McClenathan holds No. 2 through three of five qualifying sessions at U.S. Nats

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 24
55th annual U.S. Nationals
Raceway Park at Indianapolis
Sept. 4-7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

MCCLENATHAN HOLDS NO. 2 THROUGH THREE OF FIVE QUALIFYING ROUNDS AT THE U.S.
NATIONALS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2009) - Cory McClenathan drove the all-new FRAM Tough
Guard Top Fuel Dragster built in the Don Schumacher Racing shops in nearby
Brownsburg, Ind., into the No. 2 spot after three of five qualifying
sessions for the 55th annual U.S. Nationals at Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

He posted his quickest pass in the third round of 3.851 seconds at 311.63
mph, which was the quickest of that round, and maintained the No. 2 position
he earned in his first pass on Friday of 3.863/305.36 and held through
today's earlier second run of 3.908/308.00. Two more rounds of qualifying on
Sunday will determine the 16-car field for Monday's eliminations.

"The new car is working great," said McClenathan. "Obviously, the reason we
built it was to try to run better and quicker to 1000 feet. Thatıs the name
of the game now. You have to make up numbers either on the starting line or
in the middle of the track and weıre doing that.

"This is the first Top Fuel chassis that DSR has ever built so everybody was
a little bit worried. Thatıs why we took a full day of testing out here last
week and made six attempts. We do feel it is the way to go and now we're
building one for (teammate) Tony Schumacher.

"If weıre going to gain anything in the Countdown, this is the thing to do.
Weıre excited about it!

³Thatıs fantastic," he said of being quickest of the third round. "I think
thatıs what everybody is pretty much going for right now. The FRAM guys said
itıs either going to smoke the tires or itıs going to go down the track and
go quick. Obviously, they have a handle on it, thatıs the biggest thing.

"if we could have waited an hour for it to be cooler, we would have been
able to run a little quicker than that, but right now, for those conditions,
I think itıs pretty darn good.²

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