 2010) - "It was a $5.00 part and it cost us a chance at $500,000 (the championship)," said crew chief Phil Shuler after Cory McClenathan, No. 2 qualifier at the 10th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, made a rare first-round exit in Sunday's Top Fuel eliminations.
McClenathan, racing the FRAM Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, struck the tires sharply while leading Mark Mariani in the opening round, slowing to a 4.312-second run at 181.52 mph, while Mariani cruised to a 3.930/307.44 victorious pass. "It broke an exhaust keeper, dropped an exhaust valve, and went bang," Shuler continued.
The only ray of hope McClenathan had in his quest for his first Top Fuel championship was the second-round exit by points leader Larry Dixon. McClenathan is now in third, 106 markers behind Dixon. Mathematically, he is still in the running. However, Cory Mac's DSR teammate Tony Schumacher moved around him in the semifinal round, then won the event. McClenathan is now 21 points back of Schumacher, with one race remaining in the season.
"You know what, parts failure is just something you can't control," said McClenathan. "We try to control every single thing we do; that's why we do so much in-house at DSR. But when it comes to keepers like that, we change them out about half-season just to make sure they're not going to fail. And we just caught one short.
"It's one of those deals: when it breaks through and it drops a valve, man, it can be catastrophic, and it was. And talk about timing being the worst. The timing couldn't have been any worse. We were going to run a 3.81 (-second lap), something like that. It would have been a good, solid run to start the out the day. We never lose first round (it was only his third first-round loss of the year). I'm just proud of the FRAM guys and what they've done this year.
"Obviously, we've kind of given it to Dixon. At the same time, now we have Tony getting right into the mix, and it looks like it's going to be a battle to the finish in Pomona. That's all there is to it. We may end up just fighting for a second-place spot."
Next up is the 46th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., No. 11-14.
-source: 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 Talladega II: 2nd, 3rd, points leader press conference
Next article Mosley denies Todt coup reports and F1 comeback
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
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 3 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
12 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
13 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 13 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
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