Madison: Cory McClenathan Saturday summary

McClenathan No. 10 in FRAM AirHog dragster

MADISON, Ill. (June 25, 2005) -- Cory McClenathan, who is No. 5 on the career win list for Top Fuel drivers, will go after his 29th win in the Carrier Boyz Racing FRAM AirHog Top Fuel dragster from the No. 10 position on the final qualifying ladder at this weekend's Ninth annual NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals.

The weather for this race lived up to its advanced billing. The air temperature stayed in the high 90s, with a number of team thermometers showing temperatures over 100-degrees. The track temperature at the start of the first qualifying session each day hovered around the 130-degree mark until rain delayed the Saturday proceedings and cooled the track some.

Nevertheless, Cory Mac covered the Gateway International Raceway quarter-mile in 4.694 seconds at 322.27 mph. The Lake Havasu City, Ariz., driver will be matched against David Grubnic in the opening round of eliminations tomorrow. Grubnic qualified No. 7 with an elapsed time of 4.607 seconds at 322.34 mph

"We didn't help ourselves in that final qualifying session and dropped to the bottom half of the field," said McClenathan. "In the three other passes we were consistent but need to pick up the pace if we are going to have a chance at being around in the later rounds."

Entering this event, McClenathan is currently No. 8 in the POWERade Top Fuel point standings with 548 points, 48 behind seventh, 62 behind sixth and 97 out of the top five.

ELIMINATIONS: McClenathan, in the Carrier Boyz Racing FRAM AirHog Dragster, begins his quest for the Sears Craftsman Nationals Top Fuel title on Sunday afternoon with eliminations for all classes getting underway at 4:30 p.m. Time is local St. Louis time -- Central Time (CT) -- and subject to change at anytime.

-cbr-