Memphis: Cory McClenathan final summary

Clutch Trouble Troubles McClenathan, Carrier Boys Racing

Cory McClenathan was disappointed and frustrated . . . as were Andy and Mark Carrier.

"I can't begin to express how disappointed we are that we have not won a round (of eliminations) since mid-June," McClenathan said after the Carrier Boyz Racing FRAM Boost Top Fuel dragster experienced a clutch problem in the opening round of the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park Sunday. "We have been qualifying well, getting down the track, but we have to start doing that on Sundays."

McClenathan qualified seventh and met NHRA POWERade Series point leader Doug Kalitta in the first round. The orange and black FRAM dragster lost traction and McClenathan pedaled the throttle, attempting get the rear wheels to grab. But he couldn't. He stopped the timer in 5.149 seconds at 271.67 mph while Kalitta got there in 4.860 seconds at 283.73 mph.

"We want to apologize to all of our sponsors, every name on the car," added the veteran driver. "We are going to test Tuesday and Wednesday at Indianapolis and we'll run the wheels off the car to get it ready for our biggest race of the year, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indy (Sept. 1-4)."

Crew chief Wes Cerny pinned the problem on a new clutch setup that did not respond Sunday the same way it did on Saturday's runs. "We weren't trying to do anything that would (cause the tires to lose traction). We just wanted to go down the track and run a (time) 4.80 (second) something."

-credit: cbr