McClenathan is low qualifier on Friday in Brainerd, clinches spot in Countdown

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 16 of 24
28th annual NHRA NATIONALS
Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway
Aug. 14-16, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

MCCLENATHAN IS LOW QUALIFIER ON FRIDAY IN BRAINERD, CLINCHES SPOT IN
COUNTDOWN

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 14, 2009) - Cory McClenathan drove the FRAM Tough
Guard Top Fuel dragster to the No. 1 position during Friday's qualifying
sessions for the 28th annual NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International
Raceway. By making the first pass today, he clinched a spot in the Countdown
to 1 playoffs which begin following the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend
for the final six events.

McClenathan was low qualifier in both rounds today, posting first a
4.004-second elapsed time at 298.01 mph in the heat of the day, then a
3.910/305.36 as temperatures cooled for the evening pass.

If he holds on to the pole through the final two qualifying sessions on
Saturday, he will claim his second this season, and the 34th of his career.

Tony Schumacher, McClenathan's Don Schumacher Racing teammate, came in
second in a dramatic side-by-side pass by the pair, posting a 3.926/305.36.

"I'm not afraid when they walk up and say 'We're going to be a little
aggressive; we're going to go for it,'" he said of his crew chiefs Todd
Okuhara and Phil Shuler. "I get excited when they say that. [Qualifying No.
1 and 2] just shows how good the [two DSR Top Fuel] cars are, how closely
they're built together and it just shows what DSR is made of.

"Every single thing on that [FRAM] car is identical to Tony's. The only
thing is Tony is driving his and I'm driving mine. That's the only
difference. And Tony and I communicate as much as the crew chiefs do, so it
pays dividends for us.

"I think the communication between the two teams has been better now than it
ever has been. We have crew chiefs that are in the shop every single day
working together and, believe me, I see it. I go in the shop three or four
days a week. They work very hard.

"Every time you come out here as a driver you want to do the best you can
for them, make sure it goes A to B and does it the right way.

"As far as the cars, if you took the bodies off them you couldnąt see the
difference and if you look at the tune-ups they're very similar.

"[Clinching a spot in the Countdown] is completely not important to me. It
should be important and I want to be in that position...but my biggest thing
is I want to win our guys a race before we get to Indy, before all that
starts.

"When Morgan Lucas ran the 3.94 (just in front of McClenathan and Schumacher
to take No. 1), I thought, Well, he'll probably be low. Then we ran what we
did and that surprised me a little bit. I thought we'd run some kind of low
.90, but to run .91 here right now, I think that's pretty good."

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