NHRA

Reading - Cory Mac back in title picture

READING, Pa.(Sept. 13, 1999) - This has been a different kind of season for Cory McClenathan, who challenged Gary Scelzi for the last two NHRA Winston Top Fuel championships. McClenathan won six races in 1997 and six more in 1998, one more ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

READING, Pa.(Sept. 13, 1999) - This has been a different kind of season for Cory McClenathan, who challenged Gary Scelzi for the last two NHRA Winston Top Fuel championships.

McClenathan won six races in 1997 and six more in 1998, one more than Scelzi over the two-year span, yet McClenathan fell short of his goal. In 1999, he really hasn't felt like he's been a solid contender. Until now, that is.

McClenathan's strong, consistent winning performance at the U.S. Nationals (Sept. 6 at Indianapolis) thrust him back into the very crowded title picture. This Top Fuel battle is the closest in history, with only 119 points separating the top 10. That's just six rounds of racing.

The win "was a blessing," said McClenathan, driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing MBNA dragster, "and it comes at the right time. It's awesome the way the car's running. Now we need to bear down and stick with the combination that will go down the track."

The team will try to accomplish that goal during the True Value Keystone Nationals, Sept. 17-19, at Maple Grove Raceway. McClenathan enters the event seventh in points with 933, three rounds behind leader Tony Schumacher, who has 995.

"Consistency wins races and championships," McClenathan commented. "We have it now and some Top Fuel teams don't. We need to advance at least to the semifinals of the last six races if we are going to stay in contention.

"It was great to win our sport's biggest race at Indy. It was huge for me and the team, which is based in Indianapolis. Our car ran really consistent all weekend and I'm grateful to Rick Cassel and Jim Brissette, our co-crew chiefs, and Wes Cerny (crew chief on Gibbs' Funny Car team). They put their heads together and came up with a great combination."

Consistency definitely was the buzzword in the MBNA dragster's camp. McClenathan's slowest U.S. Nationals run was his first, a supercharger-exploding 4.965 seconds. The performance picked up with successive times of 4.644, 4.589, 4.577 (which put him No. 2 in qualifying) and 4.647 seconds.

On race day came back-to-back 4.666-second times, the first beating Steve Smith, the second Eddie Hill, who ran a quicker 4.646. McClenathan stopped Schumacher in the semis with a 4.598 and ended rookie Andrew Cowin's upset dreams with a 4.618 in the title round.

"I was really nervous going into the semifinals because I was the only driver among them who had won a race," McClenathan noted. This was his 24th career title and second this season.

"Some people were talking about us not being in contention, but I guess we proved them wrong. There are six races left - 24 rounds of racing - and anything can happen. I know it's an old cliché, but we just have to take it one round at a time. It's only 20 points (the number awarded per round win), but considering there are 10 drivers still in the running, 20 points could win a championship."

As far as McClenathan and the other nine drivers in the title hunt are concerned, the countdown to the championship begins at the Keystone Nationals. "We've had some success at Maple Grove (winning in 1997 and reaching the semifinals in 1995 and 1998). It would be nice to go in there and run as strong as we did at Indy," he concluded.

Cory McClenathan Quick Facts

1999 Top Fuel Record Standing: 7th, 933 points (three rounds out of first) Round Record: 20W-14L Finals: 2 - Richmond Indianapolis Wins: 2 - Richmond Indianapolis Quickest ET: 4.573, Houston Fastest Speed: 323.04 mph, Brainerd

Career Top Fuel Record First Season: 1991 Best Season Finish: 2nd - '92, '95, '97, '98 Races Qualified: 159 Qualifying Streak: 151 consecutive races Wins: 24 (third in all-time Top Fuel victories) Runners-up: 12 Last Win: 9/6/99 - Indianapolis Last Final: 9/6/99 - Indianapolis No. 1 Qualifier: 24 times Last No. 1 Qualifier: 1998, Brainerd Quickest E.T.: 4.559, 1998, Houston I Fastest Speed: 323.04, 1999, Brainerd

At Reading: Best Finish: won in 1997 1998 lost in semifinal round (to Mike Dunn)

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Reading JEG'S Preview

Next article Doug Herbert Reading Preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?

DTM

DTM DTM 25 min

Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?

Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

29 min

Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale

Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 50 min

Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027

Why Oliver Bearman is yet to be announced as a Haas driver for F1 2027

Formula 1

Mexican GP

Why Oliver Bearman is yet to be announced as a Haas driver for F1 2027

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