McClenathan grabs No. 9 in Phoenix qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Round 2 of 24
NHRA Arizona Nationals
Firebird International Raceway
Chandler, Ariz.
Feb. 20-22, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

McCLENATHAN GRABS NO. 9 IN PHOENIX QUALIFYING

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 21, 2009) - Driving the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, Cory
McClenathan posted his quickest elapsed time of four qualifying rounds in
today's third session, a 3.904-second lap at 311.63 mph, which placed him
No. 9 in the field.

His other runs were a 3.918/310.91 in the initial session (No. 5), followed
by a 4.268/210.90 (No. 11), and a 5.704/113.77 in his final attempt.

"We thought the right-hand lane would be better today in the third session
than it was yesterday, and that we would be able to try something down the
left lane in this final run to improve our standing," said McClenathan. "It
was not as good as we thought and in this last run we were kind of going for
it because we had dropped down in the field.

"We wanted to be better off for tomorrow so we kind of went for it and it
didn't pay off and we ended up having a blown fuel line for some reason and
we haven't really been able to find why that is. From what I can tell, now
it looks like I might have squeezed the throttle a little bit on the
starting line. So I'll have to look at both things and we'll have to wait
and see what happens tomorrow."

McClenathan faces Pomona winner and No. 8 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the
opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

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